SMU - 6
crew after the sinking of Destroyer Renaudin
Linenschiffleutnant Hugo von Falkenhausen
Commander since November 1915
SM U-6 was built in February 1908 and launched June, 1908.
U-6 scored only one wartime success, sinking a French destroyer in March 1916.
On 13 May 1916 that same year, she became entangled in anti-submarine netting deployed as part of the Otranto Barrage
While trying to break through the Otranto Barrage at night, 'U - 6' fouled the nets of patrolling fishing drifter 'Calistoga'.
U - 6 surfaced and was shelled by the 'Calistoga', the 'Dulcie Doris' and 'Evening Star II'. The Austrian boat had to be scuttled.
Linienschiffsleutnant Hugo von Falkhausen, attempted to pass underneath two drifters that formed a part of the Otranto Barrage. While
submerged, von Falkhausen heard an unexplained noise on the hull of the boat.
The 'Calistoga' drifter's skipper was alerted to the submarine's presence when one of the indicator buoys had fired. 'Calistoga' launched signal
flares that attracted the attention of two nearby drifters Dulcie Doris and Evening Star II.
In the meantime, von Falkhausen surfaced U-6 to try to cut loose the buoy being dragged behind his boat. When the hatch was opened, the crew
observed the boat entangled in the netting; the port propeller shaft became fouled. Unable to free his U-Boat, Linienschiffsleutnant Hugo von
Falkhausen dispatched his log and code books
into the sea.
Under continous fire from the drifters running the nets, U-6 was abandoned and sunk. All 15 of her crewmen,U-6's three officers and seventeen crewmen were rescued and were held in captivity in Italy through the end of the war.
Vessels Sunk
On a sweep from Brindisi across the Adriatic with other Allied ships, "Renaudin" was hit by U - 6, one of the few Austrian submarines available for operations. She was hit on the starboard side, broke in half and sank in a few minutes.
NY Times 20 Mar 1916