The mystery of Uss Cyclops

Hello All

Yes you are correct Idahojones We learn some thing new any day. Normal uboats could not reach the coast of America but another class of German submarine.

Type U 151 U-boats were a class of large, long-range submarines constructed during World War I by the Kaiserliche Marine.

There were 7 in the class and they were the only boats capable reaching the United States. In researching the 7 submarines. There is no record of any of this class of 7 subs attacking the Cyclops.

However it is not beyond the realms of impossability that U-156 attacked the Cyclops? The U-156 was launched on 17 April 1917 and commissioned on 22 August 1917 under Konrad Gansser, who commanded her until 31 December 1917, following which Richard Feldt took command of her on 1 January 1918.

On 15 June 1918 the U-156 sailed with 77 crew. She passed through the North Sea, negotiated the Northern Passage around the northern end of the British Isles, and out into the Atlantic Ocean where she sailed for Long Island. She then proceeded to New York Harbor, where she had been ordered to lay mines. Records show that she was to lay a field of mines in the shipping lane along the south shore of Long Island, just east of the Fire Island lightship.

A mine laid by the U-156 is often credited with the loss of the cruiser USS San Diego on 19 July 1918, ten miles southeast of Fire Island.

The U-156 had meanwhile headed north to attack the US fishing fleet. She sank 21 fishing boats in the Gulf of Maine area, from Cape Cod to the Bay of Fundy, ranging from the 72 ton schooner Nelson A. (4 August) to the 766 ton Dornfontein (2 August).

On 20 August the U-156 captured the Canadian trawler Triumph south by west of Canso, Nova Scotia. They manned and armed the vessel and used it in conjunction with the submarine to capture and sink 7 other fishing boats in the Grand Banks area before eventually scuttling the Triumph.

There is no record if the U-156 strayed further south and torpedoed the Cyclops. The Sub was suspected to have hit a mine on its return Home with loss of all crew.

Hardluck 

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Good thinking Sue, officially they would have no reason to deny it would they?

Hardluck,
Taken from the list of 45 kills credited to U-156 the WWi version I see a big gap just where it should be between captains. If the Cyclops was lost in March, U156 should not have been there. In Feb 1918 it was sinking ships in the Med. Unless it sailed covertly from the med all the way to bermuda for a weekend r&r, sunk the cyclops and back to germany in march it cant be U156 Provided the list below is accurate of course.

10 Jan 1918  U 156  Konrad Gansser   Atlas 1,813  nl
8 Feb 1918  U 156  Konrad Gansser   Artesia 2,762  br
8 Feb 1918  U 156  Konrad Gansser   Chariton 3,023  gr
8 Feb 1918  U 156  Konrad Gansser   Nuzza 1,102  it
9 Feb 1918  U 156  Konrad Gansser   Atlantide 5,431  it
26 Jun 1918  U 156  Richard Feldt   Tortuguero 4,175  br
7 Jul 1918  U 156  Richard Feldt   Marosa 1,987  nw
8 Jul 1918  U 156  Richard Feldt   Manx King 1,729  nw
19 Jul 1918  U 156  Richard Feldt    San Diego (uss) 13,680  am

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Any other suspects with torpedoes?



I ran onto this notation perhaps it bears some scrutiny.

Without delay, no matter what was said about the captain, the Cyclops sailed from Barbados on March 4, 1918. Worley set a southerly course which to this day is not understood since he should have sailed north or northwest. Cyclops was sighted by a British patrol on March 5 and again on the 6th, both times far off course. She was escorted back to the proper shipping lane. After the 6th she was never seen again.

I have been looking for this British patrol ship(s) and can find no reference other than the above so it's highly suspect. Anyone have anything on this?

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Thats a good idea BA. I would imagine its in the navy inquiry as well if anyone can find it. 


do a search for "John Gombold Cyclops" and an interesting Popular Science article from 1929 pops up. hmmm the espionage plot thickens... 



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Sounds to me like there were serious design flaws with the ships.....either that or the crews were being pressured to operate the ships in ways they weren't designed to be used.

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Hello all

The more I research the story the more intrigued I become.

3 vessels of the class sunk with all hands. Seems to indicate some thing that might be related to all three? But the ships were carrying 3 very different cargo's.The circumstances of their fate may be very different.

I  think clearly from the British Patrol Boat reports some thing was going on.
But was it not stated somewhere in the consular cablegram that they had only enough coal to get to Bermuda? Perhaps the weight factor of the cargo made ship used more coal?

If they were intending to flee to Germany they wouldn't have enough coal. And besides the German high seas fleet was already under blockade and bottled up in the Baltic.

I have a theory that the Captain realized due to war time shortages that he did not have enough coal for his ship to carry the heavy load of manganese to the states. The ship was not designed to carry this types of load and and the engines gave him trouble and with dissensions among the crew. Perhaps why he wanted a better blend of coal because he was not getting the millage out of the coal for his intended destination.

Tried return to Rio but was turned back by the British. He may of attempted to make a third attempt to return to Rio. But the ship not designed for carrying heavy manganese came under huge stresses had a catastrophic failure and sunk with all hands?

Just an idea of course.

Hardluck 

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