U-14 was ordered in February 1909 and built at
Kaiserliche Werft Danzig. The boat was launched in July 1911 and commissioned into the Navy on 24 April 1912. At the start of
World War I the boat was commanded by
Kapitänleutnant Walther Schwieger. It left port in early August 1914 in a coordinated attack on the British naval base at
Scapa Flow, but was unable to reach the target and did not sink any merchant shipping. Both other Type U 13 class boats were lost during the operation, being lost soon after leaving port and sunk on 9 August by the
light cruiser . Schwieger left the boat in December 1914 to take command of . He was replaced by Kapitänleutnant Otto Dröscher who had previously commanded
U-20. On 12 February 1915,
U-14 was damaged by an air raid on the German-occupied port of
Zeebrugge in Belgium. Dröscher commanded the boat until April 1915, at which time he was replaced as commander by
Oberleutnant zur See Max Hammerle.
Fate With Hammerle in command
U-14 sunk two merchant ships on its final patrol in early June 1915, both of them neutral vessels. The Danish steamer
Cyrus en route from
Burntisland in Scotland to Copenhagen with a cargo of coal was sunk on 2 June in the
North Sea off of
Peterhead. The following day the Swedish steamer
Lappland, bound for Scotland with a cargo of iron ore, was torpedoed close by. On 5 June,
U-14 approached the trawler
Oceanic II, again off Peterhead, firing a series of warning shots.
Oceanic II was an armed
Q-ship and returned fire, before being joined by the armed trawler
Hawk.
U-14 was hit several times, and, unable to escape by submerging, sank at after being rammed by
Hawk. Six officers and 21 ratings were captured, although Hammerle, the U-boat's commanding officer, died after refusing to leave the boat. ==Summary of raiding history==