SM U-46
Introduction '''SM ''U-46''''' was one of the 329 submarines serving in the Imperial German Navy in World War I. ''U-46'' was engaged in the combat during World War I and took part in the First Battle of the Atlantic. After the war, she served in the Imperial Japanese Navy as '''''O-2'''''.
Imperial German Navy Ordered on 4 August 1914, ''U-46'' was constructed at the Kaiserliche Werft in Danzig, Germany. Launched on 18 May 1915, she was commissioned on 17 December 1915.Assigned to the III Flotilla, ''U-46'' began her first war patrol on 29 March 1916.Remaining in the III Flotilla for the rest of the war, she conducted a total of 11 war patrols before the war ended on 11 November 1918 and was credited with sinking 51 merchant ships totaling 138,942 gross register tons and one auxiliary warship of 1,372 gross register tons and damaging one merchant ship of 7,378 gross register tons.After the end of the war, she surrendered to Japan on 26 November 1918.===Summary of raiding history===DateNameNationalityTonnageFate29 September 1916''Ravn''1,260Sunk29 September 1916''Sinsen''1,925Sunk30 September 1916''Hafnia''962Sunk30 September 1916''Hekla''950Sunk4 October 1916''Brantingham''2,617Sunk6 October 1916''Erika''2,430Sunk9 October 1916''Astoria''4,262Sunk11 October 1916''Iolo''3,903Sunk16 December 1916''Chassie Maersk''1,387Sunk16 December 1916''Taki Maru''3,208Sunk16 December 1916''Gerda''775Sunk17 December 1916''Bayhall''3,898Sunk19 December 1916''Falk''948Sunk23 December 1916''Marques De Urquijo''2,170Sunk25 December 1916''Marie Pierre''166Sunk27 December 1916''Aislaby''2,692Sunk27 December 1916''Goulfar''259Sunk21 March 1917''Hindustan''3,692Sunk23 March 1917''Argo''1,563Sunk24 March 1917''Montreal''3,342Sunk1 April 1917''Aztec''3,727Sunk3 April 1917''Hesperus''2,231Sunk5 April 1917''Benheather''4,701Sunk7 April 1917''Fiskaa''1,700Sunk15 May 1917''Grosholm''1,847Sunk17 May 1917''Lewisham''2,810Sunk18 May 1917''Llandrindod''3,841Sunk18 May 1917''Penhale''3,712Sunk20 May 19171,372Sunk22 May 1917''Tansan Maru''2,443Sunk24 May 1917''Jersey City''4,670Sunk24 July 1917''Brumaire''2,324Sunk24 July 1917''Zermatt''3,767Sunk25 July 1917''Peninsula''1,384Sunk25 July 1917''Purley''4,500Sunk27 July 1917''Begona No. 4''2,407Sunk31 July 1917''Shimosa''4,221Sunk22 October 1917''Zillah''3,788Sunk24 October 1917''Ilderton''3,125Sunk28 October 1917''Baron Balfour''3,991Sunk4 November 1917''Irina''2,210Sunk7 November 1917''Obj''1,829Sunk27 January 191813,405Sunk31 January 1918''Towneley''2,476Sunk1 February 1918''Cavallo''2,086Sunk3 February 1918''Lutece''1,346Sunk5 February 1918''Cresswell''2,829Sunk13 March 1918''Crayford''1,209Sunk18 March 1918''Atlantic Sun''2,333Sunk30 March 1918''Stabil''538Sunk25 May 1918''Rathlin Head''7,378Damaged16 September 1918''Tasman''5,023Sunk25 September 1918''Gloire a Jesus''60Sunk
Imperial Japanese Navy Transferred to Japan after surrendering, the submarine was commissioned into the Imperial Japanese Navy in 1920 as ''O-2''. Decommissioned in 1921, she was partly dismantled at the Kure Naval Arsenal in April 1921.A photo of U-46 apparently at the time of transfer to Japan shows the submarine docked and flying the flag of the Imperial Japanese Navy over the flag of the Imperial German Navy.Some sources claim that ''O-2'' was scrapped in 1922.Other sources claim that in 1925, ''O-2'' was rebuilt at Yokosuka Naval Arsenal to serve as a testbed for submarine salvage operations by the submarine salvage ship ''Asahi'' and foundered in the Pacific Ocean in a storm off the coast of Japan during her transfer voyage from Yokosuka to Kure on 21 April 1925, adding that an American merchant ship sighted her derelict hulk floating in the Pacific west of Oahu, Hawaii, on 5 August 1927, and that the hulk subsequently was scuttled.
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