History's Deadliest Submarine: the Fearsome SM U-35 

Small captioning error at 9:49! USS Tang’s tonnage sunk equates to about 65,000-116,454 tons sunk and not 227,800 as shown on screen!

It's actually not surprising that a WW1 sub was more deadly. The biggest reason is that ASW was basically non-existent. At least through a good part of the war.

Mike, your channel is always improving along with the more varied subject matter. Thanks for helping to keep maritime history alive and kicking.....

Look ladies and gents, it’s our friend Mike Brady from Oceanliner Designs 👋

I gotta say, I love every bit of these videos and keep my eyes open for every upload. As a maritime historian this is the best channel I’ve ever come across. Thank you so much to your dedication and love of history.

My grandfather was a 17 year old apprentice on SS Persier (ex Daventry), a tramp steamer that was sunk by U35 in December 1917. They were transporting coal from Cardiff to Taranto for the British Admiralty. He remembered spending time in Malta while a convoy of ships, escorted by two armed Japanese fishing boats, was formed. During the night of of the 10th or 11th December, 50 miles east of cape Spartivento, he was on watch and sighted the torpedo before it struck. It exploded and everyone abandoned ship. Persier did not sink and they waited for several hours in the lifeboats. (The convoy will have continued without them so they would have been alone in the sea). One of the crew went back on board, perhaps to assess the damage, in any case, the way my grandfather described it "he was tired of waiting so he went back on board, the rest of us thought it was too dangerous". U35 surfaced and shelled Persier, sinking her and killing his ship mate - a young man whose name can be found on the Merchant Navy Memorial at Tower Hill in London. I'm not sure how long it took for survivors to be rescued - my grandfather told me how thankful he was that someone had the presence of mind to throw some tins of condensed milk into the lifeboat (regulations to have survival rations on lifeboats did not exist at that time), he'd lost all of his possessions and the shipping company stopped his pay was stopped from the day of the sinking. They were able to return to England (from Italy) by train and he eventually joined a new ship. Earlier in 1917 it was possible for U35 to sink ships using the deck gun, or even boarding and opening the seacocks to scuttle them. The British made a few changes in the light of the high shipping losses referred to in this video. I believe that it would have been around this time that tramp steamers such as SS Persier were equipped with a deck gun and a Royal Navy gun crew. So the risk to the uboats increased and they were opted to use their limited supply of torpedoes instead. There's a German film, Der Magische Gürtel [The Enchanted Circle], shot around May 1917, which shows several ships being sunk - by shelling or scuttling. It's a propaganda film and you see the crews surrendering to Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière - it's all very gentlemanly, you see them shaking hands. It was later in 1917 the tactics changed and things became really nasty - hence the use of torpedoes to sink smaller vessels such as Persier and a decrease in the amount of tonnage U35 could sink before needing to be re-armed. This will explain why Perière's successor had a much lower score. Several versions of the film can be found online, last time I looked BFI website had the highest quality version. I believe Perière died in a plane accident near Paris during WW2.

Oceanliner Designs trying to not to mention Titanic in every video challenge (impossible)

Mike is trying to hype us up for the part 2 of the Lusitania video, by talking about ships being sunk by U-boats for 10 minutes straight, and im all here for it

Yeah, I'm up at 2:08am in Melbourne, Aus watching an Oceanliners Designs vid haha. Always got an eye open for Mike's vids. The quality is INSANE!

I wonder if U-35 was lucky or unlucky not to have actually gone up against _Olympic_ , considering her captain decided to ram another U-boat and force it to surface.

I just wanted so say a quick "Thank you!" for not shouting at me, blasting loud music during your videos and taking the effort to dress sensibly. Makes me feel comfy and valued. Greetings from Germany!

This is the one RU-vid channel where I’ve finished every video I’ve started watching.

I don’t think people say it enough but the amount of effort you put into pronouncing foreign words competently is one of my favorite details of this channel. It’s easy enough to say “forgive the pronunciation,” but to take the effort and use the proper pronunciation without coming across as clunky or forced is a genuine achievement

Great story! If I haven’t mentioned this already, ( I have had a stroke, my memory is damaged.) the Captain Von Trapp of ‘ Sound of Music’ fame, was a U-boat captain in WW1. His book/ memoirs is great; might be worth a read.

Well done, sir! Informative, visually interesting, and smoothly narrated!

Why have I only just realised that the ship in the new intro is the lusitania 🤦

TWO UPLOADS IN THE SAME WEEK?!?

That Was Great, Man! A Part Of History I Didn't Know About & You're An Excellent Narrator. Thank You.

Is it worse that he boarded the ships before sinking them? Feels more sinister. "Alright, then. Off you go. .... Fire the gun!"

Love this channel and just can’t stop watching. Thank you Mike Brady for all your hard work!

The legend himself

Very well done once again good sir Mike!! Gotta say they are very informative and very well researched! Stay happy my friend from Oceanliner Designs!

You never fail to amaze me. Great work Mike! I like how you often upload videos I'd request but out of random - it's amazing to have all my questions answered in such detail!

Awesome 😊video Mike

Sometimes I think Mike is making and uploading videos specifically for me, considering so many uploads come days after (or the literal day of) me google searching certain boats and incidents. Lol

Always well done..thanks

Excellent Video and Commentary. Thanks Mike.

Heck yeah! You just made my day a bit better ;)

Both educational and very interesting, all bundled up with excellent production value. I truly look forward to every new video that you release.👍

thanks for uploading i love the videos

Another intriguing presentation - thanks once more !!!

Every time I hear about these U-boats, I get this,,,,, "sinking feeling"!!!🙄

Thank you for your submarine content, and especially covering the relatively less known and talked about subject of WWI submarine warfare.

very awesome vid, i always love hearing about submarine history

Always happy too hear from my friend Mike Brady makes the day better

I read Capt. Richard O'Kane's book [Clear the Bridge!] which details the USS Tang's astonishing success in the Pacific and its bitter end. I had never heard of U35 until my friend Mike Brady told me about it. Great story 👍

Ah what a blissful day when our dear friend Mike Brady uploads something ;) It was a pleasure as always

Your channel is fantastic. The video and audio are excellent. Thanks

As for WWII, Kriegsmarine U-boat waffe was successful until it started to decline in 1941. Two years later, losses has rendered U-boat waffe irrelevant. When Germany surrendered and math was done, the casualty rate of the U-boat crews (during the whole war) was ~75%... Holey moley!

Once again a very interesting video. Thank you Mike

Fascinating story. Thanks.

Awesome video

Very nice!!

You know I’ve grown accustomed to a division in my ship based info-tainment Drachinefel for the shooty ships and Mike Brady for the less shooty ships… that said I quite enjoy when Mike covers a shooty ship… Very technical term shooty ship 👍

Great job thanks Sir

Fantastic well done Sir

I love your channel Mr. Brady. I hope one day you can cover the Yarmouth Castle or have a Halloween story about the U-65 one day. ❤

Finally a video about SM U 35

That is a record that will never be broken. Shalom

Love your work🙂

Thank you !!!

Knew this was going to be great when I saw the title. Absolutely fantastic

Very entertaining and interesting video!!

It's actually less surprising to me for a submarine to have this kind of success in WWI compared to WWII because while submarine warfare and technology were les developed in the former, that cut both ways and anti-submarine measures were also still being figured out.

Jesus, that map of the 1941 U boat casualties really hits home.

An absolutely banging video

As much as war is bad and a horrible mistake we have repeated time and time again I really have to say I am impressed with how well these U boat captains do their job and the sink counts are insane.

I enjoyed this video. Note that TIK History also has an interesting video on the subject of the Battle of the Atlantic. His point about the U-boat menace is that the U-boats were not as effective as often portrayed, and that poor logistics getting products from Britain's western ports to where they were needed was also a significant factor. (His reference is a book by Lizzie Collingham, "The Taste of War".)

Hey Mike Brady, I love the channel and been watching for quite some time. Always been fascinated by the titanic but you’ve shown me so many other incredible ships to learn about. Had 1 question for you. Wanted to know what your thoughts are on the USS Enterprise being scrapped?

"Ladies and gentlemen it's your friend Mike Brady"... Me: See? I have friends!

Turned into razor blades... xhat a sad ending! Submarines always seem to get the butt end of history. Rarely preserved, their merits unsung, the courage of their crews untold and forgotten... a shame really! Thanks for making this video!!!

To the german U-boat men: Respect and thank you for your service. RIP.

That's really sad about SS La Provence, she was 626 feet long, 65 foot breadth, 13,753 GRT, and capable of 23 knots when completed in 1905. She was a real beauty inside and out, not to mention very fast for her time until Cunard's Lusitania and Mauretania were introduced. Gallia was completed in 1913, 574 feet, 63 foot breadth, 14,966 GRT, and capable of only 18 knots.

Youve really been putting out some phenomenal content. This has become one of my favorite channels.

Wow what a story!!! Holy mackerel!!!

for a second i thought i mistook channel and this is one of Drachinifel videos 😄

7:44 Is swear to God this isn‘t the Olympic! That‘s claerly the Lusitania! One way to determan this is, that the funnels are closer to the Bow than to the Stern.

Love the war ship stories so much. Can you do more ?? Of famous battle ships or war ships or subs ?

As always a fascinating video, and excellent presentation! If you decide to branch out even further, into cargo ships, there are some fascinating ships as well, such as the Sealandia/Jutlandia pair of container ships, that (as far as I know) are the fastest container vessels ever, to this day, with a top speed over 30 knots. Sealandia beat the world record for fastest circumnavigation of the earth by ship (on the ØK circumnavigation trade route, thus not an official record as it didn't follow the official route), with 40 days, 3 hours and 5 minutes with an average speed of 28,04 knots. They are also some of the very few 70's cargo vessels that are still sailing to this day under the U.S. Naval Reserve under the names "Gilliland" and "Gordon".

9:49 "about one quarter the amount of tonnage" didn't you mean about half? If Tang sank 227.000, and U-35 sank about 500.000? These small things stand out when the rest of the video is so good!

I have a feeling that record will soon be challenged once again

Man, Germany really pushed the technology like no other country did. Making reliable U-boats and also, making them reliable destroying machines is incredible.

Lovely video as always, have you done a video on Costa Concordia? If you haven't I would absolutely love to see a write up from you.

Naming a ship Odysseus seems like a dubious idea, but then again apparently someone named their ship Stromboli. I wonder if her sister was Calzone.

I am Winston Churchill

Holy shit, it’s our friend Mike Brady from Oceanliner Designs 🤙🏻

Mad respect for the Kaiserlichemarine

I want a Shipwrecks of the World Wars like 14 part documentary series complete with the James Cameron submarine footage and background on crew/commanders and the building of the ship and any other fun ship lore lol

Hey it’s our enemy, Mike Brady!

I'm tempted to suggest you do one on Otto Hershing of U-21, who had a penchant for sinking allied wardships.

The merchant mariners don't get anywhere near enough respect for the sheer bravery they had to have during the two great wars... They sacrificed a frightening number of lives, I believe as a percentage they at times in more danger than the servicemen and without them the wars would have been lost before the fighting ever began. We all remember the stories of the D-day heroes, but few of the men who went to the bottom of the icy oceans to get the supplies to make the big offensives feasible in the first place.

I was wondering if you could do a video on the MV Wilhelm Gustloff? Even though so many died and it has a really interesting history it goes unnoticed

We can only pray that it's a record that never gets beaten.

Hey Mike! Great documentary as always. It's always fascinating to learn about different marvelous vessels through your incredible animations. However, I believe that the video's title should have been "History's Most Successful Submarine: the Fearsome SM U-35." It is true that U-35 holds the record for the most tonnage sunk. However, this doesn't make U-35 the deadliest submarine in history. The title of the deadliest submarine in history would be attributed to the Soviet submarine S-13. On January 30, 1945, S-13 torpedoed and sunk the refugee ship Wilhelm Gustloff, with the loss of ~9,400 souls. Two weeks later, on February 10, 1945, S-13 would be successful in sinking MV Steuben, with the loss of ~4,500 souls. When added, the death toll from Wilhelm Gustloff and Steuben equals nearly 14,000. The deaths of ~14,000 souls from these two shipwrecks sunk by the same submarine during a span of two weeks make S-13 the deadliest submarine in history.

Love your channel! Quick question, can you do a video on the “other ship” reported seen by California and Titanic, the one originally believed to be a whaling ship

When he mentioned a 4 funnel steamer, I immediately thought "Lusitania", which would have been ironic, given the previous video.

I knew about Captain Arnauld de la Periere' but had NO idea he had such a devastating war record. Really, the man was the U-Boot "Ace of Aces." If I remember correctly he was still in the German Navy during WW2 but held administrative and not combat commands, although he did visit U-Boot crews for morale-building pep talks. As you might imagine he was quite a celebrity with U-Boot men. Thanks for posting Mike!

Exceptional video as always, thanks. One question you refer to the SS Californian as the "villain" ship in the Titanic sinking. Have you ever read the British Major Accident Investigation Board's 1993 Reappraisal of the Evidence? This was done due to the 1985 of the Titanic wreck site discovery by Dr. Ballard 13 miles from the accepted SOS position. Essentially, this Reappraisal casts serious doubts that the Californian actual saw the Titanic, but did see the distress rockets (which were white and thought to be company signals), and could not have been there in time to really make a difference. That might be a good topic for one of your videos. Please keep them coming. Learn a lot from them.

HI MIKE . I'm a history buff and enjoy your videos. Was wondering if you're a naval architect or engineer? Or is this your hobby/passion project??

Yea! Mike!

I find it interesting that we remember the captain of U-99, Otto Kretschmer, as "The Tonnage King" for about 200,000+ GRT of ships sunk, but De La Periere should hold that crown.

Brilliant work! The Kriegsmarine came far closer in WW1 to destroying Britian than they ever got in the 2nd!

I love having a friend!

What a kill count! Great job on this video 😎 Would love to see a video about the origins of submarines and what life was like on them 😄 I’m not sure I would do well

... "turned into razor blades ..." - I wonder what does happen to most of the metal from scrapped ships; I always guessed it went mostly back into new ships.

I play a mobile game called crash dive. It's a submarine warfare simulator. It's pretty realistic in terms of the mechanics of the submarine, the various upgrades, dud torpedoes. You're a deck gun is a very useful weapon.

After all that recycling, your car probably has a bit of U-35 in it, greedily eyeing each passing truck.

Good to see one of my U boats doing its job.

At around the 6:40 mark, there is a potentially misleading mistake. You should mention that troopships in general, and the Gallia in particular are *NOT* subject to the 'cruiser rules.' Not only was the Gallia a former ocean liner used as a troopship, but was also was armed, and as such, an auxiliary warship.

It's difficult to not be angry at this ship and crew, I understand that they were simply conducting warfare, but the number of good men killed by this ship is monstrous.