SMS Vulkan

This article is about the 1908 German navy U-boat salvage tug. For the 1843 Austrian navy paddle steamer, see SMS Vulcano.

SMS Vulkan
History
German Empire
Name	SMS Vulkan
Builder	Howaldtswerke, Kiel
Laid down	1907
Launched	28 September 1907
Commissioned	4 March 1908
Homeport	Kiel
Fate	Sank 6 April 1919
General characteristics
Displacement	1595 tons
Length	85.3 m (280 ft)
Beam	16.5 m (54 ft)
Draught	3.85 m (12.6 ft)
Speed	12 knots
Range	3,000 nm
Complement	108 men

Vulkan during WWI, by R. Schmidt

SMS Vulkan was a U-boat salvage tug in the Kaiserliche Marine laid down in 1907 and commissioned 1908. The ship displaced 1595 tons and had a top speed of 12 knots.

The famous U-boat commander Max Valentiner served as salvage officer on Vulkan in early 1911. On 17 January 1911, he and the crew saved all 30 men from U-3 by rescuing them through the torpedo tube after it sank near Kiel harbour in Heikendorfer Bay because of an unclosed valve in the ventilation shaft. Amongst the saved crew was Otto Weddigen, the later commander of U-9 and Paul Clarrendorf, the commander of U-boot-Abnahme-Kommando in Kiel which enlisted U-boat crews.

Vulkan during construction

Vulkan is also famous for salvaging two U-boats, U-30 on 27 August 1915 and UC-45 on 17 September 1917.

At the end of World War One on 11 November 1918 the vessel surrendered to the British forces together with the larger salvage tug SMS Cyclop. It sank en route to Harwich on 6 April 1919 in position 54°54′N 06°18′E.

See also

• Russian salvage ship Kommuna

External links

Media related to SMS Vulkan (ship, 1907) at Wikimedia Commons

• u-boot-net.de webpage about SMS Vulkan (in German)
• max-valentiner.dk webpage about Max Valentiner and salvage of U-3 in 1911 Archived 2017-11-27 at the Wayback Machine (in Danish)