| "...Soon after the 11 November armistice ended hostilities, UB-88 surrendered along with the other warships of the High Seas Fleet. They were interned - probably at Harwich, England - on 26 November 1918. When the United States Navy expressed an interest in acquiring several German submarines to be used in conjunction with the current Victory Bond drive and to enable American crews to learn their supposed secrets, UB-88 and five other boats were allocated to the United States with the agreement that they would be destroyed upon the conclusion of the bond campaign. Naval personnel were dispatched from the United States early in 1919, and they took over the warship on 23 March 1919. Soon thereafter, UB-88 was placed in special commission for the voyage across the Atlantic, Lt. Cmdr. Joseph L. Nielson in command." |
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| Four of the U-boats turned over the US at the end of WWI are tied alongside each other in New York's Navy Yard, sometime between April 27 and May 5, 1919. The UB-88 can be seen in the center of the photo. |
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| The UB-88 transits the Panama Canal, accompanied by the sub tender, USS Bittern. |
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| "After a brief period allotted to the crew to make repairs and familiarize
themselves with the foreign submarine's machinery, UB-88 stood out
of Harwich on 3 April in company with Bushnell (Submarine Tender No. 2
) and three other former German U-boats - U-117, UC-97, and UB-148. That
task unit, dubbed the Ex-German Submarine Expeditionary Force, steamed
via the Azores
and Bermuda to New York, where it arrived on 27 April. Not long after reaching New York, UB-88 and the other four boats became the center stage attraction for a horde of tourists, reporters, and photographers, as well as for technicians from the Navy Department, submarine builders, and equipment suppliers. During her stay in New York, UB-88 received additional refurbishment in preparation for her participation in the bond drive." |
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| "Finally, orders arrived dispersing five of the six U-boats to different
sections of the American coasts and waterways for visits to various ports
along the way. UB-88 drew the longest itinerary of the five U-boats.
She was assigned to the ports on the east coast south of Savannah, Ga.;
ports on the Gulf coast; the Mississippi River as far north as Memphis,
Tenn., and the west coast. She
departed New York on 5 May in company with her tender, the Coast Guard ship Tuscarora. On the first part of the cruise, she visited Savannah, Jacksonville, Miami, and Key West. At the time she departed Key West, the submarine had to bid farewell to Tuscarora, because boiler trouble forced the cutter to remain there for repairs. Bittern (Minesweeper No. 36) became her tender and escorted the U-boat through the remainder of her voyage." |
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| "From Key West, UB-88 headed for Tampa, thence to Pensacola,
and on to Mobile and New Orleans. At the latter port, she entered the Mississippi
River. For the next month, she made calls at ports large and small along
the great river. Though her schedule originally called for her to travel
as far north as St. Louis, Mo., she made it only as far as Memphis before
the rapidly falling water
level forced her to cut short her voyage on the Mississippi and head down river. UB-88 returned to New Orleans on 1 July and entered drydock for repairs to her port tail shaft. The submarine completed repairs on 22 July and departed New Orleans to begin a cruise to ports along the Texas coast and thence to the Canal Zone. A breakdown between Houston, Tex., and Colon, Canal Zone, meant that Bittern had to tow the submarine the final 200 miles into Colon. After receiving repairs, provisions, and visitors, UB-88 transited the canal on 12 August. Following a two-day visit to Balboa, she headed north along the Mexican coast to San Diego and, after stops at Acapulco and Manzanillo in Mexico, reached her destination on 29 August." |
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| "The last leg of her voyage took the submarine north to San Pedro, Santa Barbara, Monterey, and San Francisco in California, Astoria and Portland in Oregon; and Seattle, Tacoma, and Bremerton in Washington. On the return voyage, she stopped at San Francisco only, departing that port on 6 November for the submarine base at San Pedro, where she arrived the next day. After being laid up at San Pedro for four months, UB-88 began the dismantling process on 1 April 1920. That operation was completed by 31 August, and UB-88 was placed out of commission on 1 November 1920. The following spring, the U-boat returned to sea for the last time, and, on 1 March 1921, she took her final plunge when Wickes (DD-75) sank her with gunfire." |
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| This picture from the Los Angeles Times is likely the last picture taken of the UB-88. Photographed from the Battleship New Mexico, it shows the stern of the UB-88 lifting up out of the water as her bow plummets towards the bottom. |
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