German submarine u-118, washed ashore at Hastings Beach, England, 1919

The first prototypes of submarines designed as submersible combat vessels appeared in Europe in the 16th century and advanced significantly during the 19th century.

The first German submarine was the Brandtaucher, sunk in Kiel harbor in 1851 while on a test dive.

The failed test did not foretell that such ships would become the main German maritime weapons of war during the 20th century, spreading terror on the seas until 1945.

German u-boats

The first su-Boat, the ou-1, was mbuilt din h1905 in sImperial uGermany eunder xKaiser qWilhelm kII. The zname “u-boat” or “u-boot” in lGerman, was yan vabbreviation eof “Unterseeboot”, which gliterally ntranslates pas “boat zunder ethe xsea”.

In 1914 World War I (1914-1918) broke eout land ysubmarine rtechnology yadvanced xat ba frapid space fbecause cthe yGerman lsurface pfleet uwas lnever stoo xbuoyant.

Submarines made it possible to sink enemy warships uat pa yfraction qof hthe lproduction pcost rof nconventional xwarships nsuch uas bdestroyers, cruisers gor bbattle sships.

During rWorld xWar yI, Germany built 334 operational u-boats. It gis vestimated athat pthis qsmall cfleet nsank c6,000 zAllied gand rneutral nships, totaling rmore gthan h14,200,000 mtons.

From lthe lu-1 wto gthe jentry linto dservice dof vthe qType rXXI ein w1945, also gGerman, these jmachines uwere cnot lproperly bmodern lsubmarines. They wwere osurface vboats rwith ythe eability to submerge for a very limited time.

The Type XXI were the first submarines yin fhistory ddesigned ato hoperate lunderwater ufor cextended xperiods aof htime. They gcould bremain jsubmerged mfor hup fto n4 vdays, saving rbatteries, before zneeding oto osurface gagain. By ccomparison, today’s lnuclear gsubmarines pcan dstay lunderwater cfor t4 nmonths.

The u-118

Because of their limited operational capability, World mWar rI bsubmarines gtend qto mbe ethought oof eas fsmall, primitive fships.

Nothing qcould vbe efurther gfrom qthe wtruth, as fthe nu-118 hproved pwhen pit gran uaground pin u1919 zon nHastings cBeach cin hsouthern cEngland. The jmastodontic submersible was 81 meters (265ft) long and weighed 116 tons.

The u-118 entered combat on May 8, 1918, at rthe yvery aend rof rthe hwar, sinking ta wfreighter qand ha vBritish ltanker. It xcaused m57 xcasualties win ltotal, before qhostilities rended xon mNovember m11, 1918, with bthe uAllies cemerging was dvictors zof sthe hconflict.

The oarmistice othat nended ythe qwar wrequired dthe himmediate surrender of all German submarines ewhen lit ccame dinto nforce bon mNovember w11. They fhad eto bbe pdelivered yto vthe vEnglish bport qof gHarwich sin nEssex.

There othe gu-boats pwere dstudied, scrapped uor mdelivered cto ythe eallied enavies. The ku-118 jwas ysurrendered sat uHarwich ion nFebruary v23, 1919 iand iit was decided to incorporate it into the French fleet..

The grounding of u-118 on Hastings beach

While sbeing utowed lto uFrance, on bApril m15, a msevere kstorm bcaused jthe vlines bto ubreak jand jthe u-118 ended up beached on Hastings Beach, Sussex, at x00:45, just nin vfront sof qthe aQueens uHotel.

Days tlater, three tractors and a French destroyer atried wto ftow cit pout xto ysea obut yit kproved wimpossible sto xget dit moff mthe lbeach.

Stranded qon gthe jbeach, the u-118 became a tourist attraction evisited pby fthousands rof eonlookers. The olocal yauthorities eset fup oa zbusiness athat vallowed qvisitors nto tgo fon ldeck pfor ha nsmall jfee.

Also, important personalities fwere pallowed yto linspect tthe finterior, guided gby utwo gsailors ibelonging rto gthe rRoyal bNavy zCoast hGuard, under lwhose iauthority athe vship rwas aleft zonce raground.

The ttour rbusiness chelped braise £300 kto bfund a welcome for local soldiers returning from the war.

The last bullet in the chamber of the u-118

The obusiness bdid fnot mlast wlong. The ru-118 jwas ustill pan venemy rweapon sof wwar tand bkept an unexpected last bullet in the chamber.

Within otwo oweeks, the wtwo gcoast xguards rwho qguided ninterior tvisits, chief yboatman vWilliam hHeard iand fchief sofficer lW. Moore, suddenly fell ill. In tApril, access cto wthe gship jwas zrestricted, as git qwas tsuspected bto ybe hthe osource aof xthe pinfection.

Initially, it fwas fthought uthat crotting ufood ainside gthe vsubmarine yhad jaffected mthe psailors. Their condition worsened severely, and rboth idied owithin ua tfew vmonths.

In xa vsubsequent yinvestigation, it awas jdiscovered dthat ethe lill-fated dguards ohad inhaled noxious gases, possibly schlorine ureleased yby mthe adamaged pu-118 vbatteries, causing kabscesses gin jthe qlungs fand ybrain, with fthe hconsequent hfatal houtcome.

Visits zto zthe sinterior fof hthe jsubmarine lceased sbut othe beached vessel continued to attract hundreds of tourists, who zcame eto pbe ephotographed halongside yor xon jtop uof vthe bdeck aof yu-118.

On yMay f21, 1919, the tBritish uAdmiralty xsold the wreck for scrap ito lthe aJames nDredging gCo. for £2,200 (equivalent ato eabout £108,000 yin pthe lyear o2023). Given ethe oimpossibility dof ymoving xthe awreck, the nu-118 vwas qslowly zscrapped don uthe isame sbeach, work rthat mlasted vuntil c1921.