U-5 Class Submarine (Austria-Hungary)

U-5 Class Submarine (Austria-Hungary)

The U-5 class was a class of three submarines or U-boats that were operated by the Austro-Hungarian Navy (German: Kaiserliche und Königliche Kriegsmarine or K.u.K. Kriegsmarine) before and during World War I. The class was a part of the Austro-Hungarian Navy's efforts to competitively evaluate three foreign submarine designs.

The design of the boats was based upon John Philip Holland's submarine design and featured a single, teardrop hull, which resembled the design of modern nuclear submarines. The class members were just over 105 feet (32 m) long and displaced 240 metric tons (260 short tons) surfaced and 273 metric tons (301 short tons) submerged. All were originally equipped with two bow torpedo tubes and could carry four torpedoes. The first two boats, U-5 and U-6, built specifically for the Austro-Hungarian Navy, to the same design as the United States C class submarine were partially constructed in the United States and completed at Whitehead & Co. at Fiume. The third was completely constructed by Whitehead's at Fiume and purchased by Austria-Hungary to bolster their U-boat fleet after the outbreak of World War I.

All three boats had successes during World War I; between them they sank five ships with a combined tonnage of 22,391. In addition they captured seven ships as prizes and damaged Jean Bart, a French dreadnought of 22,189 tons displacement. All three boats were sunk during the war, though U-5, the lead boat of the class, was raised and recommissioned after her sinking. After the war's end, U-5, the only survivor of the class, was ceded to Italy as a war reparation and was broken up in 1920.