Austrian WWI Submarine relic

[Zeon]

Hello,
this afternoon I was in S.Giminiano Italy for a sunday outing and found this interesting relic at the foot of a memorial for the WWI Italian fallen :
http://www.isaacasimov.it/public/monument.jpg

Here is the gun from the Austro-Hungaric Submarine "U41"
http://www.isaacasimov.it/public/u41_gun.jpg

http://www.isaacasimov.it/public/u4_gun3.jpg
The plate
http://www.isaacasimov.it/public/gun_plate.jpg

"Cannoncino" (small cannon) coming from the Austro-Hungaric Submarine U41 who sunk the French battleship "Leon Gambetta" (29th april 1915) off Santa Maria di Leuca and the Italian Battleship "Giuseppe Garibaldi" (18th july 1915) off the "Bocche di Cattaro" (Bay of Kotor).

I did't find anything about the fate of U41, anyone knows?

About the sinking of the "Leon Gambetta" From the New Nork Times' archive:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B06E1DA1539E333A2575AC2A9629C946496D6CF

The "Giuseppe Garibaldi" WWI era battleship
http://www.marina.difesa.it/storia/Almanacco/parte04/navi0415.asp

zeon

[Kaplanr]

It's supposed to be U-14. Originally the French Navy "Curie", captured (after being sunk) by the Austro-Hungarian anvy and recommissioned U14.

The French submarine Curie (Q87) was a French submarine of the Brumaire-class. She was laid down at Toulon, on 18 July 1912.

French service and capture
Curie was sent to raid the Austro-Hungarian Navy headquarters at Pola. She was towed in from the Adriatic by Jean Michelet and on 20 December 1914 was caught in the anti-submarine nets and was forced to surface, where she was sunk by gunfire from K.u.K Magnet and by the torpedo boat 63T, killing her executive officer and two other sailors.

Austrian-Hungarian service
After her capture, as the most modern submarine in Austro-Hungarian service, she was renamed Austrian Unterseeboot XIV and given to the already famous Georg Ritter von Trapp who was very successful with her. He had ten cruises with her and sank many merchant vessels and a few British and other allied warships.

Post-war
After the Armistice, U-14 was returned to the French Navy and scrapped in 1923. Two inter-war submarines were named after her officers, Pierre Chailley who drowned during Curie's capture and Gabriel O'Byrne, her commanding officer who died shortly after his release from captivity in 1917.

Commanded by none other than Georg von Trapp (the Sound of Music von Trapps.) This from Wikipedia:

Georg Ludwig Trapp was born in Zadar, Dalmatia, then part of Austria-Hungary, now in Croatia. His father died in 1884, when he was four. In 1894, he followed his father's career into the Austro-Hungarian Navy, entering the naval academy at Fiume. He graduated four years later and completed two years of follow-on training voyages including a trip to Australia. In 1900 he was assigned to the armored cruiser Kaiserin und Königin Maria Theresia and was decorated for his performance during the Boxer Rebellion. In 1902 he passed the officer's examination.

He was fascinated by submarines, and in 1908 he seized the opportunity to be transferred to the newly-formed U-boot-Waffe. In 1910 he was given command of the newly-constructed U-6, which was christened by Agathe Whitehead, granddaughter of the Englishman Robert Whitehead, inventor of the torpedo. He commanded U-6 until 1913.

On April 22, 1915, he took command of U-5 and conducted nine combat patrols. In October 1915 he was transferred to the captured French submarine Curie, which the Austrian Navy redesignated U-14. He conducted ten more war patrols, until, in May 1918, he was promoted to Korvettenkapitän (equal to Lieutenant Commander) and given command of the submarine base in the Gulf of Kotor.

At the end of World War I, Trapp's wartime record stood at 19 war patrols, 12 cargo vessels totalling 45,669 tons sunk, the French armored cruiser Leon Gambetta (12,600 tons) and the Italian submarine Nereide (225 tons). For his service, Trapp was raised to the nobility and granted the right to use the word von (of in English) before his name. Among other honors, he received a knighthood[3] and the Knight's Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa.

His autobiography was just re-released in English.
Trapp, Georg von. To the Last Salute: Memories of an Austrian U-Boat Commander.
Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 2007.
196 pages.
ISBN 0803246676

[Zeon]

Kaplanr thank you for interesting reply but, I am not sure it's the same ship, In my opinion if the U14 had sunk two battleships it should be well quoted and if the ship was returned to the French navy and decomissioned in 1923 it is unlikely that her cannon could be sent to Italy were it was shown as a war trophy, don't you think?

I hope I made myself understood, I beg pardon for my English.

Zeon

[JoeyCape1977]

This site has the U-5 sinking the Leon Gambetta
http://www.papernet.hu/?l=sdetails&lang=eng&i=1817

[Zeon]

Thak you JoeyCape,
Your link was useful, from that I found this site with many info and pictures: http://www.kuk-kriegsmarine.at/ in German.

I translated with google ad it looks like the "Leon Gambetta" was sunk by the U5 while the "Giuseppe Garibaldi" was sunk by the U4.

We may think that at the time there was some wrong information and the sinking of both ships was given to a single U-boot wrongly dubbed U-41.

U-41 was another ship but commissioned later .

Zeon



This site has the U-5 sinking the Leon Gambetta
http://www.papernet.hu/?l=sdetails&lang=eng&i=1817

[vetjen]

Sunk on 27th April 1915 by torpedoes from U5. Only 137 crew survived.

Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italian, Garibaldi class Armoured Cruiser
Torpedoed by Austrian submarine U4 off Gravosa. The Italian cruiser was sailing to bombard a railway bridge when she was hit by two torpedoes amidships which sank her in 3 minutes.

no one talks about the U41 :|

[Hellfish]

Interesting. Kind of a mystery now. You wouldn't think a memorial would get things like that wrong.

[California Joe]

Maybe you can solve the mystery after you become a bigshot Maritime Undersea Investigator.

[Hellfish]

You're getting a punch in the ********s too.

This book got me interested in the subject.

http://www.markgerber.com/images/shadow_divers.jpg

[Insane Tadpole]

You're getting a punch in the ********s too.

This book got me interested in the subject.

http://www.markgerber.com/images/shadow_divers.jpg
Hey, thought u left us...

[ronnieraygun]

Interesting find, thanks.