SM UB-8

For other ships with the same name, see German submarine U-8.

SM UB-8
SM UB-8
History
German Empire
NameUB-8
Ordered15 October 1914[1][2]
BuilderGermaniawerft, Kiel[3]
Yard number246[4]
Laid down4 December 1914[4]
LaunchedApril 1915[5]
Commissioned23 April 1915[4]
FateSold to Bulgaria, 25 May 1916[4]
Service record as UB-8
Part of:
Commanders:
  • Oblt. Ernst von Voigt
  • 23 May 1915 – 15 May 1916[4]
Operations: 14 patrols[4]
Victories: 1 merchant ship sunk
(19,380 GRT)[4]
Bulgaria
Name
  • Podvodnik No. 18
  • Bulgarian: Подводник №18
Acquiredpurchased 25 May 1916
Commissioned25 May 1916
FateSurrendered to France, broken up at Bizerta, August 1921
Service record as Podvodnik No. 18
Part of: Bulgarian Navy
Commanders:
  • Nikola Todorov[6]
  • Ivan Variklechkov
General characteristics [7]
Class and typeType UB I submarine
Displacement
  • 127 t (125 long tons) surfaced
  • 142 t (140 long tons) submerged
Length28.10 m (92 ft 2 in) (o/a)
Beam3.15 m (10 ft 4 in)
Draft3.03 m (9 ft 11 in)
Propulsion
Speed
  • 6.47 knots (11.98 km/h; 7.45 mph) surfaced
  • 5.51 knots (10.20 km/h; 6.34 mph) submerged
Range
  • 1,650 nmi (3,060 km; 1,900 mi) at 5 knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph) surfaced
  • 45 nmi (83 km; 52 mi) at 4 knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph)
Test depth50 metres (160 ft)
Complement14
Armament
Notes33-second diving time

SM UB-8 was a German Type UB I submarine or U-boat in the German Imperial Navy (German: Kaiserliche Marine) during World War I. She was sold to Bulgaria in 1916 and renamed Podvodnik No. 18 (Bulgarian: Подводник №18), and was the first ever Bulgarian submarine.[6]

UB-8 was ordered in October 1914 and was laid down at the AG Weser shipyard in Bremen in November. UB-8 was a little under 28 metres (92 ft) in length and displaced between 127 and 141 tonnes (125 and 139 long tons), depending on whether surfaced or submerged. She carried two torpedoes for her two bow torpedo tubes and was also armed with a deck-mounted machine gun. UB-8 was originally one of a pair of UB I boats sent to the Austro-Hungarian Navy to replace an Austrian pair to be sent to the Dardanelles, and was broken into sections and shipped by rail to Pola in March 1915 for reassembly. She was launched and commissioned as SM UB-8 in the German Imperial Navy in April when the Austrians opted out of the agreement.[Note 1]

Although briefly a part of the Pola Flotilla at commissioning, UB-8 spent the majority of her German career patrolling the Black Sea as part of the Constantinople Flotilla. The U-boat sank only one ship, SS Merion, was disguised by the British Admiralty as a Royal Navy battlecruiser as part of a decoy operation. In October, she helped repel a Russian bombardment of Bulgaria.

In May 1916, the submarine was transferred to the Bulgarian Navy as Podvodnik No. 18 and commissioned in a ceremony that was attended by Crown Prince Boris and Prince Kiril. In Bulgarian service, the submarine patrolled the Bulgarian Black Sea coast and had encounters with Russian vessels on several occasions. After the war ended, the submarine was surrendered to France in February 1919 and scrapped at Bizerta in August 1921. However, in July 2011 Viceadmiral Manushev, Commander of the Bulgarian Navy, announced that the submarine, discovered in 2010 at the sea bottom near the town of Varna, is UB-8. Divers discovered manufacturer numbers and according to them the identity is confirmed.

  1. ^ Miller, pp. 46–47.
  2. ^ Williamson 2002, p. 12.
  3. ^ Tarrant, p. 172.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Helgason, Guðmundur. "WWI U-boats: UB 8". German and Austrian U-boats of World War I - Kaiserliche Marine - Uboat.net. Retrieved 19 February 2009.
  5. ^ "UB-8 (6104979)". Miramar Ship Index. Retrieved 5 April 2009.
  6. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Jordanov was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Gröner 1991, pp. 22–23.


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