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While not regarded as infamous as Walther Schwieger, this officer is
remembered primarily for two sinkings, especially of the White Star liner Arabic,
with the loss of 44 lives, on 19th August 1915. Unlike the Lusitania that was
homebound for Liverpool, the Arabic was outbound and also off the Old
Head of Kinsale, County Cork, but further out to sea and westwards. In this
attack, evasive action having been taken by the Arabic, the torpedo
had struck her aft and she sank in about eight to eleven minutes. Almost all
of the fatalities had been in one lifeboat that had capsized due to suction
from the sinking vessel. Had there not been two Americans among the dead,
this sinking would probably not have been differentiated from thousands of
others.
The other sinking associated with him was of H.M. Battleship Formidable.
The 5th Battle Squadron had been exercising variously in the English Channel
east and west of Portland, Dorset on 31st December 1914 and Schneider had
tried to put in attacks in daylight. (Times in reports differ significantly.
The following are from a British monograph.) It was not until early on
January 1st, while on the surface battery-charging that he found himself
being overhauled by this squadron, in divisions, though. A torpedo attack on
the Queen at approximately 1.58 a.m. went unnoticed, but two more
torpedoes were fired at the Formidable at 2.25 a.m.: one of which hit.
However, it took another one, at approximately 3.10 a.m., to finish her off.
A legitimate target, 547 of the battleship’s company were killed. An article,
seemingly written by Schneider himself about this affair, stated that
estimating distance by periscope at night was ‘very difficult’ and he
was far closer to his targets than he thought.
Karl Rudolf Schneider (generally known as Rudi) was born in Zittau,
Saxony, in 1882, his father being described as a manufacturer. Joining the Kaiserliche
Marine as a Seekadett in 1901, he was shown in
1913’s Rangliste as a submarine commander.
On or around 1st August 1914, he was appointed to U24, in command.
Although this boat and its crew had been on numerous patrols, coming
into occasional glancing contact with warships, similar to Schwieger, Schneider’s
first attack had also been on a passenger vessel. She was the French liner Amiral Ganteaume
that on 26th October 1914 was, visibly, packed with Belgian refugees, off Cap
Griz Nez. According to one official German version, U24 had fired one
torpedo that damaged an unidentified vessel and then gone deep to avoid a
destroyer. Somewhere between 30 and 40 civilians were killed, but the death
toll could have been far higher, had a British merchantman not gone to
the aid of those on the liner. Between the Formidable
and Arabic sinkings there had been eighteen other civilian vessels
despatched. It can be seen that Schneider preferred surface actions against
unarmed merchantmen - both steamers and sailing vessels. Only two were
torpedoed with warning: the steamer City of Bremen on April 2nd and
the large barque Dumfriesshire on June 28th. Most were stopped and
sunk, by gunfire, charges and even setting their wood cargoes on fire. Not
infrequently, shellfire was used to bring them to a halt, if they had
attempted to flee. Casualties in these attacks were light, but there was one
in late June that was different.
In the evening twilight of the 28th, U24 was seen on the
surface off Trevose Head, Cornwall, from the bridge
of the Leyland Line’s unarmed Armenian at a range of about three (or
possibly four) miles. Unwisely, her master, James Trickey, decided to steer
towards the submarine, seemingly with the intention of ramming it. On being
fired upon at about three miles range, he turned his command about though,
with U24 in pursuit. On finding her range, shelling took a toll on the
upperworks and rendered her steering-gear inoperable. After about an hour a shell entered the
stokehold through the funnel, damaging her furnaces and causing a loss of
steam. Although a flag of surrender was then raised, the shelling continued, but
it may well have been that it had not been seen. However, on three short
blasts being made on the transport’s whistle, this ceased. The Armenian’s
crew and her passengers were then given time to abandon ship in what remained
of her boats and only once they were clear, U24 put two torpedoes into
her. The transport had been carrying mules from the United States and of the
29 people killed, were 20 Americans caring for the animals. Of course, all
1,422 mules also perished.
There was also a not inconsiderable loss of life in Schneider’s next
sinking of the steamer Scottish Monarch the next day, off County Cork.
Also shelled and hit several times in a chase, there had been no casualties
until abandonment, but 15 of her crew died subsequently, in a ‘choppy’ sea.
This general pattern of maritime destruction also continued after the Arabic
and there was a definitely international flavour in his sinkings, including
of a fair number of large sailing-vessels. Similar to Schwieger, he had taken
command of one of the new generation of ocean-going
boats, U87, in February 1917. But, on October 13th of the same year,
between Norway and the Shetland Isles, he was washed overboard and drowned. |
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Return to the Merchant
Mariners’ War Oberleutnant zur See
Helmut Patzig Kapitänleutnant
Walther Schwieger Kapitänleutnant
Otto Steinbrinck Kapitänleutnant
Max Valentiner Kapitänleutnant
Wilhelm Werner |