by Erwin Sieche (erwin.sieche@sbausparkasse.co.at)
The following has been excerpted from "Austro-Hungarian Warships InPhotographs, Vol. 2. 1896-1918" by Baumgartner & Sieche, translation courtesy ofErwin Sieche.
The 100feet singlehull boatsU 1 andU 2, based on plans prepared by the American engineer Simon Lake, were builtat the Naval Arsenal Pola between June 1907 and April 1909. Special features of the Lake boats were diver locks andretractable wheels fixed to the keel. It was expected that the wheels would permit the boats to roll along the sea bottom.Because of the diving tanks being part of the deck superstructure, diving time amounted to eight minutesthe timerequired to fill them up. During the following years the boats were subjected to elaborate trials, showing that theyperformed excellently when sailing submerged. Originally the boats were equipped with gasoline engines leased fromthe Lake Corporation for surface cruising. Due to the high risk fire and poisoning fumes of these engines, they werereplaced by Diesel engines of domestic production in 1915.
The slightly bigger doublehull boatsU 3 andU 4 were built by the Krupp Germania shipyard at Kiel (work numbers135 and 136) between spring 1907 and November 1908, and then towed to Pola. Their seagoing properties andonboard space was better than those of their competitors, but Germania had huge problems with depth steering. Thestern diving rudders were converted several times.
The singlehull boatsU 5 andU 6 corresponded with the type designed by the American engineer John Philip Holland,the US SubmarineOctopus. The boats were preproduced at the Electric Boat Company yard in New York, and theparts reassembled under a license agreement by Whitehead & Co., Fiume (now Rijeka). Because of their distinctive"teardropshape" the boats had excellent underwater cruising abilities.
Whitehead & Co. built at their own risk an improved Hollandboat, theS.S.3, by incorporating all experience andlessons learned from the first two boats. However, the A.H. Navy showed no interest, because it had decided to acquireseagoing bigger boats in the meantime. In addition available funds were exhausted. The shipyard offered to boat laterto numerous navies but without any success.
Whitehead & Co. built three singlehull boatsHavmanden (Waterman),Thetis, and2. April for Denmark in 1911/12.They were further developments of the Hollandtype boats for which licenses had been obtained from the Electric BoatCompany. The boats met expectations and the Danish navy classified the submarinetype asHavmanden AclassFollowing the original designs four more unitsNymfen, Najaden, andHavfruen. were built at the State ShipyardCopenhagen under the supervision of Whitehead engineers. AustroHungarian submarine officers naturally inspectedthe boats while under construction at Fiume (Rijeka) and were impressed by the good use of available space and theshipyard's accurate workmanship.
After concluding comparative trials the A.H. Navy laid down its requirements for future submarines: 500tdisplacement, 18 knots speed above surface and 12 knots below, two to three bow torpedo tubes, two side or sterntubes. Bids were received from the Whitehead shipyard, offering their Type KI, developed as "colonial submarine" forthe Dutch Government. The Germania Shipyard, Kiel offered as a project further development of theU 3/U 4 type.Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino (STT) submitted a very general proposal since they had no previous experience insubmarine construction.
Finally it was decided to accept Type 506d of the Germania Shipyard. Supporting this decision was the experience ofthe Germans, the reliability of the Germaniaboats, and the "fighting price" which was 8% below those offered by thecompetitors. Five boats were ordered from Kiel on February 1, 1913 and laid down between November 1, 1913 andFebruary 11, 1913 under work numbers 203207. Construction paid attention to Austrian industrial suppliers andrecognized special A.H. Navy demands and incorporated Austro-Hungarian developments in the design. The boatswere launched on April 22, May 15, June 1, June 24, and July 20, 1915; but at this stage they were already sold to theImperial German Navy. AustriaHungary thought soon after the outbreak of the war, that it would not be feasible totransfer the boats through enemy controlled waters into the Adriatic; overland transport was impossible due to theboats' size. Consequently the five boats were officially sold to Germany on November 28, 1914. They werecommissioned as GermanU 66 toU 70. Rumors that the boats were confiscated by Germany are false. Soon after thesale it was discovered, belatedly, that the transaction had been premature, because the German submarineU 21(Hersing) arrived at the Bocche di Cattaro sailing from Wilhelmshaven on May 13, 1915. It had traveled the long anddangerous journey without enemy interference and demonstrated that submarines of this size could well venture intothe Mediterranean.
At the beginning of the war the A.H. submarine arm had at its disposal six, only conditionally useable trial boats andimmediate action for a rapid buildup was called for. As a first step, theS.S.3, not yet sold, was bought andcommissioned asU 12. Due to time pressure the Navy had to fall back on available and tried constructions.
Negotiations with the Imperial Navy Department in Berlin for submitting plans and parts of the UBI type dragged onat the beginning. Since funds were available due to the sale ofU 7 toU 11, the Navy decided to build submarines of theHavmandentype, for which blueprints existed as well as some materials which had been stockpiled for plannedfollowon boats. However, many parts of this type were protected by patents and license agreements, in addition theneutral USA was not permitted to supply war materials to any belligerent country. A solution was found by establishinga new corporation, the Hungarian Submarine Construction jointstock Company (UBAGUngarischeUnterseebootsbau A.G.) with headquarters in Fiume and a branch office at Linz/Austria. Staff was seconded fromWhitehead, in a manner that the new firm was working under the supervision and warranty of Whitehead. To theoutside world it was a wholly independent enterprise under the influence of the Navy. Subsequently the Navyconfiscated the construction plans in accordance with existing war emergency laws, and planned to construct ten boatsof this type. Since these boats were coastal submarines and the Navy Command preferred an oceangoing type, onlyfourHavmanden boats were ordered. Delivery date was set at 15 months.
Due to the Monarchy's dual state nature, an embarrassing and bitter political quarrel in the middle of the war! ensuedabout placing the orders, which ended only after a compromise was reached: the submarines should be built byStabilimento Tecnico in part at their shipyard at Linz, in part by the Naval Arsenal Pola. Assembly should take place,according to the prevailing situation, either with Ganz & Co. Danubius, Fiume or Pola. The result was that the orderwas split into two lots of two boats each, with different appearance and equipment. Due to increasing shortages ofmaterials, lack of skilled labor, and acts of sabotage, construction delays occurred and the boats were ready for serviceonly at the end of 1917 and saw little action.
An unexpected windfall came through the capture of the French submarineCurie. The French navy was the only onethat accorded tactical importance to submarine warfare and had developed a sizeable submarine fleet. When war brokeout France disposed of 79 submarines ready for action. It did not take long before the first appeared in the Adriatic. Oneof them was theCurie of theBrumaireclass, built by the Toulon Naval Shipyard and launched on July 18, 1912. TheBrumaireclass was the Diesel version of thePluviôse, designed by the French engineer Maxim Laubeuf. She wastowed by the French armored cruiserJules Michelet up the midAdriatic and went into a waiting position off theNavy's main base Pola. When theCurie tried to sneak into the harbor on December 12, 1914, she got helplesslyentangled in the submarine net barrage and had to surface 5 hours later to disembark its crew. The intruder was firedupon by the destroyerMagnet and the torpedo boatTb 63 T and sank at the entrance of the harbor. Three crew memberswere killed but 23 survived. In remembrance of the boat's Second Officer a French submarine of the interwar periodwas namedPierre Chailley; another one, theO'Byrne, was named after the captain who died in France in 1917 afterhaving been released from AustroHungarian captivity.
The wreck was salvaged in steps from a depth of 39 m in the time from December 21, 1914 till February 2, 1915. Theboat was only slightly damaged and due to the demand for big submarines the boat was repaired and commissioned asU 14 on June 6, 1915.
The extended negotiations with Germany had finally come to an end by March 1915 and resulted in an order of fivesubmarines of the UB I type. This type was well known to the A.H. Navy since the Imperial German Navy hadtransported itsUB 3, UB 8, andUB 9 by rail to Pola and reassembled them there. From Pola they started operatingagainst the Allied forces at the Dardanelles.
The first boat was bought by the A.H. Navy on April 4, 1915, a 'sample' UB I boat, with construction having beenstarted already on November 1, 1914 at the Germania Kiel shipyard. Disassembled into three sections and transportedby rail to Pola for reassembling, it was commissioned on June 4, 1915 because of difficult handling temporarily with aGerman crew as A.H.U 10 under Oberleutnant zur See Wäger. The second boat,UB 15, was bought from the AGWeser and commissioned asU 11, with a German crew under the command of Oberleutnant zur See von Heimburg atPola on June 4, 1915. The boat sank the Italian submarineMedusa off Venice on June 6, 1915. An AustroHungariancrew took over on June 18, 1916.
Three UB I boatsU 15 toU 17 ordered by the A.H.Navy and built by the AG Weser, Bremen (work numbers232234) were commissioned together on October 6, 1915. In the Monarchy these boats were nicknamed 'Okarina' (anItalian musical instrument) because of their shape. Due to their small size they were not appreciated by crews, althoughthey surpassed all previous A.H. submarines in their reliability.
Cantiere Navale Triestino purchased as a next step the license for the construction of the German UB II type from AGWeser, Bremen, which was, however, modified according to requirements by the A.H. submarine arm. Since the CNTMonfalcone shipyard had been conquered by the Italian army, Cantiere had to work as 'subtenant' at the Naval ArsenalPola whereU 27, U 28, U 40, andU 41 were built. Ganz & Co. Danubius builtU 29 toU 32 at its shipyards atBudapest and Fiume. Once more had the Hungarian part of the Monarchy succeeded in obtaining in contravention tothe quota regulations 50 percent of the order despite the fact that necessary construction installations were notavailable.
Both shipyards exceeded the delivery dates. Main reason was not the admittedly poorly equipped shipyards but theunreliability of outside suppliers. The boats were commissioned in stages from January 1917 on, the last beingU 41.The latter being the replacement for the lostU 6 and the last sub built by an AustroHungarian shipyard and stillcommissioned during the war. Since twoU 6 replacement Diesels were still available, the hull had to be lengthened byone frame to accommodate them. All UB II boats saw action during the war.
As early as November 1, 1916, the German Korvettenkapitaen (Cdr.) Arno Spindler inquired privately, in a discussionwith the A.H. Navy Attaché in Berlin, if AustriaHungary might be interested to take over German submarines,because Germany was encountering bottlenecks in finding trained submarine crews. Following extended officialnegotiations the critical point was the outflow of gold reserves to Germany agreement was reached on the purchaseof two UB II submarines which, after extended service, were in poor shape. The presented nevertheless a welcomeaddition to the A.H. submarine force.
U 43 exGermanUB 43 andU 47 ex GermanUB 47 were commissioned by the Imperial German Navy on April 24,and July 4, 1916 respectively. Both had operated in the Mediterranean, were decommissioned on June 21, 1917 andtaken over by the A.H.Navy which commissioned both boats on July 7 of the same year.
Construction of several oceangoing submarines was started during the war but none was completed.
As a consequence of Italy entering the war on May 23, 1915, the strategic framework of the A.H. submarinearm wasfundamentally changed. Oceangoing submarines were urgently needed. The Naval Technical Committee preparedspecifications for an oceangoing submarine in August 1915: a speed of 17 knots above and 10 knots below surface,range 4,000 miles, 34 torpedo tubes, one 7.5 cm gun. It was ironic: half a year earlier the similar submarinesU 7 toU11 were sold to Germany.
All domestic shipyards were invited to submit bids. But they were confronted with immense problems in buildingships. The Cantiere Navale Triestino (CNT) at Monfalcone was founded by the Österreichische Schiffahrts AG and thekoda Werke AG, both owned by the Credit-Anstalt für Handel und Gewerbe which was backed in part by Rothschildcapital. Following Italy's declaration of war, the CNT shipyard at Monfalcone had to be evacuated, because itsproximity to the Italian border. The shipyard was occupied by the Italians on June 8, 1915 and was under heavy artilleryfire by the Austrians during the 2. Isonzo battle from July till September 1915. CNT relocated its construction activitiesto the DDSGshipyard in Budapest/Óbuda with final assembly at the Naval Arsenal in Pola.
Ganz & Co. Danubius at Fiume had no experience in submarine construction and had to enter an agreement withUBAG, a subsidiary of its competitor Whitehead just a stone throw away. Forced by the lack of skilled labor Danubiushad to delegate main works to the DDSG shipyard Budapest/Óbuda where CNT was already engaged in buildingsubmarines.
The Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino (STT) had hardly any skilled staff left since most had been members of the Italianminority. Patriotic reasons led to changing the firm's name to Austriawerft A.G. on October 7, 1916.
Despite war induced shortages of materials and skilled labor the shipyards engaged in bitter fights to obtain contractsfor submarine construction, never shying away from unfair practices. Hanging over that difficult situation was thedemand of the Hungarians to have their quota of 36.4 % of all orders filled. The situation of everybody pitched againsteverybody led to a waste of resources, a confused construction policy, and development of miniseries of different typescompeting against each other. Even politicians lost control. In October 1915 they approved construction of two bigsubmarines, laid down, however, were six, none of them ever completed.
Although the government had approved construction of two submarines only by Ganz & Co. Danubius, CNT wasnegotiating with AG Weser, Bremen since January 1916 to obtain the designs for 800t submarines. In September thefinal government letter of approval stipulated that boats built in accordance with these plans should be built at Budapestand assembled in Pola. The A.H. Navy requested constructive changes not only during the planning stage but alsoduring construction. Together with the shortages of materials it led to further delays:U 48 was about 71%, andU 49only 54% complete by the end of war. Both submarines were broken up at the shipyards in accordance with stipulationsof the peace treaty.
The German Naval Department agreed to let AustriaHungary have the plans for a 700/840t submarine on July 11,1915. Following protracted domestic negotiations, construction by Ganz & Co. Danubius was agreed on February 7,1916. In November 1918U 50 was 90%, andU 51 about 60% complete. Both boats were broken up at the shipyard inaccordance with stipulations of the peace treaty.
Two more boats of this type got the numbersU 56 andU 57 on September 24, 1918 but construction was never started.
Ganz & Co Danubius had obtained their war time orders. Now the competitors requested consideration. STT andUBAG participated in the tendering procedures of the Fleet Command, with the STT project A 6 declared the winner.The final contract forU 52 andU 53 was issued on August 24, 1918. Hulls of both boats were only 2% complete at theend of the war. On September 24, 1918 numbersU 54 andU 55 were allocated to the same type of submarine.
In May 1916 it was suggested to order submarines of the German UB III type. CNT showed great interest in thisupcoming order, bought the license from AG Weser, and offered to build 10 boats of this type. The order wasapproved by both governments, i.e. the Austrian and Hungarian, with the provision that six boats should be built byAustrian and four by Hungarian shipyards.
U 101 was 47% complete,U 102 by 30%, andU 103 toU 106 by 15% in November 1918. All six boats were broken upon the slip in accordance with stipulations of the peace treaty. The numbersU 118 toU 120 were allocated to threemore boats of this type on September 24, 1918 but construction was never started.
As a consequence of CNT receiving a first order of six 500 t boats, the Hungarian part of the Monarchy, i.e. Ganz & Co. Danubius had to get its share under the quota regulation. For this order the Hungarians bought the plans for typeUBIII (UB 6671) from Germany. By November 1918U 107 was 35%,U 108 by 30%,U 109 by 25%, andU 110 by20% completed; the four boats were broken up at the shipyard in accordance with the peace treaty. Four more boatsreceived the numbersU 111 toU 114 but construction was never started.
Finally, rather late, the Austria Werft A.G. got into the game. The A.H. Navy planned to place an order for three 500tsubmarines with them, and allocated numbersU 115 toU 117 to the planned boats on September 24, 1918.
Actually the A.H. Navy disposed of only 27 boats of the above mentioned types during World War I. One fourth ofthem were lost:U 12 (Lerch) hit a mine on August 12, 1915 while trying to enter the Venice Lagoon (17 dead);U 3(Strnad) attacked the Italian auxiliary cruiserCittà di Catania in the Otranto Straits, was damaged by the enemy shipwhen it tried to ram the boat, and discovered the following morning by the French destroyerBisson which sank thedamaged boat through gunfire (7 dead);U 6 (Falkenhausen) got entangled in a submarine net at the Otranto barrage,could not free itself and the skipper scuttled the boat when armed trawlers approached; the complete crew was takenprisoner by the Italians;U 16 (Zopa) sank the Italian destroyerNembo on October 17, 1916 but got rammed by theItalian freighterBorminda, and sankdamaged beyond repair (2 dead), the rest of the crew going into Italian captivity;U30 (Fähndrich) sailed from Gjenovic/Bocche di Cattaro on March 3, 1917 and was reported missing (21 dead);U 4(Schlosser) hit a mine on a training cruise in the Canal of Fasana on February 21, 1918 (6 dead), but was salvaged andcommissioned again;U 23 (Bézard) was sunk by the Italian torpedo boatAirone with an explosive sweep on February21, 1918 (21 dead);U 20 (Müller) was sunk by two torpedoes fired by the Italian submarineF 12 off the mouth of theTagliamento River on June 7, 1918 (18 dead); the wreck was salvaged in June 1962, remains of the crew interred at theburial grounds of the Austrian Military Academy at Wiener Neustadt, the tower is on exhibit at the Austrian MilitaryHistory Museum, Vienna;U 10 (Sterz) hit a mine off Caorle on July 9, 1918, was beached, subsequently looted by it'sown military, towed to Trieste for repairs, but the boat got not back into service till the end of the war.
Due to their modest technical possibilities A.H. submarines operated mainly in the Adriatic and the easternMediterranean, while German submarines, operating out of AustroHungarian bases, led warfare throughout theMediterranean. Nevertheless 108 merchant vessels were sunk by A.H. submarines with a total displacement of196,093 GRT, including small coastal sail and steamships. Sinking of another 11 merchant vessels of 41,000 GRT isunconfirmed. Enemy warships sank by the A.H. submarines include the French armored cruiserLeon Gambetta, theItalian armored cruiserGiuseppe Garibaldi, the British destroyerPhoenix, French destroyersRenaudin andFourche,Italian destroyersImpetuoso andNembo, the Italian submarineNereide and the FrenchCirçé. They damaged the FrenchbattleshipJean Bart, the British light cruisersDublin andWeymouth, and the Japanese destroyerSakaki. Not bad for anew arm, more or less, established under the restrictive war conditions. This the more when comparing the strength ofthe AustroHungarian submarine fleet with those of its adversaries: France had 79 and Italy 25 submarines at theirdisposal when war started.
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