The biting April wind sends dark waves over the submarine. Until now, the spring of 1917 has been unusually cold.

They are far from land, but Captain Heinrich Stenzler knows that he will soon have German soil beneath his feet on the island of Heligoland west of Denmark.

He has chosen the safe route home and is sailing closer to the Danish west coast than planned in order to avoid the British naval mines that fill the North Sea.

But what he doesn't know is that a few days previously, the British Royal Navy had laid a new mine field off the west coast. In the middle of the passage through which he is about to guide his 26-man crew.

This is the story of Captain Johan Heinrich Wilhelm Maximilian Stenzler and the final voyage of the UC-30. The last of the sunken German submarines from World War I, which, it appears, has now been found.

The First World War (1914-1918) is well known for the bloody and exhausting trench warfare on the Western Front. But a war was also being fought in the waters of the North Sea, a war that cost the lives of thousands of soldiers and civilians.

The British Navy is both bigger and stronger than that of the Germans. However, with the use of submarines and sea mines the Germans are able to match the British.

Submarine warfare is regarded as both devious and ungentlemanlike, but after losing several warships and merchant vessels to the Germans, the British decide to 'fight fire with fire'.

With 45,000 sea mines in the German Bight and off the west coast of Jutland and 70,000 sea mines in the Skagerrak, the sea becomes transformed into a veritable death trap.

Captain Heinrich Stenzler finds himself caught in the midst of this war. He has made a career in the German Navy since, at the age of 19 in 1905, becoming a sea cadet.

In 1915 he chooses to join the German submarine fleet, where he is quickly promoted to captain. The UC-30 is the first submarine he has under his command.

On 30 March 1917, the UC-30 sets out on its fourth voyage. Its task is to lay sea mines to the south of the Irish coast as part of a blockade of British merchant shipping.

"Don't expect to hear from me for the next four weeks." In order to placate his mother at home in Germany, Stenzler writes in a letter shortly before departure, "There's no need to worry,

the mood is good." The German struggle against the British warships and merchant ships has proved effective, and there's a sense that victory is within reach.

So even though the German submarine warfare is regarded as cowardly and contrary to good practices governing warfare, they continue undeterred.

Heinrich Stenzler himself is thrilled to be a part of the submarine fleet, something he makes no secret of in his letters home.

Not only has he been involved in laying sea mines, he has also been responsible for the UC-30 having sent two British warships and a Norwegian ship to the bottom.

Stenzler feels that in the submarine fleet he is making a difference. Here he can be permitted to fight at the front line, where he is sure that the war will be won.

"I hope that here I will finally be allowed to achieve something great," he wrote to his mother.

On 4 April 1917 the submarine passes the British steamer Hunstanton. A merchant ship heading for London with a large cargo of wheat, and the perfect target for one of the UC-30's torpedoes.

The UC-30 dives to safety below the surface, only its periscope protruding, so that the submarine's commander is able to see Hunstanton's position.


At a weight of almost one and a half tonnes, a length of around seven metres and 200 kilograms of explosives in the nose section, it is a minor feat to launch a torpedo below sea level.

The crew can control which direction they send the torpedo. Whether or not it hits its target depends on the flow and the speed of the target.

The British merchant ship's location is checked once again before the torpedo is sent in the direction of the over 4,000 tonne steamer.

Now the crew of the UC-30 can do nothing but wait.

With the British at their heels, Stenzler and the UC-30 embark on the journey home.

As the steamer, Hunstanton is going down, the British Navy get wind of the German submarine, and a fleet of destroyers is sent out to send the UC-30 to the bottom.

But Stenzler does not maintain much radio contact with the base on Heligoland, making it difficult for the British to track him and the UC-30

Nevertheless, the British sail off along the northern route that they reckon Stenzler has taken.

Despite gales from the north, the UC-30 is sailing mainly on the surface. It is risky. When they are above the water, they are openly visible to the enemy, but it is impossible to be constantly submerged.

This is where the British spot them, and quickly set out after the submarine. Stenzler quickly orders the UC-30 to dive, and it comes as a surprise to the British.

Reports had stated otherwise, that the German submarine couldn't dive because of the engine problems. But it could, and Stenzler is able to get the crew safely below the surface.

The UC-30 is ready to sail south towards Heligoland along 'Weg Blau', which is the safe way home through the minefields, reports Heinrich Stenzler.

This is the last radio contact that the base on Heligoland has with the submarine.

On 20 June 1917 a body is washed ashore north of Søndervig in Sonder Nissum Parish on the west coast of Jutland. It is Heinrich Stenzler.

The captain and his crew never reach Heligoland. On the way south they hit a British mine.

Heinrich Stenzler is in the submarine's conning tower with Sergeant Heinrich Carstens and Sergeant Reinholdt Meissner. They are the only ones flung clear of the boat, while the rest of the crew sinks to the seabed along with the submarine and the 18 sea mines.

And after two months in the dark waters, the three bodies are washed ashore on the west coast of Denmark. Stenzler and Carstens north of Søndervig and Meissner north of Esbjerg.

It's not something that arouses much attention. Dead sailors on the beach are not a rarity during the First World War.

There are numerous victims of battles at sea during the war and the west coast of Jutland is the natural final destination for those ending their days in the waters of the southern part of the North Sea.

Meissner and Carstens are buried in the churchyard at Ny Sogn not far from Søndervig.

Captain Stenzler is buried in Sonder Nissum parish, but later, at the request of relatives, is moved to his home town in eastern Germany, where he is reinterred.