Voyage Of The Deutschland, The First Merchant Submarine

The arrival of the submarine Deutschland in the harbour of New York in July of 1916 produced one of the sensation of the year. How had a U-Boat sailed all the way from Germany to the United States evading all of the counter-measures of the might Royal Navy and the even the U.S. coastal defences?

The captain of the Deutschland, Paul König, was feted as a national hero in Germany and was lauded by those of German extraction in New York.

He wrote this memoir of his famed journey from the inland waters of Germany all the way to the United States, it is filled with the dangers of the nascent submarine, in particular the fumes and heat of the diving compartment. Notable also the U-Boat had come as a merchantman, meaning that König was unarmed for combat and could only rely on deception to fulfill his mission to outwit his enemies.

Author — Kapitänleutnant Paul König (1867-1933)

Text taken, whole and complete, from the edition published in New York, Hearst's international library co., 1916.

Original Page Count – xii and 247 pages.