Construction
The German Imperial Navy ordered its first fifteen Type UB I boats on 15 October 1914. Eight boats—numbered UB-1 to UB-8—were ordered from Germaniawerft of Kiel, and seven boats—numbered UB-9 to U-15—from AG Weser of Bremen. After two of the class, UB-1 and UB-15, were sold in February 1915 to ally Austria-Hungary (becoming U-10 and U-11 in the Austro-Hungarian Navy), the German Imperial Navy ordered UB-16 and UB-17 from Weser. A further three for Austria-Hungary —U-15, U-16, and U-17—had been ordered from Weser by April, bringing the total number constructed to twenty.
UB-1 and UB-2 were laid down on 1 November 1914 at the Germaniawerft yard at Kiel. UB-1 was launched on 22 January 1915, just 75 working days later. UB-2's launch followed on 13 February. Among the Weser boats, UB-9 was laid down first, on 6 November 1914, and launched on 6 February 1915, a week ahead of UB-2. These first three boats launched underwent trials in home waters, but most of the other members of the class were shipped via rail and underwent trials at their assembly point.
The process of shipping the submarines by rail involved breaking the submarines down into what was essentially a knock down kit. Each boat was broken into approximately fifteen pieces and loaded on to eight railway flatcars. Type UB I boats destined for service with the Flanders Flotilla made a five-day journey to Antwerp for the two- to three-week assembly process. After assembly at Antwerp the boats were towed by barge to Bruges for trials. Boats selected for service in the Mediterranean were sent to the Austro-Hungarian port of Pola for assembly. The total time from departure of the railcars from the shipyard to operational readiness for the boats was about six weeks.
By July 1915 all seventeen of the German Imperial Navy Type UB Is had been completed.
Read more about this topic: German Type UB I Submarine
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