Background
Austria-Hungary's U-boat fleet was largely obsolete at the outbreak of World War I. The Austro-Hungarian Navy satisfied its most urgent needs by purchasing five Type UB I submarines that comprised the U-10 class from Germany, by raising and recommissioning the sunken French submarine Curie as U-14, and by building four submarines of the U-20 class that were based on the 1911 Danish Havmanden class.
After these steps alleviated the most urgent needs, the Austro-Hungarian Navy had adopted the German Type UB II design for what became known as the Austro-Hungarian U-27 class in mid 1915, and had six of that class being built under license in Austria-Hungary by late 1916. In November 1916, Germany had inquired to find out if Austria-Hungary were interested in purchasing existing German submarines because Germany was having a hard time finding trained submarine crews. After protracted negotiations, which had stalled over the outflow of Austro-Hungarian gold reserves to Germany, an agreement to purchase two submarines—UB-43 and UB-47—was reached in June 1917.
Read more about this topic: U-43 Class Submarine (Austria-Hungary)
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