U Boats sunk by the RNAS

G'day All,
I am trying to verify a story regarding Flight Lieut. H.F. "Kanga" De La Rue. I have read that he sank a U Boat in the St George's Channel, during April 1918.

He enlisted in the RNAS in 1916 and was based at Fishguard when he "sank" the U Boat. I know he attacked a U boat in 1917, that has been confirmed by 3 sources, (thanks Bob, Darryl and Gordon)but to date have found no record of him sinking one.

Does anyone know of a list of U Boats sank by air attack or can anyone confirm "Kanga's" sinking of the U Boat.

Thanks in advance,

Regards,
Andrew

[Vin]

Did (Flight ?) Lt De La Rue hop into his ‘plane and bounce the sub, Andrew ?


Vin

I don't know about him bouncing the sub, but I bet the crew were hopping mad that the bounder had attacked them.

Sad isn't it!!

[Darryl]

Apparently the sub went "BOOMER" , but that may be a rumour!

Darryl

Dear Andrew,

Talking about rumours... these are the official facts. Hope they are some help.

These are the German submarine losses for april 1918 :
- 11 april : UB33 Oblt.z.S. Gregor mined before Dover
- 22 april : UB55 Kap.lt. Wenninger, sunk before Dover after battle with drifters ran on a mine.
- date unknown april : UC79 Oblt.z.S. Krameyer, mined Dover Barrage

This concerning the U-boats of the Flandern Flottille.

Concerning the U-boats of the Hochseeflotte :

- 25 april U104 sunk by sloop Jessamine south of Ireland

So none of these boats correspond with the story of the Lt. De La Rue.

However on the 26th of march 1918 the U61 was sunk in the St. George's Channel. British sources do not mention how.

I will digg a little further in our archives and see what I can find out about it from the German side.

Regards,

Johan

Hi again,

This is what mention the German and my own sources :

- 11 april 1918 UB33 mined Channel
- 17 april 1918 UB82 sunk by artillery and depth charges of the Pilot Me and Young Fred, armed fishingboats
- 22 april 1918 UB55 mined Channel
- 25 april 1918 U104 by sloop Jessamine, rammed and depth charges
- 30 april 1918 UB85 Irish sea by artillery of the armed fishingboat Coreopsis
- april 1918 UC79 Channel, mined.

Concerning the U61 it says : 26 march 1918, depth-charges of the British U-hunter PC51, off Waterford.

Sources : Jane's fighting ships,
Flottenchronik, Harald Fock
Marinekorps Flandern, Johan Ryheul
Verdwenen in de Noordzee, Tomas Termote
Die deutschen Kriegsschiffe, Erich Groner
Die verlusste der Kriegsflotten, J. Rehder
The U-boat offensive, V.E. Tarrant
La Marine Imperiale Allemande sur la cote Belge, Adm. Petitjean

I always enjoy a U-boat question. The list of possible U-boat kills by air attack follows.

Regards,

Johan

Dear Andrew,

Here's something on losses of U-boats by airplanes, there are a lot more claims that can not be justified and a number of subs did sink for still unknown reasons.

Concerning German losses :
- okt. 1916 : UB7 sunk by Russian airplane in the Black Sea
- 25 july 1917 : UC1 near Thames est. by 5 British planes says the British version, however the Germans report the U-boat missing on the 19th of july already, so it was propably another U-boat that did get away.
- 29 july 1917 : UB20 near Flemish coast by British planes 8676 and 8862, however the U-boat was already missing the day before, and damage to the wreck is typical for a mine, not of another kind of bomb. The British planes talked about a UC-type instead of an UB type and difference is quite obvious, as the UC type was a minelaying sub with a very typical bow.
- 22 or 23 september 1917 : UB32, Channel, two possilities or it was a Curtiss H12 nr 8695 with an escort of Sopworth Camels or a depth charge of the British ML 358
- 28 september 1917 : UC6, Thames est. British plane nr 8676.
- 16 september 1918 : UB103, Dover Barrage, was attacked by British airship SSZ1 and drifter Young Crow, use of depth charges was not succesfull but the sub ran into a minefield and sank.
- 29 september 1918 : UB115, North Sea, depth charges of British destroyers Ouse and Star, art. 6 fishing boats, airship R29 and British airplanes.

Allied losses :
- 9 august 1916 : B10 (British) at Venice shipyards by bomb of Austro-Hungarian plane
- 15 september 1916 : Foucault (French) near Cattaro by Austro-Hungarian planes L132 and L135
- 15 march 1918 : D3 (British) by a French !!! airship who had it mistaken for a German sub.
- Friedrich Christiansen of the Seeflugstation Flandern I at Zeebrugge claimed also the British C25 on the 6th july 1918, but although heavily damaged the U-boat was towed to safe harbour.

That's all I have.

Regards,

Johan

G'day Johan,
Thank you for the information, I a beginig to think that the chap who wrote the article (Mark Ogden, Flightpath Vol. 7, No. 2 pg 58-63) got a little carried away with his claims.

Regards,
Andrew.

Splendid stuff, Johan. As a 'nautic', I've been trying to find out the effectiveness (or otherwise) of WW1 aircraft in attacking U-boats - now I know, many thanks.

(8:¬)}

Hi Andrew and 'Simba',

Happy I could help you, WWI U-boats, especially the ones of the Marinekorps Flandern are my favourite subject, with air war over West-Flanders.

VBR
Johan