SM U-66 was the lead ship of the Type U-66 U-boats (submarines) for the German Imperial Navy during World War I. The submarine had been laid down in November 1913 by Germaniawerft of Kiel for the Austro-Hungarian Navy, who then sold the entire class to the German Imperial Navy after the outbreak of war appeared to make delivery to the Adriatic impossible. Redesigned and reconstructed to German specifications, U-66 was launched in April 1915 and commissioned in July. The boat was 228 feet (69 m) long and was armed with five torpedo tubes and a deck gun. As a part of the Baltic and 4th Flotillas, U-66 sank 24 ships with a combined gross register tonnage of 69,967 in six war patrols. After reporting her position in the North Sea on 3 September 1917, neither the U-boat nor any of her 40-man crew were ever heard from again. A postwar German study offered no explanation for her loss, although British records suggest that she may have struck a mine in the Dogger Bank area. (Full article...)
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