That time Germany tried to conduct international trade… by submarine

On July 9, 1916, an unusual ship suddenly appeared in Baltimore harbor: a German U-boat, proudly flying the red, white and black Imperial flag. Yet no warship or gunfire greeted the foreign invader, for she was not on a war mission, but on a commercial mission. The 60-meter-long, 2,300-ton unarmed ship, specially designed to evade British naval blockades, was loaded to the gunwales with valuable medicines and dyes, which the Germans hoped to trade with the neutral United States for much-needed raw materials. Her two 1916 voyages remain the only time in history that international trade took place via submarines. This is the unique story of the German U-boat Germany.

Within months of the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, Imperial Germany found itself in a precarious situation, with its ports blockaded by the British Royal Navy and most of its overseas colonies in Africa and the Pacific conquered. This led to widespread shortages of all kinds of goods – especially tin, rubber and other raw materials needed to fuel the German war machine. As we discussed in our previous video That time, Germany and Great Britain made a major business deal… in the middle of World War I, Germany became so desperate for rubber that in late 1915 they actually made a deal to obtain some from their enemy Great Britain in exchange for high-quality optics such as binoculars. But because such agreements failed to satisfy German industry’s insatiable hunger for raw materials, the country instead looked to the United States – at the time still officially neutral and open to international trade. And while German merchant ships could not hope there Through the British blockade, perhaps them could to go under It.

In early 1916, a private business consortium consisting of the North German shipping company Lloyd and the Deutsche Bank, a subsidiary, formed a shipping company known as the Deutsche Ozean-Reederei or DOR, which would conduct commercial trade with the United States via cargo-carrying submarines. To equip DOR’s fleet, the consortium ordered the construction of seven U-151 class submarines, specially designed with an extra-wide, deep hull to maximize cargo capacity. The first two U-151 boats have been completed, the Germany and the Bremen, could carry 700 tons of cargo, including 230 tons of rubber in the free-flowing spaces between her inner and outer hulls. They had a range of 20,000 kilometers and a top speed of 15 knots above water and 7 knots submerged. Befitting their role as commercial freighters, neither boat had any offensive or defensive armament.

Germany sailed on her maiden voyage on 23 June 1916, commanded by Captain Paul König of the North Lloyd line and with 29 officers and men on board. Given her limited capacity, her cargo was carefully selected for maximum commercial value, and contained 125 tons of synthetic anthraquinone and alizarin dyes highly prized by the American textile industry; pharmaceutical products such as the anti-syphilis drug Salvarsan; precious gemstones; and mail. In total, her cargo was valued at approximately $1.5 million USD – almost $40 million today.

From her home port of Bremerhaven in Northern Germany, Germany sailed to the island of Heligoland in the North Sea, where she remained for nine days to put the British patrols out of her mind. She then sailed to the North Atlantic Ocean, taking the northern route across Scotland rather than entering the heavily guarded English Channel. In total, Germany Of her 6,100 kilometer journey, she traveled only 140 kilometers underwater and sailed the rest of the journey on the surface. After a relatively quiet crossing of two weeks, around 1:20 am on July 9, Germany finally arrived at Cape Henry, Virginia, and made contact with the Eastern Forwarding Company tug Thomas Timmins which was specially adapted to tow the submarine to port. At 11 p.m. the two ships reached Baltimore and Germany anchored at the Marley Neck Quarantine Station.

British and French diplomats in the United States were outraged by the from Germany arguing that since submarines could not be properly stopped and searched for contraband, they should be considered belligerent enemy ships and they and their crews should be seized. However, the US government, under enormous pressure from Germany to uphold its own neutrality, refuted that as an unarmed merchant ship Germany was free to visit and trade in any neutral port she pleased. The submarine’s crew was treated like celebrities in Baltimore; they were treated to lavish banquets and even an improvised German meal. Folk festival. During the submarine’s stay, she was visited by American submarine pioneer Simon Lake, who entered into an agreement with North Germany’s Lloyd Line to build cargo submarines in the US. As we will see, world events prevented this deal from happening.

Germany remained in Baltimore until August 2, when she sailed for Germany loaded with 350 tons of nickel, 100 tons of tin, and 350 tons of raw rubber worth nearly $18 million dollars – four times what it cost to build her. The boat’s return journey was again uneventful Germany When she returned to Germany on August 25, 1916. Although the cargo she brought back was minuscule in the grand scheme of Germany’s war industry, her voyage was a major propaganda coup, demonstrating that the British blockade was not impenetrable. To mark the historic voyage, Captain König commissioned German artists Ernst Zehle to design a commemorative medal, which on one side bore an ironic dedication to Lord Robert Cecil, the British diplomat responsible for the blockade of Germany; and on the other side the image of a beaver swimming under a fishing net with the caption “Don’t go over it! Go down!”

Shortly afterwards from Germany return, her sister ship Bremen departed Bremerhaven on her maiden voyage, under the command of the Imperial Navy Kapitanleutnant Karl Schwarzkopf. Her cargo, bound for Norfolk, Virginia, was much the same as from Germany, although it included financial appropriations to fund Simon Lake’s cargo submarine program. But Bremen never reached its destination and disappeared without a trace. Although several theories have been put forward to explain her disappearance, including that she was rammed by a British merchant ship, torpedoed by a British submarine or simply struck a mine, her fate remains a mystery to this day.

In November 1916 Germany made a second trip to the United States, arriving in New London, Connecticut with $10 million worth of gemstones, securities and pharmaceuticals. On November 17, while transiting Long Island Sound on her return voyage, she accidentally rammed her accompanying tugboat, the TA Scott Jr., killing her captain and the entire crew. Only Captain Hans F. Hinsch of the North German Lloyd liner Neckar, who oversaw the towing operation survived the sinking. Although relatively undamaged, Germany returned to New London for minor repairs to her bow before setting sail again with a cargo containing 6.5 tons of silver bullion. It would prove to be her last commercial venture, as deteriorating relations between Germany and the United States resulted in the cancellation of a planned third trip. On February 19, 1917 Germany was requisitioned by the Imperial German Navy and converted into the long-range cruiser submarine or U-Kreuzer U-151. In addition to six torpedo tubes, Deutschland’s unique wide hull allowed her to be fitted with more powerful 150mm deck guns, allowing her to pack a punch both on the surface and underwater.

On April 6, 1917, the United States declared war on Germany, officially ending all trade between the two nations. Two months later, U-151 began her naval career. Between June 1917 and November 1918, U-151 conducted three highly successful war patrols, sinking 42 ships and damaging three for a total of 129,000 gross register tons. She returned from her third patrol on 12 November 1918, the day after Germany signed the armistice with the Entente powers, and was surrendered to the British 12 days later at Harwich. She was displayed as a war trophy in London and Liverpool before being sold to various companies until finally taken to Birkenhead for scrapping in late 1921. But even though the war has been over for three years, U-151 was not quite done fighting, as on September 17, 1921, an accidental explosion in her engine room killed five apprentice breakers.

Born from the special circumstances of the First World War, the two voyages of the Germany remain the only occasions in history when open international trade by submarine has taken place. Although Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan engaged in limited submarine trade during World War II, this was more a case of wartime allies exchanging technology and expertise than commercial trade. And while drug cartels have used specialized vessels called narco-submarines to smuggle large amounts of cocaine and other illegal substances for years, this practice can’t exactly be called ‘open’ – and for more information on these often surprisingly sophisticated ships, check out our previous video Narco-submarines and the strange economy of cocaine smuggling.

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