Letimbro ~ 29 July 1916

On July 29, 1916 the Letimbro was sailing from Benghazi to Syracuse, Sicily when the U-39 shelled and torpedoed her. Of at least 208 people aboard, 52 survived. Other sources do not include the 80+ soldiers among the 150 passengers, increasing the number of people aboard to at least 288 and the number of victims to at least 236.

The News (Frederick, Maryland), 7 Aug 1916

LETIMBRO SUNK; OVER 50 KILLED

Shells of Attacking Submarine Shatter Lifeboats.

RAIDER'S NATIONALITY IN DOUBT

Teutons Apparently Are Pushing New Submarine Crusade--
Eighteen Ships Destroyed in 36 Hours

London, Aug. 5. A Rome dispatch says:

   "More than fifty persons, most of them passengers, perished when the Italian mail steamship Letimbro was sunk by a submarine in the Mediterranean, according to the latest reports available.

   "The bombardment of the vessel while the passengers and sailors were taking to the boats was declared in high quarters to be a violation of the pledge that Germany made to the United States to wage its submarine warfare in the future with due regard for the safety of non-combatants. It is not yet known whether the submarine which bombarded the Letimbro was of German or Austrian nationality, but it is expected that the United States will order an investigation.

   "That the Letimbro tried to escape was not denied in the reports received, but they asserted that the loss of life occurred after the steamship had been overtaken, had come to a stop and was putting all on board into small boats. One of the messages giving meager details stated that two of these boats were shattered by the submarine's fire."

   Twenty-eight survivors have arrived at Malta, says a Reuter dispatch from that place. Two boatloads of survivors have also started at Syracuse.

   The Letimbro carried a crew of fifty-seven and her passengers numbered 118.

   Survivors report that a submarine was observed at a distance of about 6000 yards. It fired a warning shot and then gave chase, firing continuously for half an hour. It finally overtook the Letimbro, which had begun to lower boats.

   "The submarine," adds the dispatch, "continued its bombardment, smashing five boats, the occupants of which perished. Some of the survivors say many were killed by shellfire."

Merkuriy ~ 20 June 1916

While on a voyage from Otchalkov to Odessa, the Merkuriy struck a mine layed by the UC-15 and sank in the Black Sea off Odessa with a loss of 272 lives.

Athos ~ 17 February 1917

The SS Athos was a French cargo-passenger ship of the Messageries Maritimes. Construction of the ship started on July 25, 1914 in Dunkirk, but was halted when the city was bombed during the First Battle of Ypres. The ship was towed to Saint Nazaire, where it was completed as a troopship and not, as intended, a passenger ship. 

She was launched in 1915. Her first voyage was to China, leaving on November 28, 1915. Her second was between October 29 and December 26, 1916 from Marseille to Yokohama and back. Aboard the Athos were 1,950 people, including the crew, Chinese laborers, a large continent of Senegalese soldiers and civilian passengers, including women and children. 

At 12;27 on February 17, 1917, during her third voyage, Athos was torpedoed by the German submarine U-65 commanded by Hermann von Fischel, while 180 nautical miles (330 km; 210 mi) east by south of Malta. The ship sank in 14 minutes taking with her 754 people, including the captain and 11 crew members. The survivors were picked up by the escort ships Enseigne Henry and Mameluck, as well as the gunboat Moqueuse and the torpedo-boat Baliste.

Djemnah ~ 14 July 1918

Hirano-Maru ~ 4 October 1918

The Hirano-Maru was a Japanese merchant ship operating in the Japan-Europe trade, having been built in 1908. On October 4, 1918, while en route from Liverpool to Yokohama, she was torpedoed in the Irish Sea during a strong hale by U-91.

She sank quickly ... some say five minutes, others say seven. The seas were high and no lifeboats could be gotten away, all being smashed against the sides of the ship. There are varying reports of the number of people lost, but it appears that about 292 of the 320 people aboard perished. 

More people could probably have been saved, but initial rescue efforts by the escorting USS Sterrett had to be temporarily halted so the escort could go chase away the sub, which was attempting to torpedo it during rescue operations. There is no way of knowing the number of survivors desperately clinging to floating bits of wreckage who succumbed to the chill waters of the North Atlantic while the rescue ship was off chasing away the U-boat. Bodies washed ashore in Wales quite some time afterwards.

About 15 Japanese merchant ships were sunk by U-boat activity during World War I. Hirano-Maru was not the largest of these, but her sinking did involve the greatest loss of life, with the others suffering very minor losses by comparison.

Leinster ~ 10 October 1918

Tripoli ~ 17 March 1918

The SS Tripoli, was built by Cant. Nav. Riuniti, Palermo in 1912 and owned at the time of her loss by Soc. Italiana di Servizi Marittimi, Venice. She was an Italian passenger steamer of 1,743 tons.

On March 17, 1918, a dark stormy night, the Tripoli was torpedoed and sunk off Capo Figari by U-49 (Hans von Mellenthin). The torpedo struck the engine room of the overloaded ship.

It took the Tripoli four hours to go down. As her communication equipment was out of order, she could not send a distress call.  Of the 457 people on board, 268 were lost: 38 crewmen out of 63; 147 military out of 376; and 4 civilians out of 18 (3 men and a woman).