U-156-- Part 1: Originally Built to Carry Cargo Between the U.S. and Germany

From Wikipedia.

Was commissioned 22 August 19 1917.  Responsible for sinking 44 Allied ships (including one warship) and damaging three others.  It also was the German participant in the attack on Orleans, Massachusetts.

Was built in Bremen, Germany, one of the seven submarines built in the Deutschland-class designed to carry cargo between the United States and Germany.  Five of them, including the U-156 were converted into long-range cruiser U-boats with 5.9-inch deck guns.

On 15 June 1918, the U-156  slipped through the North Sea and into the Atlantic Ocean, heading for Long Island and then to New York harbor with orders to lay mines.  Records show that she lay a field of mines off the south shore of Long island just east of the Fire Island Lightship.

On 8 July it scuttled the Norwegian-owned Manx King

A mine laid by the U-156 is credited with sinking the armored cruiser USS San Diego on July 19, 1918, about ten miles southeast of Fire Island, New York.

--DaCoot