# SM U-152

SM U-152 was a Type U 151 submarine of the Imperial German Navy during World War I.
Built at Hamburg, the submarine was commissioned in October 1917. Initially intended as a submersible merchantman for transporting critical war materiel through the British blockade, she was converted to a combat ship while under construction.

## Service history

U-152 was actively employed in the Atlantic during the last year of the conflict. Among her victims were two American schooners, Julia Frances (sunk on 27 January 1918) and A.E. Whyland (sunk on 13 March 1918), the Norwegian barque Stifinder (boarded and scuttled on 13 October 1918), the Spanish Giralda (sunk on 25 January 1918), and the U.S. Navy cargo ship USS Ticonderoga. The latter was sunk, after a two-hour gun battle, with heavy casualties among her crew and passengers, on 30 September 1918. The previous day, 29 September, the submarine had also fought a gun battle with the Navy oiler USS George G. Henry, but despite being badly damaged the American ship escaped.
After returning to Germany in November 1918, at the end of her final wartime cruise, U-152 was surrendered to the Allies at Harwich on 24 November 1918 in accordance with the requirements of the Armistice with Germany. She was exhibited at Tower Bridge in London in December 1918, and then laid up at Portsmouth. On 30 June 1921, she was towed out into the English Channel and scuttled.

## Summary of raiding history

| Date | Name | Nationality | Tonnage | Fate |
| 25 January 1918 | Giralda | Spain | 2,194 | Sunk |
| 26 January 1918 | Germano | Portugal | 236 | Sunk |
| 26 January 1918 | Serra Do Gerez | Portugal | 257 | Sunk |
| 27 January 1918 | Julia Frances | United States | 183 | Sunk |
| 28 January 1918 | Neptuno | Portugal | 321 | Sunk |
| 5 February 1918 | Sebastian | Spain | 2,563 | Sunk |
| 9 February 1918 | Ceferino | Spain | 3,647 | Sunk |
| 15 February 1918 | Neguri | Spain | 1,859 | Sunk |
| 16 February 1918 | Mar Caspio | Spain | 2,723 | Sunk |
| 24 February 1918 | Gaetana Costanzo | Kingdom of Italy | 1,027 | Sunk |
| 26 February 1918 | Siljestad | Norway | 4,298 | Sunk |
| 6 March 1918 | Elector | Portugal | 134 | Sunk |
| 7 March 1918 | Luigi | Kingdom of Italy | 3,549 | Sunk |
| 13 March 1918 | A. E. Whyland | United States | 130 | Sunk |
| 16 March 1918 | Ellaston | United Kingdom | 3,192 | Sunk |
| 31 March 1918 | Indien | Denmark | 4,199 | Sunk |
| 3 April 1918 | Elsie Birdett | United Kingdom | 118 | Sunk |
| 11 September 1918 | Constance | Denmark | 199 | Damaged |
| 29 September 1918 | USS George G. Henry | United States Navy | 6,936 | Damaged |
| 30 September 1918 | USS Ticonderoga | United States Navy | 5,130 | Sunk |
| 14 October 1918 | Stifinder | Norway | 1,745 | Sunk |
| 15 October 1918 | Messina | United Kingdom | 4,271 | Damaged |

## Gallery

* USS Ticonderoga in Boston Harbor, Massachusetts
* Newspaper report on the sinking of USS Ticonderoga
* Bark Stifinder sinking
* James Jonas Madison
* Two U.S. Navy officers captured when the submarine sank USS Ticonderoga on 30 September 1918. They are Lt. Frank L. Muller, USNRF (left), and Lt. (j.g) Junius H. Fulcher, USNRF
* USS George G. Henry
* Officers, crewmen and a former prisoner of war, Lt. Frank L. Muller, USNRF, Executive Officer of USS Ticonderoga (standing third from right, wearing his uniform and a civilian cap), on the submarine's foredeck, while she was passing through the Kiel Canal on the way to Harwich, England to be surrendered, 28 November 1918.