Qualla: SM UC-38

SM UC-38: Introduction

Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

At 06:47 on 14 December 1917, a torpedo struck the French cruiser Châteaurenault amidships in the Ionian Sea, off Cape Ducato at the southern tip of Lefkada. The cruiser was carrying troops. Her escorts responded immediately, rushing toward the torpedo's launch point while another ship began pulling survivors from the water. By 07:26, less than forty minutes after the hit, the evacuation of Châteaurenault was complete. Then UC-38 fired a second torpedo. The cruiser foundered quickly, but by then most of the approximately 1,162 personnel aboard had been rescued. UC-38 did not survive the morning. The escorts' depth charges opened a serious leak, forcing the submarine to surface. When she did, Mameluck and Lansquenet opened fire. Several of UC-38's crew were killed as they abandoned ship. The submarine sank, taking her dead down with her. This is where the wreck lies today — in the Ionian Sea, in the waters off the Greek coast, in the category of things the sea holds that we can name but not reach.

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SM UC-38: Built for the Minelaying War

Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

UC-38 was a Type UC II submarine, a class designed primarily for minelaying rather than torpedo attacks. Ordered on 20 November 1915 and launched on 25 June 1916, she was commissioned into the German Imperial Navy on 26 October 1916. She measured 50.35 metres in length, displaced...

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SM UC-38: 14 December 1917

Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The Châteaurenault was a protected cruiser built in 1898, repurposed by 1917 to serve as a troopship. On the morning of 14 December she was part of a convoy moving through the Ionian Sea, escorted by Mameluck, Rouen, and Lansquenet. UC-38, under the command of Hans Hermann Wendla...

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SM UC-38: The End of UC-38

Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The depth charges that followed the torpedo attacks breached UC-38's hull badly enough that Wendlandt was forced to surface. Coming up in waters patrolled by the ships he had just attacked, the submarine and her crew faced immediate gunfire. Mameluck and Lansquenet opened fire. S...

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SM UC-38: What the Sea Holds

Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Both wrecks — Châteaurenault and UC-38 — lie in the Ionian Sea near Cape Ducato. The Châteaurenault wreck has become a dive site, resting in the waters off Lefkada. The UC-38 wreck location is less precisely charted. These were not exceptional events in the context of the Mediter...

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