Design and Construction
After the Austro-Hungarian Navy had competitively evaluated three foreign submarine designs, it selected the Germaniawerft 506d design, also known as the Type UD, for its new U-7 class of five submarines. The Navy ordered five boats on 1 February 1913.
The U-7 class was seen by the Austro-Hungarian Navy as an improved version of its U-3 class, which was also a Germaniawerft design. As designed for the Austro-Hungarian Navy, the boats were to displace 695 metric tons (766 short tons) on the surface and 885 metric tons (976 short tons) while submerged. The double-hulled boats were to be 228 feet (69 m) long (OA) with a beam of 20 feet 8 inches (6.30 m) and a draft of 12 feet 5 inches (3.78 m). The Austrian specifications called for two shafts with twin diesel engines (2,300 brake horsepower (1,700 kW) total) for surface running at up to 17 knots (31 km/h), and twin electric motors (1,240 shaft horsepower (920 kW) total) for a maximum of 11 knots (20 km/h) when submerged. The boats were designed with five 45 cm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes; four located in the bow, one in the stern. The boats' armament was to also include a single 66 mm/26 (2.6 in) deck gun.
U-7 and sister boat U-8 were both laid down on 1 November 1913, the first two boats of the class begun. Their construction was scheduled for completion within 29 to 33 months, but neither U-7 nor any of her sister boats were complete when World War I began in August 1914. Because the boats were under construction at Kiel on the Baltic Sea, the Austrians became convinced that it would be impossible to take delivery: the boats would need to be transferred into the Mediterranean past Gibraltar, a British territory. As a result, U-7 and her four sisters were sold to the Imperial German Navy on 28 November 1914.
U-7 was renumbered by the Germans as U-66 when her class was redesignated as the Type U 66. The Imperial German Navy had the submarines redesigned and reconstructed to German standards, increasing the surface and submerged displacements by 96 and 48 metric tons (106 and 53 short tons), respectively. The torpedo load was increased by a third, from 9 to 12, and the deck gun size was upgraded from the 66-millimeter (2.6 in) size originally specified to 88 millimeters (3.5 in).
Read more about this topic: SM U-66
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