Unterseeboot 28 - Wikipedia

Unterseeboot 28 (U-28) has been the designation of two submarines of the German Navy.

The first U-28 was a Type U-27 U-boat[?], ordered to be built on February 19, 1912, launched on August 30, 1913, from Kaiserliche Werft[?] of Danzig, and commissioned into the Kaiserliche Marine on June 26, 1914 with Georg-Günther Freiherr von Forstner in command. Frhr.v. Forstner was relieved on June 15, 1916, by Otto Rohrbeck who was in turn relieved on August 5 by Frhr.v. Loe-Degenhart. On January 15, 1917, Kapitänleutnant Georg Schmidt took command.

U-28 conducted four patrols, sinking 39 ships totalling 93,782 tons. Der Krieg Zur See: Der Handelskrieg mit U-Booten, the official history of the U-boats of World War I, describes U-28's final patrol thusly:

On 19.8.17 (August 19, 1917) U-28 left Emden for the war on shipping in the Arctic Sea[?]. Officially confirmed newspaper reports state that, on 2.9.17 (September 2) at 1155 a.m., 85 miles NbE½E (north by east, a half east -- 16.875°) from North Cape[?], in position 72°34N, 27°56E, the U-Boat attacked the armed English steamer Olive Branch, 4649 t., carrying munitions from England for Arkhangelsk. Since the steamer was not sunk by a torpedo hit, U-28 came to close range to finish her with gunfire. The second shell hit the cargo of munitions, which detonated with an enormous explosion, whereby the U-boat was so badly damaged that it sank. Some men of the crew of U-28 were seen swimming, but were not picked up by the Olive Branchs lifeboats. No survivors.

Parenthetical comments added. All hands lost meant 39 dead.

A British description of the same event, Under the Black Ensign by R.S. Gwatkin-Williams, states that when the ammunition detonated, a truck carried as deck cargo was blown into the air and fell from a great height on the U-boat, sinking it. While it is not impossible that a doomed but heroic lorry wreaked vengeance for King and Country, the blast from the explosion probably laid the submarine over far enough to swamp her open hatches.

The second U-28 was a Type VIIA submarine of the Kriegsmarine. Her keel was laid down December 2, 1935, by AG Weser of Bremen. She was launched[?] on July 14, 1936, and commissioned[?] into the Kriegsmarine on September 12, 1936, with Kapitänleutnant Wilhelm Ambrosius in command. Ambrosius was succeeded by nine other commanding officers over the next eight years.

U-28 conducted six patrols, sinking 13 ships totalling 56,272 tons and damaging two others totalling 10,067 tons.

U-28 sank by accident on March 17, 1944, at the U-boat pier in Neustadt[?], The boat was raised in March 1944 but was stricken on August 4, 1944. The submarine's crew suffered no casualties during her career.