U-1 Class Submarine (Austria-Hungary) - Design and Construction

Design and Construction

In 1904, after allowing the navies of other countries to pioneer submarine developments, the Austro-Hungarian Navy ordered the Austrian Naval Technical Committee (MTK) to produce a submarine design. The January 1905 design developed by the MTK and other designs submitted by the public as part of a design competition were all rejected by the Navy as impracticable. They instead opted to order two submarines each of designs by Simon Lake, Germaniawerft, and John Philip Holland for a competitive evaluation. The two Lake-designed submarines comprised the U-1 class. The Navy ordered plans for the building of two boats—designated U-1 and U-2—from the Lake Torpedo Boat Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut, in 1906.

The U-1-class design had several features typical of Lake's designs, including a diving chamber under the bow and two variable pitch propellers. Lake's design also called for two retractable wheels that, in theory, could allow travel over the seabed. The design also placed the diving tanks above the waterline of the single, cylindrical hull, which necessitated a heavy ballast keel for vertical stability. The propulsion system for the U-1 class consisted of two gasoline engines for surface running and two electric motors for running while submerged. For underwater steering and maneuverability, the design featured four pairs of diving planes.

The boats were 100 feet (30 m) long by 15 feet 9 inches (4.80 m) abeam and had a draft of 12 feet 8 inches (3.86 m). As designed, each boat displaced 229.7 metric tons (226.1 long tons) surfaced and 248.9 metric tons (245.0 long tons) submerged. Both of the submarines had three 45-centimeter (17.7 in) torpedo tubes—two in the bow, one in the stern—and could carry up to five torpedoes, but typically carried three. Each submarine was also armed with a 37-millimeter (1.5 in) deck gun.

U-1 and U-2 were laid down in July 1907 at the navy yard at Pola, and were launched in February and April 1909, respectively.