German Type UB III submarine

German Type UB III submarine

The UB III type submarine was a class of U-boat built during World War I by the Kaiserliche Marine.

UB III boats carried 10 torpedoes and were armed with one 88 mm deck gun. They carried a crew of 34 and had a cruising range of around 9,000 miles. Between 1916 and 1918 96 were built. [ [http://uboat.net/wwi/types/index.html?type=UB+III uboat.net - U-boat War in WWI - U-boat Types ] ]

The UB III type coastal submarine, despite being a submersible torpedo boat was less akin to UB-II type "attack" (i.e torpedo-launching) boats that preceded it than the highly successful UC-II type minelaying submarine. The UC-IIs had gained their fearsome reputation by sinking more than 1800 Allied and neutral vessels. [ [http://uboat.net/wwi uboat.net - The U-boat War in World War One (WWI) ] ] German engineers did not miss the chance of expanding the potential of this capable design by incorporating some of her features into a new submersible torpedoboat.

The UB-IIIs joined the conflict during the first days of the year 1917, at a time when the tide of the war was turning against Germany. In the months that followed, the United States Navy was added to the ranks of their enemies; and the convoy system was introduced, making it difficult to engage enemy merchant shipping without being spotted by destroyer escorts. [ Greg Goebel, The First Battle of the Atlantic, http://www.vectorsite.net/twsub2.html>] Nevertheless, the UB-IIIs performed their duties with distinction, sinking 567 ships before the end of hostilities.

Germany was prohibited from acquiring a new submarine force by the Treaty of Versailles, but her admirals had no intention of allowing their nation to forget how to construct submarines. Germany started to manufacture and to export slightly modified versions of UB-IIs and UB-IIIs. Having kept the skills of their engineers polished with this little trick, they eventually ordered the construction of a new coastal submarine. The resulting design was nothing more than an improved UB-III that had the benefit of new, all-welded construction techniques and an array of electronic and electromechanical gadgets: The famous Type VII submarine, the most common U-boat of the Kriegsmarine, was born. [ U-Boats of the Kaiser's Navy, G.Williamson and I.Palmer, 2002 ]

References


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • German Type UB II submarine — The UB II type submarine was a class of U boat built during World War I by the Kaiserliche Marine. UB III boats carried 6 torpedoes, one 88 mm deck gun and a crew of 23 and had a cruising range of around 6,650 miles. 30 were built in 1915 and… …   Wikipedia

  • German Type VII submarine — Type VII U boats were the workhorses of the German World War II U boot waffe . Type VII was based on earlier German submarine designs going back to the World War I Type UB III, designed through the Dutch dummy company Ingenieurskantoor voor… …   Wikipedia

  • German Type XIV submarine — Class overview Builders: Deutsche Werke (U 459 to U 464) Germaniawerft (U 487 to U 490) Operators …   Wikipedia

  • Submarine — For other uses, see Submarine (disambiguation). A Japan Maritime Self Defense Force Oyashio class submarine in 2006 A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which… …   Wikipedia

  • submarine — n. /sub meuh reen , sub meuh reen /; adj., v. /sub meuh reen /, n., adj., v., submarined, submarining. n. 1. a vessel that can be submerged and navigated under water, usually built for warfare and armed with torpedoes or guided missiles. 2.… …   Universalium

  • German battleship Tirpitz — A recognition drawing of Tirpitz prepared by the US Navy …   Wikipedia

  • German Empire — This article is about the unified German monarchy existing from 1871 to 1918. For Germany before 1806, see Holy Roman Empire. For Germany between 1918 and 1933, see Weimar Republic. For Germany between 1933 and 1945, see Nazi Germany. For German… …   Wikipedia

  • Submarine communications cable — A cross section of a submarine communications cable. 1 Polyethylene 2 Mylar tape 3 Stranded steel wires 4 Aluminium water barrier 5 Polycarbonate 6 Copper or aluminium tube 7 Petroleum jelly 8 Optical fib …   Wikipedia

  • German submarine U-3 — Unterseeboot 3 or U 3 has been the name of several German submarines or U boats during the First World War, the Second World War and in the post war Bundesmarine (now Deutsche Marine).* Unterseeboot 3 (1909) was a German submarine built in 1909… …   Wikipedia

  • German Revolution of 1918–19 — Infobox Military Conflict conflict=German Revolution of 1918 19 caption=A Freikorps group during the German revolution. partof= place=Germany date=November 1918 ndash; 1919 result=Weimar Republic government victory… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”