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 Holland submarines comprised the U-5 class. The Navy authorized two boats, U-5 and U-6, from Whitehead & Co. of Fiume in 1906.
The U-5 class was built to the same design as the C class for the US Navy and was built by Robert Whitehead's firm of Whitehead & Co. under license from Holland and his company, Electric Boat. Components for the first two Austrian boats were manufactured by the Electric Boat Company and assembled at Fiume, while the third boat was a speculative private venture by Whitehead that failed to find a buyer and was purchased by Austria-Hungary upon the outbreak of World War I.
The U-5 class boats had a single-hulled design with a teardrop-shape that bore a strong resemblance to modern nuclear submarines. The boats were just over 105 feet (32 m) long and displaced 240 tonnes (260 short tons) surfaced, and 273 tonnes (301 short tons) submerged. The torpedo tubes featured unique, cloverleaf-shaped design hatches that rotated on a central axis. The ships were powered by twin 6-cylinder gasoline engines while surfaced, but suffered from inadequate ventilation which resulted in frequent intoxication of the crew. While submerged, they were propelled by twin electric motors.
The first two boats, U-5 and U-6, were ordered by the Austro-Hungarian Navy for evaluation and were partially assembled in the United States, shipped to Fiume, and riveted together by Whitehead & Co., which, author Edwin Sieche reports, "caused a lot of trouble". U-5 was launched in February 1909 and was followed in June by the launch of U-6. Both boats were commissioned by April 1910.
The third boat, originally named SS-3, was built on speculation entirely at Whitehead's in Fiume. The boat's design featured improvements in the electrical and mechanical systems. Gibson and Prendergast report that, when built, SS-3 was powered by electric motors for both surface and submerged running. When the surface performance of the electric motors proved disappointing in trials, SS-3's power-plant was rebuilt to match the gasoline/electric combination used in U-5 and U-6. SS-3 was launched in March 1911 and was offered to the Austro-Hungarian Navy, but because the evaluation of the first two U-5-class boats was still underway, they declined to purchase.
As built, the U-5-class boats were armed with two 45-centimeter (17.7 in) bow torpedo tubes and could carry a supply of four torpedoes. By 1915, all had received a 3.7 cm/23 (1.5 in) deck gun.
Read more about this topic: U-5 Class Submarine (Austria-Hungary)
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