Shipwrecks of Cork Harbour

The loss of U-58

The capture of U-58 immortalised in this iconic poster

During the great cataclysm of World War One, the German Naval submarine force came close to bringing about the total collapse of Britain and her Allies.With a combination of torpedo, gunfire, mines and explosives, shipping losses to U-boats were averaging 300,000 tons a month by December 1916.
The British Admiralty concluded that at that rate the war would be finished by summer 1917. Anti- submarine measures, were only partially effective, as technology such as underwater listening devices and depth charges were in their infancy, and British laid minefields intended to keep U-boats to their bases in Belgium and Germany, had only limited success.


Collector card from 1950s (based on photo below)	Wartime YMCA fund raising postcard (submarine mistakenlycaptioned as US sub)

Two factors combined contributed to the defeat of the U-boats. One of these was the convoy system, whereby merchant ships were no longer sole unprotected targets, but sailed together with armed escorts. More importantly, the entry of the USA into the war in April 1917 provided the overwhelming production capacity and large reserves of fighting forces to overwhelm Germany. The American public celebrated the sinking of U-58 at the mouth of Cork Harbour, as it was the first ever sinking of a U-boat by American forces.

On the 17^th of November 1917, U-58 commanded by Kapitanleutnant G.Amberger, was on her 8th and last cruise of the war having departed Wilhelmshaven via Heligoland on the 10th of November for patrol along the south coast of Ireland.

This submarine was just a year old and was armed four torpedo tubes supplied by 11 torpedoes and had two deck guns one 4.1" and another 22pr


USS Fanning in Monkstown, Co Cork	Photo of U-58 taken from Fanning

The U-boat lay in wait, south of the Daunt Light Vessel for a convoy leaving Cork Harbour. The U-boat skipper had already lined up the British steamer Welshman in his sights, when the crew of the American destroyer USS Fanning spotted the periscope. The Fanning, as well as the USS Nicholson raced to the spot and the Fanning dropped a depth charge. The submarine disappeared underwater and the area was peppered with depth charges. Then, incredibly, the
U-58 came to the surface and stayed there.

Depth charge from USS Fanning explodes over U-58

At this point crew began to emerge from the submarine and presently all were on deck.Two crewmen were seen to disappear into the submarine and emerged again a few minutes later. They had cheated the Americans of the capture of the U-boat by scuttling her under their noses.


Wartime Italian postcard showing sinking	Photo later used on dustjacket of the book Danger Zone by E.Keeble Chatterton.

As the submarine began to sink rapidly stern-first, all of the crew leapt into the water to surrender. Most of the U-boat crew were exhausted and one man Petty Officer Franz Baden sank from sight before he could be picked up - his body was not recovered. Petty Officer Franz Glinder, was recovered unconscious from the water by two men from the Fanning. Resuscitation proved ineffective and he died on deck. The crew of the Fanning later buried this unfortunate crewman at sea with full honours.

When the crew of the U-58 were interviewed by the American officers, they confirmed that the first depth charge dropped by the USS Fanning had destroyed the internal controls of the submarine which sent it on a rapid dive to a depth of 90 metres.This was far beyond the operational depth of the U-boat, and Amberger was faced with the choice of certain death for him and his men, or to blow tanks and make an uncontrolled rise to the surface to surrender.


German seaman on deck of Melville	German officer on Melville (probably Kapitanleutnant Amberger)

The German crew were taken to Cobh (formerly known as Queenstown), where they were handed over to the British forces, for internment in England. The crew, as was common with most surviving U-boat sailors were taken from their camps to London for interrogation where intelligence officers learned of her voyage. The crew were eventually sent on to the USA where they were interned in Fort Mc Pherson, in Georgia for the remainder of the war.


The officers and men of U-58 at the gates of Fort Mc Pherson. Front row left to right are Kapitanleutnant Gustav Amberger Lieutenant Otto Von Ritgen Lieutenant Friedrich Muller Warrant Officer Henry Repke	Another view of the crew at Fort mc Pherson