SMS Vulkan
1908 U-boat salvage tug
SMS Vulkan was a U-boat salvage tug in the Kaiserliche Marine laid down in 1907 and commissioned in 1908. The ship displaced 1595 tons and had a top speed of 12 knots.
The famous U-boat commander Max Valentiner served as salvage officer on Vulkan in early 1911. On 17 January 1911, he and the crew saved all 30 men from U-3 by rescuing them via a torpedo tube after it sank near Kiel harbour in Heikendorfer Bay because of an unclosed ventilation shaft valve. Amongst the saved crew was Otto Weddigen, the later commander of U-9 and Paul Clarrendorf, the commander of U-boot-Abnahme-Kommando in Kiel which enlisted U-boat crews.
Vulkan is also famous for salvaging two U-boats, U-30 on 27 August 1915 and UC-45 on 17 September 1917.
At the end of World War One on 11 November 1918 the vessel surrendered to the British forces together with the larger salvage tug SMS Cyclop. It sank en route to Harwich on 6 April 1919 in position 54°54′N 06°18′E / 54.900°N 6.300°E / 54.900; 6.300.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “SMS Vulkan”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Bundesarchiv DVM 10 Bild-23-61-54, U-Boothebeschiff "SMS Vulkan".jpg by UnknownUnknown, CC BY-SA 3.0 de
- SMS Vulkan, U-Boat salvage tug during WWI, artwork by R. Schmidt (27443636454).jpg by National Museum of the U.S. Navy, Public domain
- Howaldtswerke nr473-1.jpg by Werftaufnahme Howaldtswerke, Public domain
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