SM UB-47

History
German Empire
NameUB-47
Ordered31 July 1915[1]
BuilderAG Weser, Bremen[1]
Yard number249[1]
Laid down4 September 1915[1]
Launched17 June 1916[1]
Commissioned4 July 1916[1]
Decommissioned21 July 1917[1]
FateSold to Austria-Hungary
Service record as UB-47
Part of:
Commanders:
  • Oblt.z.S. Wolfgang Steinbauer[2]
  • 4 July 1916 – 31 March 1917[1]
  • Oblt.z.S. Hans Hermann Wendlandt[3]
  • 1 April – 21 July 1917
Operations: 7 patrols
Victories:
  • 20 merchant ships sunk
    (76,195 GRT)[1]
  • 2 warships sunk
    (11,450 tons)
  • 3 merchant ships damaged
    (16,967 GRT)
Austria-Hungary
NameSM U-47
Acquired21 July 1917
Commissioned30 July 1917
FateCeded to France as war reparation, 1920; scrapped
Service record as U-47
Commanders:
  • Otto Molitor
  • 30 July 1917 – 29 March 1918[4]
  • Reichsfreiherr Hugo von Seyffertitz
  • 4 April – 31 October 1918
Victories:
  • 2 merchant ships sunk
    (6,201 GRT)[4]
  • 1 warship sunk
    (351 tons)
General characteristics [5]
Class and type
Displacement
  • 272 t (268 long tons) surfaced
  • 305 t (300 long tons), submerged
Length
Beam
  • 4.37 m (14 ft 4 in) o/a
  • 3.85 m (12 ft 8 in) pressure hull
Draught3.68 m (12 ft 1 in)
Propulsion
Speed
  • 8.82 knots (16.33 km/h; 10.15 mph) surfaced
  • 6.22 knots (11.52 km/h; 7.16 mph) submerged
Range
  • 6,940 nmi (12,850 km; 7,990 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) submerged
Complement22
Armament

SM UB-47 was a Type UB II submarine or U-boat for the German Imperial Navy (German: Kaiserliche Marine) during World War I. UB-47 was sold to the Austro-Hungarian Navy (German: Kaiserliche und Königliche Kriegsmarine or K.u.K. Kriegsmarine) during the war. In Austro-Hungarian service the B was dropped from her name and she was known as SM U-47 or U-XLVII as a member of the Austro-Hungarian U-43 class.

UB-47 was ordered in July 1915 and was laid down at the AG Weser shipyard in Bremen in September. UB-47 was a little more than 121 feet (37 m) in length and displaced between 270 and 305 tonnes (266 and 300 long tons), depending on whether surfaced or submerged. She was equipped to carry a complement of four torpedoes for her two bow torpedo tubes and had an 8.8-centimeter (3.5 in) deck gun. As part of a group of six submarines selected for Mediterranean service, UB-47 was broken into railcar sized components and shipped to Pola where she was assembled and launched in June 1916, and commissioned in July. Over the next year the U-boat sank twenty-two ships, which included the French battleship Gaulois and two Cunard Line steamers in use as troopships, Franconia and Ivernia.

The German Imperial Navy was having difficulties in finding trained submarine crews and offered to sell UB-47 and a sister boat UB-43 to the Austro-Hungarian Navy. After the terms were agreed to in June 1917, both boats were handed over at Pola. When commissioned into the Austro-Hungarian Navy, the B in her designation was dropped so that she became U-47 or U-XLVII. She sank an additional three ships in Austro-Hungarian service through the end of the war. U-47 was ceded to France as a war reparation in 1920 and broken at Bizerta that same year.

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Helgason, Guðmundur. "WWI U-boats: UB 47". German and Austrian U-boats of World War I - Kaiserliche Marine - Uboat.net. Retrieved 30 January 2009.
  2. ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "WWI U-boat commanders: Wolfgang Steinbauer (Pour le Mérite)". German and Austrian U-boats of World War I - Kaiserliche Marine - Uboat.net. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
  3. ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "WWI U-boat commanders: Hans Hermann Wendlandt (Royal House Order of Hohenzollern)". German and Austrian U-boats of World War I - Kaiserliche Marine - Uboat.net. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
  4. ^ a b Helgason, Guðmundur. "WWI U-boats: KUK U47". German and Austrian U-boats of World War I - Kaiserliche Marine - Uboat.net. Retrieved 30 January 2009.
  5. ^ Gröner 1991, pp. 23–25.