SM U-68

SM U-68 was a Type U 66 submarine or U-boat for the German Imperial Navy (Kaiserliche Marine) during the First World War. She had been laid down in December 1913 as U-9 of the U-7 class for the Austro-Hungarian Navy (Kaiserliche und Königliche Kriegsmarine or K.u. K. Kriegsmarine) but was sold to Germany, along with the others in her class, in November 1914. Under German control, the class became known as the U 66 type and the boats were renumbered; U-9 became U-68, and was redesigned and reconstructed to German specifications. She was launched in June 1915 and commissioned in August.

Six days into her first war patrol, on 22 March 1916, U-68 was sunk by HMS Farnborough, a British Q-ship, with all hands. U-68 sank no ships in her brief career. A post-war German study found fault with U-68's captain for not following established procedures for avoiding decoy ships.

Design and construction
After the Austro-Hungarian Navy had competitively evaluated three foreign submarine designs, it selected the Germaniawerft 506d design, also known as the Type UD, for its new U-7 class of five submarines. The Navy ordered five boats on 1 February 1913.

The U-7 class was seen by the Austro-Hungarian Navy as an improved version of its U-3 class, which was also a Germaniawerft design. As designed for the Austro-Hungarian Navy, the boats were to displace 695 t on the surface and 885 t while submerged. The doubled-hulled boats were to be 69.50 m long overall with a beam of 6.30 m and a draft of 3.79 m. The Austrian specifications called for two shafts with twin diesel engines (2300 PS total) for surface running at up to 17 kn, and twin electric motors (1240 PS total) for a maximum of 11 kn when submerged. The boats were designed with five 45 cm torpedo tubes; four located in the bow, one in the stern. The boats' armament was to also include a single 6.6 cm L/26 deck gun.

U-9 was laid down on 31 December 1913, the third of the U-7 boats. Her construction was slated to be complete within 29 to 33 months. Neither U-9 nor any of her sister boats were complete when World War I began in August 1914. With the boats under construction at Kiel, the Austrians became convinced that it would be impossible to take delivery of the boats, which would need to be towed into the Mediterranean past Gibraltar, a British territory. As a result, U-9 and her four sisters were sold to the Imperial German Navy on 28 November 1914.

U-9 was renumbered by the Germans as U-68 when her class was redesignated as the Type U 66. The Imperial German Navy had the submarines redesigned and reconstructed to German standards, which increased the surface displacement by 96 t and the submerged by 48 t. The torpedo load was increased by a third, from 9 to 12, and the deck gun was upgraded from the 6.6 cm gun originally specified to an 8.8 cm SK L/30 one.

Service career
U-68 was launched on 1 June 1915. On 17 August, SM U-68 was commissioned into the Imperial German Navy under the command of Kapitänleutnant Ludwig Güntzel, a new submarine commander. On 29 November, U-68 was assigned to the IV. U-Halbflotille.

U-68 departed the Ems on 16 March 1916 to begin her first war patrol. Headed to her assigned operating area off Britain's west coast, Güntzel and U-68 came across HMS Farnborough, a British Q-ship—in appearance unarmed—under the command of Gordon Campbell. At approximately 07:00, U-68 fired a torpedo at Farnborough and narrowly missed the ship's bow. Farnborough continued the deception and continued on at her same speed and course. At 07:20, U-68 surfaced about 1000 yards astern of Farnborough, moved to the ship's port quarter, and fired a shot across the Q-ship's bow.

Farnborough stopped, blew off steam, and launched a boat to simulate a surrender. As U-68 closed to 800 yards, Farnborough raised the White Ensign, uncovered her guns and opened fire with three of her five 12 pounder (76 mm) guns. The British gunners scored several hits on the U-boat out of 21 rapidly fired rounds. As U-68 began to sink, Campbell steered Farnborough over U-68's location and dropped a depth charge that blew the bow of the submarine out of the water. As U-68 began going down by the stern, Farnborough's gunners scored another five hits on the U-boat's conning tower. U-68 sank with the loss of all 38 men at position 51.9°N, -10.88333°W off Dingle in southern Ireland. U-68 sank no ships during her brief service career.

A post-war German study faulted U-68's commander, Kptlt. Güntzel, for failing to follow established procedures for dealing with neutral-flagged vessels in order to avoid decoy ships like Farnborough. According to the report, Güntzel had broken almost all the rules when approaching Farnborough. However, Kommodore Hermann Bauer, the commander of the German High Seas Fleet U-boats, in his post-war memoirs, reports Güntzel was an inexperienced captain and had not, contrary to usual practice, been first sent to sea under a more experienced U-boat captain to gain knowledge.