SM U-5 (Austria-Hungary)

"U-V" redirects here. For ultraviolet (UV), see Ultraviolet. For other uses, see UV (disambiguation).

SM U-5
U-5, at the trials
History
Austria-Hungary
NameSM U-5
Ordered1906[1]
BuilderWhitehead & Co., Fiume[3]
Laid down9 April 1907[2]
Launched10 February 1909[3]
Sponsored byAgathe Whitehead[4]
Commissioned1 April 1910[2]
FateCeded to Italy as war reparation and scrapped, 1920[5]
Service record
Commanders:
  • Urban Passerar
  • 1 April 1910 – 5 September 1912[6]
  • Lüdwig Eberhardt
  • 5 September 1912 – 8 June 1914
  • Friedrich Schlosser
  • 8 June 1914 – 22 April 1915
  • Georg Ritter von Trapp
  • 22 April – 10 October 1915
  • Lüdwig Eberhardt
  • 10 October – 23 November 1915
  • Friedrich Schlosser
  • 23 November 1915 – 15 July 1917
  • Alfons Graf Montecuccoli
  • 27 August – 31 October 1918
Victories:
  • 2 warships sunk
    (12,641 tons)[6]
  • 1 auxiliary warship sunk
    (7,929 GRT)
  • 1 merchant ship taken as prize
    (1,034 GRT)
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-5 or U-V was the lead boat of the U-5 class of submarines or U-boats built for and operated by the Austro-Hungarian Navy (German: Kaiserliche und Königliche Kriegsmarine, 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 first of three boats of the class built by Whitehead & Co. of Fiume after a design by Irishman John Philip Holland.

U-5 was laid down in April 1907 and launched in February 1909. The double-hulled submarine was just over 105 feet (32 m) long and displaced between 240 and 273 metric tons (265 and 301 short tons), depending on whether surfaced or submerged. U-5'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 April 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 scored most of her wartime successes during the first year of the war while under the command of Georg Ritter von Trapp. The French armoured cruiser Léon Gambetta, sunk in April 1915, was the largest ship sunk by U-5. The sinking of Italian troop transport ship SS Principe Umberto in June 1916 with the loss of 1,926 men, was the worst naval disaster of World War I in terms of human lives lost. In May 1917, U-5 hit a mine and sank with the loss of six men. She was raised, rebuilt, and recommissioned, but sank no more ships. At the end of the war, U-5 was ceded to Italy as a war reparation, and scrapped in 1920. In all, U-5 sank three ships totaling 7,929 gross register tons (GRT) and 12,641 tons.

  1. ^ Gibson and Prendergast, p. 384.
  2. ^ a b Sieche, p. 21.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Gardiner, p. 343.
  4. ^ Berkowitz, p. 82, note 1.
  5. ^ a b Sieche, p. 22.
  6. ^ a b Helgason, Guðmundur. "WWI U-boats: KUK U5". German and Austrian U-boats of World War I - Kaiserliche Marine - Uboat.net. Retrieved 24 November 2008.
  7. ^ Sieche, p. 17.