U-5-class submarine (Austria-Hungary)

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U-5, the lead boat of the U-5 class, as seen in a pre-war postcard
U-5, the lead boat of the U-5 class, as seen in a pre-war postcard
Class overview
Builders
Fiume[1]
Operators Austro-Hungarian Navy
Preceded byU-3 class
Succeeded by
U-7 class
Built1909–1911
In commission1910–1918
Completed3
Lost2
Preserved0
General characteristics
Typesubmarine
Displacement
  • 240 t (240 long tons) surfaced
  • 273 t (269 long tons) submerged[1]
Length105 ft 4 in (32.11 m)[1]
Beam13 ft 9 in (4.19 m)[1]
Draft12 ft 10 in (3.91 m)[1]
Propulsion
Speed
  • 10.75 knots (19.91 km/h) surfaced
  • 8.5 knots (15.7 km/h) submerged[1]
Range
  • 800 nmi (1,500 km) @ 8.5 knots (15.7 km/h) surfaced
  • 48 nmi (89 km) @ 6 knots (11.1 km/h) submerged[1]
Complement19[1]
Armament2 × 45 cm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes (both in front); 4 torpedoes[3]

The U-5 class was a class of three submarines or U-boats that were operated by the Austro-Hungarian Navy (German: Kaiserliche und Königliche Kriegsmarine or K.u.K. Kriegsmarine) before and during World War I. The class was a part of the Austro-Hungarian Navy's efforts to competitively evaluate three foreign submarine designs.

The design of the boats was based upon the

Whitehead & Co. at Fiume. The third was completely constructed by Whitehead's at Fiume and purchased by Austria-Hungary
to bolster their U-boat fleet after the outbreak of World War I.

All three boats had successes during World War I; between them they sank five ships with a combined tonnage of 22,391. In addition they captured seven ships as

war reparation
and was broken up in 1920.

Design and construction

In 1904, after allowing the navies of other countries to pioneer submarine developments, the

Fiume in 1906.[7]

The U-5 class was built to the same design as the C class for the US Navy[8] and was built by Robert Whitehead's firm of Whitehead & Co. under license from Electric Boat.[1] Components for the first two Austrian boats were manufactured by the Electric Boat Company and assembled at Fiume, while the third boat was a speculative private venture by Whitehead that failed to find a buyer and was purchased by Austria-Hungary upon the outbreak of World War I.[8]

The U-5-class boats had a single-

gasoline engines while surfaced, but suffered from inadequate ventilation which resulted in frequent intoxication of the crew.[6] While submerged, they were propelled by twin electric motors.[1]

The first two boats, U-5 and U-6, were ordered by the Austro-Hungarian Navy for evaluation and were partially assembled in the United States, shipped to Fiume, and riveted together by Whitehead & Co., which, author Edwin Sieche reports, "caused a lot of trouble".[5] U-5 was launched in February 1909 and was followed in June by the launch of U-6.[1] Both boats were commissioned by April 1910.[9]

The third boat, originally named SS-3, was built on speculation entirely at Whitehead's in Fiume. The boat's design featured improvements in the electrical and mechanical systems.[1] Gibson and Prendergast report that, when built, SS-3 was powered by electric motors for both surface and submerged running. When the surface performance of the electric motors proved disappointing in trials, SS-3's power-plant was rebuilt to match the gasoline/electric combination used in U-5 and U-6.[10] SS-3 was launched in March 1911 and was offered to the Austro-Hungarian Navy, but because the evaluation of the first two U-5-class boats was still underway, they declined to purchase.[1]

As built, the U-5-class boats were armed with two 45-centimeter (17.7 in) bow torpedo tubes and could carry a supply of four torpedoes.[2] By 1915, all had received a 3.7 cm/23 (1.5 in) deck gun.[9]

Service career

U-5 and U-6 were both

commissioned into the Austro-Hungarian Navy by April 1910, and served as training boats through 1914, making as many as ten training cruises per month. During their early years, each boat was demonstrated to a foreign naval delegation; U-5 to a Peruvian detachment in 1911, U-6 to a Norwegian group in 1910.[9] At the beginning of World War I in August 1914, U-5 and U-6 comprised half of the operational U-boat fleet of the Austro-Hungarian Navy.[11]

In the three years after SS-3's March 1911 launch, Whitehead's attempted to sell the boat to the navies of Peru, Portugal, the Netherlands, Brazil, and Bulgaria, before the Austro-Hungarian Navy rejected an offer for the second time.[1] With the outbreak of war, however, the Austro-Hungarian Navy purchased the unsold submarine to quickly bolster its fleet.[11] Although provisionally commissioned as U-7, she was commissioned as U-12 in August 1914.[9]

By late December 1914, all three of the U-5-class boats were based at the naval base at

armoured cruiser Léon Gambetta.[3] U-12 damaged, but did not sink, the largest ship torpedoed by any of the U-5 class when she hit the French battleship Jean Bart on 21 December 1914.[3]

Of the three boats of the class, only U-5 survived the war intact.

war reparation and scrapped in 1920.[3]

Class members

U-5 sank the French cruiser Léon Gambetta in April 1915 with heavy loss of life.

SM U-5

Main article: SM U-5 (Austria-Hungary)

SM U-5 was

war reparation, and scrapped in 1920.[3] In all, U-5 sank three ships totaling 20,570 combined tonnage.[12]

SM U-6

Main article: SM U-6 (Austria-Hungary)

SM U-6 was

commissioning into the Austro-Hungarian Navy. She served in that capacity through the beginning of World War I in 1914, making as many as ten training cruises a month. U-6 scored only one wartime success, sinking a French destroyer in March 1916. In May that same year, she became entangled in anti-submarine netting deployed as part of the Otranto Barrage. Coming under fire from drifters running the nets, U-6 was abandoned and sunk. All of her crewmen were rescued and were held in captivity through the end of the war.[3]

SM U-12

Main article: SM U-12 (Austria-Hungary)

SM U-12 was built on speculation by

commissioned as U-12 in August 1914.[9] She sank only one ship during the war, a Greek cargo ship in May 1915, but had earlier captured six Montenegrin sailing vessels as prizes in March.[14] U-12 also damaged, but did not sink, the French battleship Jean Bart in December 1914.[16] While searching for targets in the vicinity of Venice in August 1915, U-12 struck a mine that blew her stern off, and sank with all hands,[15] becoming the first Austro-Hungarian submarine sunk in the war.[17] Her wreck was salvaged the next year by the Italians, who interred the bodies of U-12's crewmen in a Venetian cemetery.[18]

Notes

  1. ^ The Lake design became the U-1 class while the Germaniawerft design became the U-3 class.
  2. displacement
    .
  3. ^ Grant (p. 162), Gibson and Prendergast (p. 73), and Halpern (p. 150) report U-12's loss in August 1915, while Sieche (p. 23) and Gardiner (p. 343) report the loss in August 1916.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Gardiner, p. 343.
  2. ^ a b Sieche, p. 17.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Sieche, p. 22.
  4. ^ Friedman, p. 46
  5. ^ a b c Sieche, p. 21.
  6. ^ a b Gardiner, p. 340.
  7. ^ Gibson and Prendergast, p. 384.
  8. ^
    ISBN 978-1-85109-563-6
    .
  9. ^ a b c d e Sieche, pp. 21–22.
  10. ^ Gibson and Prendergast, pp. 384–85.
  11. ^ a b Gardiner, p. 341.
  12. ^ a b c d Helgason, Guðmundur. "Ships hit during WWI: Ships hit by KUK U5". U-Boat War in World War I. Uboat.net. Retrieved 24 November 2008.
  13. ^ a b Helgason, Guðmundur. "Ships hit during WWI: Ships hit by KUK U6". U-Boat War in World War I. Uboat.net. Retrieved 24 November 2008.
  14. ^ a b Helgason, Guðmundur. "Ships hit during WWI: Ships hit by KUK U12". U-Boat War in World War I. Uboat.net. Retrieved 24 November 2008.
  15. ^ a b c Grant, p. 162.
  16. ^ Gibson and Prendergast, p. 69.
  17. ^ Halpern, p. 150.
  18. ^ Sieche, p. 23.

Bibliography

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