In the early hours of 12 May 1918, the surfaced U-103 sighted Olympic, the older sister of RMS Titanic, which was carrying US troops to France. The crew prepared to launch torpedoes from her stern torpedo tubes but was unable to flood them in time before the submarine was spotted by Olympic, whose gunners opened fire as the transport ship turned to ram.

SM U-103 started to crash dive to 30 m (98 ft) in an attempt to turn to a parallel course to the liner. But there was not enough time before the port propeller of Olympic sliced through the submarine's pressure hull just aft of its conning tower. The crew of U-103 blew ballast tanks before scuttling their sinking submarine. Nine crewmen lost their lives. Olympic did not stop to pick up the survivors but continued on to Cherbourg. USS Davis later sighted a distress flare and took 35 survivors to Queenstown.^[4][5]

The remains of U-103 lie at a depth of 90 m (300 ft) in the English Channel about midway between England and France (49°16′N 4°51′W / 49.267°N 4.850°W / 49.267; -4.850 (Location of the wreck of U-103)). Its deep location makes it largely inaccessible to divers but the wreck was surveyed and identified by a remotely operated underwater vehicle in 2012.^[6]

• U-boat Campaign (World War I)

Notes edit

Citations edit

• Gröner, Erich; Jung, Dieter; Maass, Martin (1991). U-boats and Mine Warfare Vessels. German Warships 1815–1945. Vol. 2. Translated by Thomas, Keith; Magowan, Rachel. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-593-4.