uboat u-31

[TOOTH]

Does any one have any information covering the uboat u31?I read that it was thought to have struck a mine but I also read that the crew were overcome by poisonous gas and that the submarine drifted ashore off the coase of britain.Also if the above is wrong has the wreck of the uboat ever been found?

Thanks

[historydavid]

Hello LEW,

U 31 was lost on or about 13th Jan 1915, fate unknown, but possibly mined off E coast of UK. All hands (31) lost.

Best wishes

David

[Michael Lowrey]

LEW,

The poison gas/drifting ashore thing is simply wrong. U 31's simply disappeared after sailing on January 13, 1915 for a patrol in the southern North Sea off the English east coast. Her patrol area was rather carefully defined, and attacking merchant shipping was not the objective. U 31 would have to have been lost to a mine hit or through a operational cause (diving accident). If she was lost to a diving accident in her assigned patrol area, with today's technology the wreck certainly would be findable; however, she was suppose to operate some distance off the Britsh coast, which reduces the odds that divers would just randonly come across the wreck.

Best wishes,

Michael

[Clio]

Given the quality of the Service and Elia mines used by the British in 1915, it was very bad luck for the U-boat concerned. British mines of the period were generally considered to be useless (firing pistol, sinker and mooring mechanism flaws) Some U-crews seized them as souvenirs, pressing them into use as flower pots to decorate wardrooms. Even the declared minefields were hardly mined at all but the fields did look good on charts.

The mines improved following the founding of HMS Vernon - well at least they worked in late 1917