SM U-1 (Germany)

Last updated
SM U 1 800px.jpg
SM U-1 at sea
History
War Ensign of Germany 1903-1918.svg German Empire
NameU-1 [1]
Ordered3 December 1904 [2]
Builder Germaniawerft, Kiel
Cost1,905,000 Goldmark
Yard number119 [2]
Laid downOctober 1905 [2]
Launched4 August 1906 [2]
Commissioned14 December 1906 [2]
Decommissioned19 February 1919 [1]
StatusOn display in the Deutsches Museum in Munich, Germany [1]
General characteristics [1]
Class and type German Type U 1 submarine
Displacement
  • 238  t (234 long tons) surfaced
  • 283 t (279 long tons) submerged [1]
Length
Beam3.75 m (12 ft 4 in)
Draught3.17 m (10 ft 5 in)
Installed power
Propulsion
  • 2 shafts
  • 2 × 1.30 m (4 ft 3 in) propellers
Speed
  • 10.8 knots (20.0 km/h; 12.4 mph) surfaced
  • 8.7 knots (16.1 km/h; 10.0 mph) submerged
Range
  • 1,500  nmi (2,800 km; 1,700 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) surfaced
  • 50 nmi (93 km; 58 mi) at 5 knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph)
Test depth30 m (98 ft)
Complement2 officers, 10 men (later 3/19)
Armament1 × 45 cm (17.7 in) torpedo tube with 3 C/03 torpedoes
Service record
Part of:
  • Training Flotilla
  • 1 August 1914 - 11 November 1918
Operations: none
Victories: No ships sunk or damaged

SM U-1, also known in English as the German Type U 1 submarine, was the first U-boat class of the U-boat series of submarines produced for the German Empire's Imperial German Navy. Only one was built. The U-1 was constructed by Germaniawerft in Kiel and was commissioned on 14 December 1906. [3] When World War I began in 1914, the U-1 was deemed obsolete and was used only for training until 19 February 1919, when it was struck by another vessel while on an exercise.

Contents

Design

U1-Gesamtansicht vom Heck her.JPG

The SM U-1 was a redesigned Karp class submarine by Austrian born engineer Raimundo Lorenzo de Equevilley Montjustín  [ de ] [4] working for the German shipbuilding company Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft. The main improvements over the export Karp class included trim tanks instead of a moveable weight, a redesigned forecastle to improve seagoing ability, a 10 cm (3.9 in) larger diameter and strengthened pressure hull which prevented oil leakage from the external tanks, a rearrangement of the internal equipment and a heavier ballast keel.

Center controls of U-1 Munich - Deutsches Museum - 07-0437.jpg
Center controls of U-1

The Imperial German Navy avoided the use of gasoline due to the perceived risk of fires and explosions that had caused many accidents in early submarines, and instead of the gasoline engines that had powered the Karp boats, U-1 was given much safer Körting kerosene engines. While normally kerosene engines were started using gasoline, the U-1's engines avoided even this and instead used electrically-heated air.

The Körting engines could not be reversed and also had to run at full speed, since their rpm could not be varied to any useful extent, and as a consequence U-1 was fitted with adjustable-pitch propellers to allow her speed to be controlled. These propellers were abandoned in later designs due to their poor efficiency, kerosene-electric propulsion being used instead before diesel propulsion was finally installed in the U-19 class in 1912-1913.

History

Construction on U-1 began in the autumn of 1904. The boat began its trials in August 1906, a year later than originally planned. The total cost amounted to 1,905,000 Mark (equivalent to €11,620,000 in 2016). [5] [1] After suffering damage from a collision while on a training exercise in 1919, U-1 was sold to the Germaniawerft foundation at the Deutsches Museum in Munich where it was restored and can be viewed on display. A large portion of the starboard hull has been removed to allow visitors to see the submarine's interior.

Related Research Articles

SM U-2 was a German U-boat built for the Imperial German Navy. Only one of the type, sometimes called German Type U 2 submarine, was built. U-2 was ordered from Kaiserliche Werft of Danzig on 4 March 1906, launched on 18 June 1908, and commissioned into the Imperial German Navy on 18 July 1908. She conducted no war patrols and spent World War I as a training platform.

SM <i>U-5</i> (Germany)

SM U-5 was a German Type U 5 U-boat built for the Imperial German Navy. She was commissioned 2 July 1910 in Germaniawerft in Kiel. She served in World War I under the command of Kptlt. Johannes Lemmer, with no recorded sinkings of enemy ships on two patrols. She was lost in an accident off the Belgian coast on 18 December 1914, and sank with no survivors - all of her 29 crew members died.

SM <i>UB-46</i> German Imperial Navys Type UB II submarine

SM UB-46 was a Type UB II submarine or U-boat for the German Imperial Navy during World War I. UB-46 operated in the Mediterranean and the Black Seas, and was sunk by a mine in December 1916.

<i>Karp</i>-class submarine Warship

The Karp class were a class of submarines built by Krupp Germaniawerft for the Imperial Russian Navy. The class, composed of three boats were ordered in the 1904 emergency programme as a result of the Russo-Japanese War. The design was a twin hull type powered by a kerosene-electric power plant with a 16-fathom diving limit. The boats were delivered late for the war and transferred to the Black Sea Fleet by rail in 1908. In 1909, Kambala was lost. The other two submarines remained in service until their withdrawal in March 1917. They were taken over in April 1918 by the Ukrainian State before being captured by the German Empire in May and transferred to the British following the German surrender in November. The British scuttled Karp and Karas in 1919 to prevent their capture by the Soviets.

SM U-115 was a German Type U 115 U-boat of the Imperial German Navy built at Schichau-Werke, Elbing. As her sister ship SM U-116, she was never completed and ultimately broken up in Danzig after the armistice. Her main engines were used in M/S Adolf Sommerfeld ex SMS Gefion. Both boats had been offered to the IGN free of charge by Schichau in an attempt to gain experience in building submarines. When construction of the two boats began to lag behind due to shortages in raw materials and lack of experience in submarine construction, they were declared "war boats" (Kriegsboote), formally ordered by the Reichsmarineamt and given their respective designation. Though 14 more boats of the class were ordered on 29 June 1918 for delivery in 1919, on 20 October 1918, Schichau-Werke reported U 115 would not be ready for delivery until the spring of 1919. None of the 16 planned units would be complete before the end of the war.

SM <i>UB-3</i> German U-boat during World War I

SM UB-3 was a German Type UB I submarine or U-boat in the German Imperial Navy during World War I. She disappeared on her first patrol in May 1915, and was the first of her class to be lost.

SM UB-22 was a German Type UB II submarine or U-boat in the German Imperial Navy during World War I. The U-boat was ordered on 30 April 1915 and launched on 9 October 1915. She was commissioned into the German Imperial Navy on 2 March 1915 as SM UB-22. The submarine sank 27 ships in 18 patrols for a total of 16,645 gross register tons (GRT). UB-22 was mined and sunk in the same incident with the torpedoboat SMS S16 in the North Sea at 54°40′N6°32′E on 19 January 1918 in a British minefield.

SM UB-36 was a German Type UB II submarine or U-boat in the German Imperial Navy during World War I. The U-boat was ordered on 22 July 1915 and launched on 15 January 1916. She was commissioned into the German Imperial Navy on 22 May 1916 as SM UB-36.

SM UB-38 was a German Type UB II submarine or U-boat in the German Imperial Navy during World War I.

SM UB-39 was a German Type UB II submarine or U-boat in the German Imperial Navy during World War I.

SM UB-40 was a German Type UB II submarine or U-boat in the German Imperial Navy during World War I.

SM UB-41 was a German Type UB II submarine or U-boat in the German Imperial Navy during World War I.

SM <i>UB-66</i> German submarine

SM UB-66 was a German Type UB III submarine or U-boat in the German Imperial Navy during World War I. She was commissioned into the German Imperial Navy on 1 August 1917 as SM UB-66.

SM <i>UB-67</i>

SM UB-67 was a German Type UB III submarine or U-boat in the German Imperial Navy during World War I. She was commissioned into the German Imperial Navy on 23 August 1917 as SM UB-67.

SM <i>UB-69</i>

SM UB-69 was a German Type UB III submarine or U-boat in the German Imperial Navy during World War I. She was commissioned into the German Imperial Navy on 12 October 1917 as SM UB-69.

SM <i>UB-70</i>

SM UB-70 was a German Type UB III submarine or U-boat in the German Imperial Navy during World War I. She was commissioned into the German Imperial Navy on 29 October 1917 as SM UB-70.

SM <i>UB-71</i> German type UB III U-boat (submarine)

SM UB-71 was a German Type UB III submarine or U-boat in the German Imperial Navy during World War I. She was commissioned into the German Imperial Navy on 23 November 1917 as SM UB-71.

SM <i>UB-84</i>

SM UB-84 was a German Type UB III submarine or U-boat in the German Imperial Navy during World War I. She was commissioned into the German Imperial Navy on 31 October 1917 as SM UB-84. UB-84 was lost in a collision on 7 December 1917 in the Baltic Sea at 54°35′N10°11′E.

SM <i>UB-133</i> German submarine

SM UB-133 was a German Type UB III submarine or U-boat built for the German Imperial Navy during World War I. Completed after the end of hostilities, she was not commissioned into the German Imperial Navy but surrendered to Britain in accordance with the requirements of the Armistice with Germany. In 1922 she was broken up in Rochester.

SM <i>UB-136</i>

SM UB-136 was a German Type UB III submarine or U-boat built for the German Imperial Navy during World War I. Completed after the end of hostilities, she was not commissioned into the German Imperial Navy but surrendered to Britain in accordance with the requirements of the Armistice with Germany. In 1922 she was broken up in Rochester.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Gröner 1991, p. 3.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Rössler 1985, p. 26.
  3. Showell, p. 30
  4. "SM U-1". www.routeyou.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  5. "Kaufkraftäquivalente historischer Beträge in deutschen Währungen" [Purchasing Power Equivalence of Historic Sums in German Currencies](PDF). German Federal Bank. October 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 May 2016. Retrieved 14 January 2017.

Bibliography

48°7′N11°35′E / 48.117°N 11.583°E / 48.117; 11.583