SM UC-34 was a German Type UC II minelaying submarine or U-boat in the German Imperial Navy () during World War I. The U-boat was ordered on 20 November 1915 and was launched on 6 May 1916. She was commissioned into the German Imperial Navy on 25 September 1916 as SM UC-34."SM" stands for "Seiner Majestät" () and combined with the U for Unterseeboot would be translated as His Majesty's Submarine. In nine patrols UC-34 was credited with sinking 21 ships, either by torpedo or by mines laid.
On 30 December 1917 under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Horst Obermüller, UC-34 torpedoed the British troop ship off the Port of Alexandria. Aragons escort, the destroyer , rescued 300 to 400 survivors but then UC-34 torpedoed and sank her as well. Of 2,500 personnel who had been aboard Aragon, 610 were killed.
UC-34 was scuttled at Pola on 28 October 1918 on the surrender of Austria-Hungary.
Design A Type UC II submarine, UC-34 had a displacement of when at the surface and while submerged. She had a length overall of o/a, a beam of , and a draught of . The submarine was powered by two six-cylinder four-stroke diesel engines each producing (a total of ), two electric motors producing , and two propeller shafts. She had a dive time of 35 seconds and was capable of operating at a depth of .
The submarine had a maximum surface speed of and a submerged speed of . When submerged, she could operate for at ; when surfaced, she could travel at . UC-34 was fitted with six mine tubes, eighteen UC 200 mines, three torpedo tubes (one on the stern and two on the bow), seven torpedoes, and one Uk L/30 deck gun. Her complement was twenty-six crew members.
Summary of raiding history DateNameNationalityTonnageMerchant ship tonnages are in gross register tons. Military vessels are listed by tons displacement.Fate27 December 1916Maud176Sunk28 December 1916Seedonis284Sunk6 April 1917Rahmanich100Sunk6 April 1917Spithead4,697Sunk8 April 1917Geilan Bahri19Sunk10 April 1917Fotis3,526Damaged11 April 1917Imperial Transport4,648Sunk4 May 1917Cameleon179Sunk31 May 1917Ozarda4,791Damaged2 June 1917Cameronian5,861Sunk7 June 1917Liliana70Sunk30 June 1917Caledonien4,140Sunk13 September 1917Bengali5,684Damaged25 October 1917Euston2,841Sunk12 November 1917Barbary4,185Sunk30 December 19179,588Sunk30 December 1917785Sunk31 December 19174,041Sunk8 April 1918Bengali5,684Sunk9 April 1918Vasconia3,052Sunk1 August 1918Columbia5,570Sunk6 August 1918Clan Macneil3,939Sunk10 August 1918Patra45Sunk10 August 1918Tatarrax6,216Sunk
Notes
References
References