In Lovecraft’s “The Temple,” what is the German submarine called? The submarine is U-29. It is commanded by Karl Heinrich, Graf von Altberg-Ehrenstein, whose found manuscript records the vessel’s final voyage during World War I.
The story opens with Altberg identifying himself as the commander of U-29. After the crew sinks a British freighter, strange events begin: an ivory carving is recovered from a dead sailor, the submarine is drawn southward by an unexplained current, and the crew suffers nightmares, madness, and mutiny.
U-29 eventually loses the ability to navigate and sinks toward the ocean floor. There, Altberg discovers an ancient underwater city and a temple connected to the ivory object. The vessel’s number is fictional within Lovecraft’s story, even though Germany used real U-boat designations during World War I. U-96 and U-505 are common distractors because they are famous real submarines associated with later naval history, not with this tale.