SM U-6 (Austria-Hungary)

U-5, as seen in a pre-war postcard
U-6, as seen in a pre-war postcard
History
Austria-Hungary
NameSM U-6
Ordered1906[1]
BuilderWhitehead & Co., Fiume[3]
Laid down21 February 1908[2]
Launched12 June 1909[3]
Commissioned1 July 1910[4]
FateTrapped in anti-submarine net and scuttled, 13 May 1916[2]
Service record
Commanders:
  • Georg Ritter von Trapp
  • 1 July 1910 – 24 June 1913[4]
  • Nikolaus Halavanja
  • 24 June 1913 – 22 July 1915
  • Albrecht Graf von Attems
  • 22 July – 5 August 1915
  • Urban Passerar
  • 5 – 31 August 1915
  • Lüdwig Eberhardt
  • 31 August – 10 October 1915
  • Nikolaus Halavanja
  • 10 October – 21 November 1915
  • Hugo von Falkhausen
  • 21 November 1915 – 13 May 1916
Victories: 1 warship sunk
(756 tons)[4]
General characteristics
Class and typeU-5-class submarine
Displacement
  • 240 t surfaced
  • 273 t submerged[3]
Length105 ft 4 in (32.11 m)[3]
Beam13 ft 9 in (4.19 m)[3]
Draft12 ft 10 in (3.91 m)[3]
Propulsion
Speed
  • 10.75 knots (19.91 km/h) surfaced
  • 8.5 knots (15.7 km/h) submerged[3]
Range
  • 800 nmi (1,500 km) at 8.5 knots (15.7 km/h) surfaced
  • 48 nmi (89 km) at 6 knots (11.1 km/h) submerged[3]
Complement19[3]
Armament

SM U-6 or U-VI was a U-5-class submarine or U-boat built for and operated by the Austro-Hungarian Navy (German: Kaiserliche und Königliche Kriegsmarine or K.u.K. Kriegsmarine) before and during the First World War. The submarine was built as part of a plan to evaluate foreign submarine designs, and was the second of three boats of the class built by Whitehead & Co. of Fiume after a design by Irishman John Philip Holland.

U-6 was laid down in February 1908 and launched in June 1909. The double-hulled submarine was just over 105 feet (32 m) long and displaced between 240 and 273 tonnes (265 and 301 short tons), depending on whether surfaced or submerged. U-6's design had inadequate ventilation and exhaust from her twin gasoline engines often intoxicated the crew. The boat was commissioned into the Austro-Hungarian Navy in July 1910, and served as a training boat—sometimes making as many as ten cruises a month—through the beginning of the First World War in 1914.

The submarine had only one wartime success, which was sinking a French destroyer in March 1916. Later that year, in May, U-6 became entangled in anti-submarine netting deployed as part of the Otranto Barrage. Coming under fire from Royal Navy's 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.

  1. ^ Gibson and Prendergast, p. 384.
  2. ^ a b Sieche, p. 22.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Gardiner, p. 343.
  4. ^ a b c Helgason, Guðmundur. "WWI U-boats: KUK U6". German and Austrian U-boats of World War I - Kaiserliche Marine - Uboat.net. Retrieved 26 November 2008.
  5. ^ a b Sieche, p. 17.