U-118, a World War One submarine washed ashore on the beach at Hastings, 1919

When the town of Hastings woke up one morning to see one of Kaiser's U-boats on their beach, it caused some shock. Thousands of tourists gathered to see the submarine built on the beach. The Admiralty allowed the town clerk to charge people for boarding the deck.

Two members of the Coast Guard were tasked with showing important visitors inside the submarine. Visits were cut short when both men became seriously ill, both of whom died shortly afterwards.

It was a mystery who killed the men at the time and so all travel in the sub was stopped, it was later discovered that the chlorine gas that was coming out of the battery of SM U-118 caused severe abscesses on the lungs and brain Had given. Unfortunate man.

SM U-118 was commissioned on 8 May 1918 after construction at the AG Vulkan Stettin shipyard in Hamburg. It was commanded by Herbert Stohwasser and joined the I Flotilla operating in the eastern Atlantic.

On 16 September 1918, after nearly four months without any ships, SM U-118 made its first strike on another naval vessel.

With the end of hostilities on 11 November 1918, the Imperial German Navy surrendered, including SM U-118, to France on 23 February 1919. After surrender, U-118 was to be transferred to France, where it would be broken up. for scrap.

However, in the early hours of 15 April 1919, as it was being driven through the English Channel to Scapa Flow, a storm broke its dragging Hauser. The ship capsized at around 12:45 a.m. on the beach in Hastings, Sussex, directly opposite the Queens Hotel.

Initially, an attempt was made to displace the stricken vessel; Three tractors attempted to re-float the submarine and a French destroyer attempted to sever the ship with cannons.

However these attempts were unsuccessful and the submarine's proximity to the public beach and the Queens Hotel prevented further use of explosive forces. Eventually, between October and December 1919, U-118 was dismantled and the pieces were dismantled and sold for scrap.

This type of U-boat had a length of 81.5 m, speed: 11.5 knots (21.3 km/h; 13.2 mph) surfaced and 7 knots (13 km/h; 8.1 mph) submerged, test depth: 75 m (246 ft) . Total crew: 36 men. SM U-118 was a Type UE II mine-laying submarine of the Imperial German Navy and one of 329 submarines that served with that navy during World War I.