By the beginning of the First World War, all maritime powers could be rather easily divided into main ones, having significant naval forces with various and numerous ships of all classes, and secondary ones, possessing only purely local fleets, including, at best, a few tens of small units and only a few large warships. The former, of course, include Britain, the United States, Germany, Russia and France; with some doubt, Italy can be added to them. The vast circle of the latter includes most of the rest of Europe and the most developed states of Latin America. Well, and in the third category - countries whose naval forces can only be viewed through a magnifying glass, included other countries of the world, the owners of perhaps a couple or two of very small gunboats (sometimes proudly called "cruisers") and other ships that no longer had combat value at all …
In this almost harmonious system, it is problematic to include only one imperial power, Austria-Hungary. On the one hand, the two-pronged monarchy (often contemptuously referred to as "patchwork" due to the presence in its composition of a mass of peoples of different traditions and religion) then clearly claimed the role of one of the leading countries of Europe, relying mainly on a very numerous (although, as in fact, it turned out that the army was not very efficient), but not forgetting the fleet, although there were very few funds left for it. Austrian engineers (also actually representatives of different nations) turned out to be very inventive and managed to create quite decent, very rational, and in some places simply outstanding ships. On the other hand, this fleet can in no way be called either "world", or even fully Mediterranean, since its intended sphere of action remained a very small Adriatic Sea, where, in fact, the entire coast of the empire went out.
Nevertheless, the last Habsburgs strove to keep their navies up to date. And when the submarines of the leading naval powers began to "make sorties" from their bases, they also wished to have them in the fleet. Recall that at the beginning of the 20th century, the Austro-Hungarian delegation visited the United States on this subject, and after long examinations and negotiations purchased the project from the firm of Simon Lake, known to us as the creator of "underwater chariots".
He had to remove from the custom project the perfect exotic in the face of the use of divers as a "weapon of destruction", replacing them with the now traditional torpedo tube. But his favorite "rudiment" - wheels for crawling along the bottom - remained.
The contract, signed at the end of 1906, provided that two boats would be built in Austria itself, at an arsenal plant in the main base in Pole: the engineers of the empire quite reasonably wanted to get not only the "products" themselves, but also the technologies and skills in their construction. In the end, as we remember, the truly great maritime powers began with this. The boats were laid down in the summer of next year and safely, albeit slowly, for three years, completed, tested and put into operation. Instead of names, they received the same designation as the Germanic ones, Unterseeboote, or abbreviated “U” with a number, fortunately, the official state language of the empire was the same German.
The result is, of course, difficult to call a masterpiece, like most of Lake's products. Small, low-speed submarines with a gasoline internal combustion engine, a steering wheel installed on the bridge only after surfacing, and ballast tanks above a solid hull, filled with pumps, can hardly be considered combat. It is not difficult to imagine how unstable they turned out to be during the immersion, which also took 8-10 minutes! Nevertheless, the poor Austrian navy was very sensitive to them. While in other countries such first ships with the outbreak of hostilities were mercilessly disabled and scrapped, the U-1 and U-2 carefully replaced the gasoline engines with diesel engines and installed new batteries. And they used them very intensively, before the start of the war - for training (both boats made up to a dozen exits to the sea a month!), And in 1915, after Italy joined the Entente, they were used to defend their "nest" - the base in Pole … And so on until the defeat of the Central Powers in 1918. In the form of a kind of mockery, the "wheeled" submarines, when dividing the fleet of the defeated, fell to the eternal rivals, the Italians, who, a few years later, let this "honorable trophy" go to the metal.
The second purchase turned out to be much more successful, this time from its closest ally. We are talking about "U-3" and "U-4", which made a "hole" in the orderly numbering of German submarines. These boats from among the very first Germany chose to sell, having received money and construction experience. Without disdaining an attempt to deceive the "brothers in race": the sellers really wanted to save money on the order, replacing some successful but expensive technical solutions with more "budgetary" ones, considering that inexperienced Austrians would not pay attention to it. There was no such thing: the buyers had already gotten a bit more familiar with the business, bargaining with Lake. As a result, two years later, the "dual monarchy" received its first German underwater "flap", I must say, very successful. The boats cruised around half of Europe, albeit in tow. Having reached the base in the Field, they quickly gained full recognition from the new owners, just like their predecessors, embarking on active training activities. Although by the beginning of the war, these small submarines could no longer be called modern, as we will see, they used them in combat to the fullest.
Simultaneously with the order of this pair from the Germans, the Austrians stubbornly sewed one more “rag” to their colorful “underwater blanket”. There were few sources of new technology in this area, while France, which was in the opposite military-political camp, was completely excluded. As well as Russia, which remained almost the first possible enemy. In fact, in addition to Germany, which was very busy developing its own submarine forces (recall - by this time there were only 2 (!) Submarines), only the United States remained. Lake's products were in great doubt, so the direct route led to the Electric Boat Company, which still riveted submarines under the Holland name.
Austria-Hungary at that time occupied a peculiar position in the world. In particular, she had very long-standing ties with Britain in the field of the production of naval weapons. The main role in this was played by the firm of the Englishman Whitehead, which had long been established in the then Austrian port of Fiume near Trieste (now the Slovenian Rijeka). It was there that experiments were carried out with the first self-propelled torpedoes; at his own plant, the production of deadly "fish", which became the main weapon of submarines, was also launched. And so in 1908, Whitehead decided to join the construction of the submarines themselves. It is not surprising if we recall the financial conditions on which the first combat submarines were created in different countries: the profit could reach tens of percent.(Although the risk was very high: recall a long line of bankrupt firms.) In the meantime, complete "patchwork" prevailed: an Austrian firm with a British owner bought a license to manufacture a pair of boats from Electric Boat, similar to the American Octopus. More precisely, not for production, but for assembly - according to the same scheme as Russia. The submarines were built at a shipyard in Newport, then disassembled, transported across the ocean in transports and delivered to Whitehead for final assembly in Fiume.
As for the boats themselves, a lot has already been said about the American products of the first generation. "Cucumbers" had poor seaworthiness; however, by default it was believed that the Austrians would not let them go far from the base, which is indicated, in particular, by a more than a peculiar feature: the presence of a removable bridge, with which boats could only cruise on the surface. If a dive was planned during the trip, the bridge should be left in the port! In this case, when moving on the surface, the watchman had to show acrobatic abilities, balancing on the hatch cover. The traditional problems associated with the use of a gasoline engine have not disappeared either.
Nevertheless, while both boats, "U-5" and "U-6", by agreement already accepted into the Imperial fleet, were being assembled at his factory, Whitehead decided to build a third, at his own peril and risk. Although some improvements were made to the project, representatives of the Navy completely refused to accept, citing the absence of any contract. So Whitehead got his "fear and risk" in full: the already built boat now had to be attached somewhere. The Englishman went all out, offering the "orphan" to the governments of various countries, from the prosperous Holland to the extremely dubious in relation to the Bulgarian fleet, including the overseas exotic in the face of Brazil and distant Peru. Quite unsuccessful.
Whitehead was saved by a war in which his home country fought on the opposite side! With the outbreak of hostilities, the Austrian fleet became much less picky and bought a third "Holland" from it. The boat entered the fleet as "U-7", but she did not have to sail under this number: at the end of August 1914, the designation was changed to "U-12". For all three, permanent bridges and diesel engines were installed, after which they were released into the sea. And not in vain: it is with these very primitive submarines that the most notorious victories of the Austrian submariners, and the entire imperial fleet, are associated.
The reasons for accepting into the fleet for a long time and already morally obsolete submarine are understandable. By the beginning of the First World War, the submarine forces of Austria-Hungary were in a deplorable state - only five boats capable of going out to sea. And they did not have to wait for replenishment, since they did not manage to establish their own production. Detached from the "trough" Whitehead continued to work with the Americans and became a contractor for the Electric Boat for construction for export. The Fiume plant managed to deliver three licensed hollands to Denmark. The process was closely followed by Austrian officers and officials, who testified to the excellent quality of the building. Therefore, with the outbreak of war, the fleet not only accepted the long-suffering U-7, but also offered the British manufacturer to build four more units according to the same project from the Electric Boat. Whitehead, whose financial position was shaken as a result of all these events, agreed with relief. However, there was a problem with those components that were manufactured in the United States. Overseas, they did not want to violate neutrality in favor of a potential enemy and imposed a supply ban.
As a result, a story already described more than once followed. The "suspicious foreigner" Whitehead was removed from the business he had just started and had just risen from its knees. The Austrians created a front company, Hungarian Submarines Joint Stock Company, which was in fact completely subordinate to the fleet, to which they transferred equipment and personnel from the Whitehead plant. As if as a punishment for unjust oppression, internal squabbles followed. The "second component" of the two-pronged monarchy, the Hungarians, seriously wanted to build those same submarines. The state order for only four units began to be torn apart. As a result, by compromise, one pair went to the Stabilimento Tekhnike Trieste company, which had an extremely negative impact on the timing and quality of the construction. The entire series, "U-20" - "U-23", could be delivered only by the beginning of 1918, when the fleets of all self-respecting countries had already got rid of such hopelessly outdated samples of the first serial "Hollands" in their composition.
So literally torn apart by internal contradictions, Austria-Hungary has once again demonstrated that it is still not the leading maritime power. True, the Austrians managed to hold a competition for a new project, predictably won by the Germans, a year and a half before the start of the war. As a result, Deutschewerft received an order for five units with characteristics, in essence, very close to standard German submarines. Large (635 tons on the surface) and well-armed "U-7" - "U-11" (this is where the "missing" number 7 went) could undoubtedly become a very valuable acquisition. But they did not: with the outbreak of hostilities, their distillation around Europe through the now enemy waters of Britain and France seemed completely impossible. On this basis, the Germans confiscated the Austrian order, finalized the project in accordance with the first experience and completed the construction for themselves.
So the monarchy of Franz Joseph "remained on the beans." Persistent appeals to an ally led to the fact that Germany sent its boats to the Mediterranean. Naturally, keeping in mind, first of all, their own interests. It was there that the completely unprotected communications of the allies took place, promising "fat fields" to the submariners. And so it turned out: just in the Mediterranean, Lothar Arnaud de la Perrière and other "champions" in the destruction of merchant ships set their stunning records. Naturally, they could only be based in Austrian ports. The route to the Mediterranean was laid by U-21 under the command of the famous Otto Herzing, which safely reached Catharro, thus proving the possibility of boats crossing such long distances around Europe … just after the confiscation of the Austrian order.
For the "U-21" other "Germans" reached out. In total, in 1914-1916, as many as 66 units arrived in the Adriatic, large ones - on their own (there were 12 of them), collapsible coastal UB and DC - by rail. It is quite ironic that they all became … sort of Austrian! True, it is purely formal; the reason was a kind of diplomatic and legal trick. The fact is that Italy remained neutral for a long time, until the end of May 1915, and then entered the war only with Austria-Hungary. But not with Germany, before the declaration of war which took a whole year. And for this period, the German submarines received Austrian designations and raised the flag of the Habsburg Empire, which allowed them to carry out attacks regardless of the neutrality of Italy. Moreover, the German crews remained on the submarines, and they were commanded by the recognized aces of the submarine war of the mighty northern neighbor. It was only in November 1916 that the continuation of this camouflage sewn with white thread became unnecessary. The Germans raised their flags and finally came out of the shadows.
The Austrians were well aware that they were being used in a humiliating role as a screen. Tearful requests followed to the ally with at least something to replace the confiscated submarines. And the Germans went forward, handing over in the spring of 1914 a couple of UB-I crumbs: "UB-1" and "UB-15", then transported disassembled by rail to Pola, where they were quickly assembled. The new owners renamed them "U-10" and "U-11". The leadership of the Austro-Hungarian fleet liked the boats themselves and especially the speed with which they managed to get them. The new requests resulted in the delivery of three more "babies": "U-15", "U-16" and "U-17". So the Germans got off with five small and primitive boats instead of the same number of confiscated large ones. And the "patchwork empire" was again left with a flawed coastal submarine fleet.
True, Germany was not going to leave her ally completely "horseless". But - for the money. In the summer of 1915, the private company "Weser", a recognized submarine builder by that time, concluded an agreement with the Austrian colleagues from Trieste, "Cantier Navale", to build, under license, improved "babies" of the UB-II type. Since the fleet would still have to pay, the construction promised a profit and, naturally, the traditional squabble began between the two "heads" of the empire. This time the Hungarians grabbed half, the future "U-29" - "U-32". The company Ganz und Danubius undertook to supply them, the main enterprises of which were located … in Budapest. Quite far from the seaside! Therefore, the assembly still had to be carried out at the Gantz branch in Fiume.
Not only the Hungarians had enough problems. The Austrian Cantieri Navale also suffered from a lack of skilled workers and the necessary equipment. The attempt to create a chain of suppliers modeled on the German one in the conditions of the empire led only to a parody. Contractors constantly delayed parts and equipment, and small boats were built for an unacceptably long time, several times longer than in Germany. They began to enter service only in 1917, and the latter was just the "Austrian" "U-41". She also has the dubious honor of being the last submarine to join the "patchwork" fleet.
If such a sad story happened to small boats, then it is clear what happened to a more ambitious licensed project. Then, in the summer of 1915, the leader of the submarine shipbuilding Deutschewerft agreed to transfer to Austria-Hungary the blueprints of a completely modern submarine with a surface displacement of 700 tons. And again in the "double" followed by long political maneuvers, the result of which was crushing: both units went to the Hungarian "Ganz und Danubius". The bottom line is clear. By the time of the surrender, in November 1918, the head U-50, according to the firm's reports, was allegedly almost ready, but it was no longer possible to verify this. She, along with a completely unprepared partner at number 51, was sent for cutting by new owners, allies. Interestingly, a little over a month before that, the fleet issued an order for the construction of two more units of the same type, by the way, received numbers 56 and 57, but they did not even have time to lay them down.
The numbered "hole" from 52nd to 55th was intended for yet another attempt to expand the production of submarines. This time it is formally purely domestic. Although in the A6 project of the Stabilimento Technique Triesteo firm, as you might guess, German ideas and technical solutions are quite clearly visible. Powerful artillery armament attracts attention - two 100-millimeter paper. However, one can only speculate about the advantages and disadvantages of these submarines. By the time the war ended, they were in almost the same position as at the time of the order: there were only parts of the keel and a stack of sheathing sheets on the slipway. As in the case of the 700-ton boats, the order for two more units, "U-54" and "U-55", was issued in September 1918 - a mockery of oneself and common sense.
Unfortunately, far from the last. Although the construction of licensed UB-IIs at Cantier Navale was proceeding neither shaky nor swiftly, a year after receiving the order, the company wanted to build much larger and technically complex UB-IIIs. The same "Weser" willingly sold all the necessary papers for its version of the project. Needless to say, the parliaments and governments of Austria and Hungary (and there was a complete double set of them in the two-pronged monarchy) entered the usual "close combat" for orders. Having spent precious time on useless debates and negotiations, the parties "hung on the ropes." A dubious victory on points went to the Austrians, who snatched six boats of the order; the Hungarians received four more. And although, unlike our own developments, a complete set of working drawings and all documentation was available, these boats never touched the surface of the water. At the time of the surrender, the readiness of even the most advanced in the construction of the lead "U-101" had not reached even half. Four of the mortgaged "martyrs" were dismantled, and the rest, in fact, appeared only on paper. And here the last order for an additional three units, "U-118" - "U-120", was issued in the same September 1918.
Meanwhile, wounded by the "shortage" of two units, the Hungarians demanded their share. Not wanting to bind himself to the agreement concluded by his rivals with the Weser, the notorious Ganz und Danubius turned to Deutschewerft. As a matter of fact, competitors had to buy the same UB-III project twice, in slightly different proprietary design - the "two-sidedness" showed itself here in all its glory. The result for them was approximately the same: the Hungarian company laid down six units, but their readiness for the fateful November 1918 was even less than that of "Cantier Navale".
Despite the apparent inability of their would-be producers, at the end of the war, the empire's government generously distributed orders. So that the Hungarians would not feel bitter, they were ordered in September for the construction of a submarine numbered from 111 to 114. And in order not to hurt the Austrians, their newly created firm Austriyaverft was blessed with an order for another three UB-III numbered 115, 116 and 117. Of all these bounties, only the numbers themselves remained; not one of the boats was even laid down in the remaining one and a half to two months before the end of the war. On that, the history of Austro-Hungarian submarines, as you can see, for the most part, incomplete or purely virtual can be completed. Apparently forever.
Watching the helpless attempts and senseless bickering in the camp of its main ally, Germany tried to somehow brighten the situation. But not without benefit to yourself. At the end of 1916, the Germans offered to buy a couple of units of the same type UB-II from among those already available on the Adriatic - for cash in gold. There was a draft in the treasury of the empire, but money was found for the boats. The purchase of "UB-43" and "UB-47" took place, although the Germans honestly and with some contempt for the "beggars" admitted that they were getting rid of outdated equipment. The Austrians received heavily worn-out ships, and this with a weak repair and technical base.
Combat use
It is worth noting that with all these, to put it mildly, troubles, the small Austro-Hungarian submarine fleet fought stubbornly, achieving noticeable successes, but also suffering losses, however, which were dozens of times inferior to the damage they inflicted on the allies. For the reasons described above, any unit was of great value, and the boats were carefully repaired and modernized as much as possible.
The first measure at the beginning of 1915 was the installation of cannons. It is clear that it was extremely difficult to place anything serious on not large submarines at all. And initially they limited themselves to 37-millimeter paper. Moreover, even in this case, difficulties arose. So, on the oldest (of the existing) "German women" "U-3" and "U-4", this "artillery" was placed on some stub of a pedestal directly on a small superstructure that was completely unsuitable for that, so load and shoot from the little fluffs were either standing on the side of the deck, stretched out to their full height, or lying on the ledge of the superstructure and only along the course. However, both boats went into action bravely.
A fundamentally different fate awaited them. "U-4" in November 1914 launched its first victim, a small sailing ship, to the bottom. In February of the following year, three more were added to it, this time captured and sent to their port. And then the U-4's real hunt for the cruiser began. In May, her target was a small Italian "Puglia", which was lucky to dodge a torpedo. The following month, her shot from under the water hit the new and valuable British cruiser Dublin, which was also guarded by several destroyers. This ship, very valuable to the allies in the Mediterranean, was barely saved. And the next month the loudest victory awaited him: near the island of Pelagoza "U-4" under the command of Rudolph Zingule watched the Italian armored cruiser "Giuseppe Garibaldi" and launched it to the bottom with two torpedoes. Then its victim was … the trap ship "Pantelleria", which failed to cope with its task and was successfully torpedoed. Towards the end of the year, the boat again switched to the British, with whom they were somewhat less fortunate: both the outdated Diamond armored deck and the new Birmingham-class light cruiser escaped hits.
At the end of 1915, the submarine was reinforced again, installing a 66-mm cannon in addition to the little useful 37-mm, and she switched to merchant ships. There was only one "cruising relapse": an attempt to attack the Italian light cruiser Nino Bixio, with the same result as the British. But the merchant ships followed to the bottom one after the other. It is interesting that without the participation of a new gun: its victims "U-4" stubbornly drowned torpedoes. She safely served until the end of the war, becoming the most "long-lived" submarine of the Austro-Hungarian fleet. After the end of the war, she suffered a common fate for the boats of the defeated. As a result of the section, it was transferred to France, where it went to metal.
Quite a different fate fell to "U-3", which ended its short combat career in August 1915. Trying to attack the Italian auxiliary cruiser "Chita di Catania", she herself fell under the ram of her target, which bent her periscope. I had to surface, but the French destroyer "Bizon" was already waiting on the surface, which awarded "U-3" with a couple of "scars". The submarine sank again and lay down on the ground, where the crew repaired the damage, and the commander, Karl Strand, waited. Almost a day passed, Strand decided that the "Frenchman" would not wait so long, and early in the morning he surfaced to the surface. However, the commander of the "Bizon" was no less stubborn, the destroyer was right there and opened fire. "U-3" sank along with a third of the crew, and the survivors were captured.
The fate of the Austrian "Hollands" was just as different. "U-5" started just as dashingly, going out in early November in the area of Cape Stilo on a whole squadron of French ships of the line, but missed. But in April of the following year, she repeated the success of her German colleagues in the hunt for patrol cruisers. And in about the same conditions: having learned nothing from the experience of their allies, the French kept an equally senseless and vulnerable patrol of large cruisers, neglecting precautions. And under the torpedo "U-5" the armored cruiser "Leon Gambetta" itself came, sank with the admiral and most of the crew. And in August, near the "favorite" point of use of the fleets of both sides, the island of Pelagoza, she sank the Italian submarine "Nereide". And the following summer, the Italian auxiliary cruiser Principe Umberto, which transported the troops, was the victim. It killed about 1800 people. And that's not counting the merchant ships.
The "artillery" was changed twice on the submarine. At first, the 37 mm gun gave way to the 47 mm, and then to the 66 mm cannon. However, the last improvement was no longer needed. In May 1917, luck changed the U-5. During a routine training exit, she was blown up by a mine literally in full view of her own base. The boat was raised, but it took a long time to repair, more than a year. That was the end of her military service. The vindictive Italians showed the trophy at their Victory Day parade after the war, and then they simply scrapped it.
"U-6" turned out to be much less fortunate, although on its account there is a French destroyer "Renaudin", sunk in March 1916. In May of the same month, the boat became entangled in the nets of the Allied anti-submarine barrier, blocking the exit from the Adriatic to the Mediterranean Sea, known as the Otranta Barrage. The crew suffered for a long time, but in the end they had to sink their ship and surrender.
The "homeless" Whitehead U-12 had a louder and more tragic fate. Its only commander, daredevil and secular handsome Egon Lerch (he was credited with having an affair with the emperor's granddaughter) at the end of 1914 made perhaps the most important attack of the Austrian fleet. His target was the French newest battleship Jean Bar. Of the two torpedoes fired, only one hit, moreover, in the bow of the huge ship. There was simply nothing to repeat the volley from the primitive boat, and the knocked out giant safely retreated. But until the end of the war, no other French battleship entered the "Austrian Sea" and did not even approach the Adriatic.
So one torpedo shot from a submarine decided the question of supremacy at sea: otherwise the Austrians would most likely have to deal with the main forces of two countries, France and Italy, each of which possessed a stronger linear fleet.
Killed by U-12 in a desperate operation. In August 1916, Lerch decided to sneak into the harbor of Venice and "put things in order there." Perhaps he would have succeeded, the submarine was already very close to the target, but ran into a mine and quickly sank. No one was saved. The Italians raised the boat in the same year, nobly burying the brave men with military honors in a cemetery in Venice.
How desperately critical the situation with the submarine fleet was in Austria-Hungary is evidenced by the story of the French submarine Curie. This submarine, not the most successful in design, tried to penetrate into the main base of the enemy's fleet in December 1914, anticipating Lerch's adventure. With the same result. The Curie became hopelessly entangled in the U-6's anti-submarine net at the entrance to Pola, and suffered the same fate. The boat surfaced and was sunk by artillery, and almost the entire crew was captured.
The proximity of the base allowed the Austrians to quickly raise the trophy from a solid 40-meter depth. The damage turned out to be easily repairable, and it was decided to put the boat into operation. It took over a year, but the result was more than satisfactory. The Austrians replaced diesel engines with domestic ones, significantly rebuilt the superstructure and installed an 88-mm cannon - the most powerful in their submarine fleet. So the "Frenchwoman" became "Austrian" under the modest designation "U-14". Soon she was taken under command by one of the most famous submariners of the "patchwork monarchy", Georg von Trapp. He and his team managed to make a dozen military campaigns on the trophy and sink a dozen enemy ships with a total capacity of 46 thousand tons, including the Italian Milazzo with 11,500 tons, which became the largest ship sunk by the Austro-Hungarian fleet. After the war, the boat was returned to the French, who not only returned its original name, but also kept it in the ranks for quite a long time, about ten years. Moreover, the former owners, not without bitterness, admitted that after the Austrian modernization "Curie" became the best unit in the French submarine fleet!
The "babies" built under license and received from the Germans were also quite successful. It is pertinent to note here that usually in the most conservative component of the armed forces, in the navy, in the "two-pronged monarchy" a fair amount of internationalism flourished. In addition to the Austrian Germans, many of the officers were Croats and Slovenes from Adriatic Dalmatia; by the end of the war, the Hungarian fleet was commanded by Admiral Miklos Horthy, and the most effective submariner was the Czech Zdenek Hudechek, a representative of one of the most land-based nations of the empire. He received the "U-27", which entered service only in the spring of 1917 and made the first of its ten military campaigns under the command of the Austrian German Robert von Fernland. In total, three dozen ships fell victims of the boat, however, most of them were very small. Very far from the German records, but very good for such a short period of time. And given the mass of problems, both technical and national, that ruined the Habsburg monarchy, the achievements of the Austro-Hungarian submariners deserve respect.
