SM U-12 (Austria-Hungary)

U-12 entering Pola Harbor in 1914
History
Austria-Hungary
NameSM U-12
BuilderWhitehead & Co., Fiume[2]
Laid down1909[1]
Launched14 March 1911 as SS-3[2]
AcquiredAugust 1914[1]
Commissioned21 August 1914[1]
FateSunk by mine, August 1915, raised and scrapped late 1916[1]
Service record
Commanders:
  • Egon Lerch
  • 21 August 1914 – 12 August 1915[3]
Victories:
  • 1 merchant ship sunk
    (1,065 GRT)[3]
  • 1 warship damaged
    (22,189 tons)
  • 6 merchant ships taken as prize
    (6 GRT + Unknown GRT)
General characteristics
Class and typeU-5-class submarine
Displacement
  • 240 t surfaced
  • 273 t submerged[2]
Length105 ft 4 in (32.11 m)[2]
Beam13 ft 9 in (4.19 m)[2]
Draft12 ft 10 in (3.91 m)[2]
Propulsion
Speed
  • 10.75 knots (19.91 km/h) surfaced
  • 8.5 knots (15.7 km/h) submerged[2]
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[2]
Complement19[2]
Armament

SM U-12 or U-XII was a U-5-class submarine or U-boat built for and operated by the Austro-Hungarian Navy before and during the First World War.

Built on speculation by Whitehead & Co. of Fiume, the submarine was launched as SS-3 in March 1911 and featured improvements in the electrical and mechanical systems from the design by the American John Philip Holland, to which her older sister boats, SM U-5 and U-6, had been built.

SS-3 was laid down in 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. Whitehead tried selling SS-3 to several different navies, but she was bought by the Austro-Hungarian Navy after the outbreak of World War I, despite having been rejected by them twice before. She was commissioned as U-12 in August 1914.

The submarine sank only one ship, a Greek cargo ship in May 1915, but she had earlier captured six Montenegrin sailing vessels as prizes in March. U-12 also damaged, but did not sink, the French battleship Jean Bart in December 1914. 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, becoming the first Austro-Hungarian submarine sunk in the war. Her wreck was salvaged the next year by the Italians, who interred U-12's crewmen in a Venetian cemetery.

  1. ^ a b c d Sieche (1980), p. 22.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Gardiner, p. 343.
  3. ^ a b Helgason, Guðmundur. "WWI U-boats: KUK U12". German and Austrian U-boats of World War I - Kaiserliche Marine - Uboat.net. Retrieved 26 November 2008.
  4. ^ a b Sieche (1980), p. 17.