SM UC-63

SM UC-63 was a German Type UC II minelaying submarine or U-boat in the German Imperial Navy (Kaiserliche Marine) during World War I. The U-boat was ordered on 12 January 1916, laid down on 3 April 1916, and was launched on 6 January 1917. She was commissioned into the German Imperial Navy on 30 January 1917 as SM UC-63. In nine patrols UC-63 was credited with sinking 36 ships, either by torpedo or by mines laid. UC-63 was torpedoed and sunk by HMS E52 off Goodwin Sands on 1 November 1917; only one crewman survived the sinking.

Design
A Type UC II submarine, UC-63 had a displacement of 422 t when at the surface and 504 t while submerged. She had a length overall of 51.85 m, a beam of 5.22 m, and a draught of 3.67 m. The submarine was powered by two six-cylinder four-stroke diesel engines each producing 300 PS (a total of 1000 PS), two electric motors producing 620 PS, and two propeller shafts. She had a dive time of 48 seconds and was capable of operating at a depth of 50 m.

The submarine had a maximum surface speed of 11.9 kn and a submerged speed of 7.2 kn. When submerged, she could operate for 59 nmi at 4 kn; when surfaced, she could travel 8000 nmi at 7 kn. UC-63 was fitted with six 100 cm mine tubes, eighteen UC 200 mines, three 50 cm torpedo tubes (one on the stern and two on the bow), seven torpedoes, and one 8.8 cm Uk L/30 deck gun. Her complement was twenty-six crew members.

Service career
UC-63 entered service on 30 January 1917, under the command of Oblt Karsten von Heydebreck. She was assigned to the Flanders U-boat Flotilla, based at Bruges in occupied Belgium.

UC-63 carried out nine war patrols, operating mainly in the North Sea against British fishing trawlers. She had considerable success, sinking seven and damaging two more in a single day in June 1917. In August 1917 she fought an action against two armed trawlers, HMS Nelson and HMS Boy Alfred. Both of these were sunk, and the crew of Ethel & Millie were picked up by the U-boat, after which they were not seen again. The suspicion then, and subsequently, is that they were disposed of by the U-boat commander, perhaps by being left to drown while the U-boat submerged. The German government had made it clear they regarded the crews of merchant ships who fought back against U-boat attacks as francs-tireurs, and thus liable to execution.

Before her loss in November 1917, UC-63 sank 36 ships, totalling 35,900 GRT, and damaged four more, in a nine month career.

Fate
On 1 November 1917, while operating off the Goodwin Sands, UC-63 was sighted by British submarine HMS E52. She was torpedoed and sunk with the loss of all but one of her 27 crew.