SM UB-2 - Service Career

Service Career

The submarine was commissioned into the German Imperial Navy as SM UB-2 on 20 February under the command of Kapitänleutnant Werner Fürbringer, a 26-year-old native of Braunschweig, and underwent trials in German home waters.

UB-2 sailed from Germany to Flanders to join the Flanders Flotilla (German: U-boote des Marinekorps U-Flotille Flandern) on 10 May 1915, and was the only UB I or UC I boat in the flotilla to not be shipped to Antwerp by rail. When UB-2 joined the flotilla, Germany was in the midst of its first submarine offensive, begun in February. During this campaign, enemy vessels in the German-defined war zone (German: Kriegsgebiet), which encompassed all waters around the United Kingdom (including the English Channel), were to be sunk. Vessels of neutral countries were not to be attacked unless they definitively could be identified as enemy vessels operating under a false flag.

The UB I boats of the Flanders Flotilla were initially limited to patrols in the Hoofden, the southern portion of the North Sea between the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. On 9 and 10 June, while patrolling in this area 50 to 60 nautical miles (93 to 110 km) southeast of Lowestoft, UB-2 sank six British fishing smacks with a combined tonnage of just under 300 GRT, the largest being Intrepid of 59 tons. All six of the smacks—sailing vessels traditionally rigged with red ochre sails—were stopped, boarded by crewmen from UB-2, and sunk with explosives.

After UB-2's sister boat UB-6 pioneered a route around past British anti-submarine nets and mines in the Straits of Dover in late June, boats of the flotilla began to patrol the western English Channel. UB-2, UB-5, and UB-10 soon followed with patrols in the Channel. Even though none of the boats sank any ships, by successfully completing their voyages they helped further prove the feasibility of defeating the British countermeasures in the Straits of Dover.

On 28 August, UB-2 was patrolling in the Corton–Yarmouth area when she sank the British trawler Miura. At 297 tons, Miura bested Intrepid as the largest vessel sunk by UB-2 to-date. Early the following month, UB-2 sank another two fishing smacks 44 nautical miles (81 km) east-southeast of Lowestoft: the 57-ton Constance, and the 44-ton Emanuel. Three days later, UB-2 sank 47-ton smack Boy Ernie about 58 nautical miles (107 km) east of Cromer. As with the six vessels sunk in June, all three were stopped by UB-2 and sunk with explosives.

Germany's submarine offensive was suspended on 18 September by the chief of the Admiralstab, Admiral Henning von Holtzendorff, In response to American demands after German submarines had sunk the Cunard Line steamer Lusitania in May 1915 and other high profile sinkings in August and September. Holtzendorff's directive from ordered all U-boats out of the English Channel and the South-Western Approaches and required that all submarine activity in the North Sea be conducted strictly along prize regulations. UB-2 did not sink any vessels over the next four months.

The German Imperial Navy began its second submarine offensive in February 1916, declaring, among other provisions, that all enemy vessels in the war zone were to be destroyed without warning. On 26 February 1916, UB-2 torpedoed and sank the cargo ship Arbonne, in what was ultimately her last wartime success. The British steamer—at 672 GRT, the largest ship sunk by UB-2—went down with a loss of all fourteen of her crew.

In early March, Kapitänleutnant Fürbringer was succeeded by the former commander of UB-13, Kapitänleutnant Karl Neumann, who had been in the same cadet class as Fürbringer. Fürbringer went on to command six other U-boats, and was responsible for sinking nearly 100,000 tons of shipping. In 1933 he published a memoir of his World War I U-boat service, Alarm! Tauchen!!: U-boot in kampf und sturm, which included an overview of his career, including his time on UB-2.

By early February, the Flanders Flotilla was beginning to receive the newer, larger Type UB II boats. UB-2 was transferred into the Baltic Flotilla (German: U-boote der Ostseetreitträfte V. U-Halbflotille) about a week after Neumann took command. Boats of the Baltic flotilla were based at either Kiel, Danzig, or Libau, but where UB-2 was stationed during this time is not reported in sources. While UB-2 was in the Baltic Flotilla, Neumann was succeeded by Oberleutnant zur See Thomas Bieber in April, who was in turn succeeded by Oberleutnant zur See Harald von Keyserlingk in July. In early December, Keyserlingk was reassigned from UB-2 to UB-36, and UB-2 was transferred to training duties. According to authors R.H. Gibson and Maurice Prendergast, submarines assigned to training duties were "war-worn craft" unfit for service.

At the end of the war, the Allies required all German U-boats to be sailed to Harwich for surrender. UB-2 was one of eight U-boats deemed unseaworthy and allowed to remain in Germany. UB-2 was broken up by Stinnes on 3 February 1920.