The Type UC I

coastal submarine A coastal submarine or littoral submarine is a small, maneuverable submarine with a shallow draft (hull), draft well suited to navigating coastal channels and harbors. Although size is not precisely defined, coastal submarines are larger than mi ...

s were a class of small minelaying

U-boat U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...

s built in Germany during the early part of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. They were the first operational minelaying submarines in the world (although the Russian submarine ''Krab'' was laid down earlier). A total of fifteen boats were built. The class is sometimes also referred to as the ''UC-1'' class after , the

class leader The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships that are all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels. Large ships are very complex ...

. The Italian

X-class submarine The X class was a World War II midget submarine class built for the Royal Navy during 1943–44. It was substantially larger than the original Chariot manned torpedo. Known individually as X-Craft, the vessels were designed to be towed to the ...

was a reverse-engineered and modified type of the UC-1-class.

Design

These submarines were designed by Dr. Werner of the Torpedo Inspectorate, and based on the Type UB I small coastal submarines, with a revised bow section housing inclined minelaying tubes and uprated engines to compensate for the increased displacement and less streamlined form. The boats' sole armament was six internal mine tubes with 12 mines, although ''UC-11'' was fitted with a single external

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...

in 1916. They were constructed very quickly, and suffered from problems with their minelaying system, which in some cases caused the mines to become armed before exiting their tubes and explode prematurely. Type UC I submarines had a displacement of when at the surface and while submerged. They had a

length overall Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, and is also ...

of , a beam of , and a draught of . The submarines were powered by one

Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (abbreviated as DMG, also known as Daimler Motors Corporation) was a German engineering company and later automobile manufacturer, in operation from 1890 until 1926. Founded by Gottlieb Daimler (1834–1900) and Wil ...

or Benz six-cylinder, four-stroke diesel engine producing , an electric motor producing , and one

propeller shaft A drive shaft, driveshaft, driving shaft, tailshaft (Australian English), propeller shaft (prop shaft), or Cardan shaft (after Girolamo Cardano) is a component for transmitting mechanical power, torque, and rotation, usually used to connect o ...

. They were capable of operating at a depth of . The submarines had a maximum surface speed of and a maximum submerged speed of . When submerged, they could operate for at ; when surfaced, they could travel at . They were fitted with six mine tubes, twelve UC 120 mines, and one machine gun. They were built by

AG Vulcan Stettin Aktien-Gesellschaft Vulcan Stettin (short AG Vulcan Stettin) was a German shipbuilding and locomotive building company. Founded in 1851, it was located near the former eastern German city of Szczecin, Stettin, today Polish Szczecin. Because of th ...

AG Weser Aktien-Gesellschaft "Weser" (abbreviated A.G. "Weser") was one of the major Germany, German shipbuilding companies, located at the Weser River in Bremen. Founded in 1872 it was finally closed in 1983. All together, A.G. „Weser" built about 1,4 ...

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...

and their

complement Complement may refer to: The arts * Complement (music), an interval that, when added to another, spans an octave ** Aggregate complementation, the separation of pitch-class collections into complementary sets * Complementary color, in the visu ...

was fourteen crew members.

List of Type UC I submarines

A total of 15 Type UC I submarines were built. * , possibly struck a mine off Nieuport, 19 July 1917 * , sunk by detonation of its own mines off Yarmouth, 30 June 1915 * , struck a mine off Zeebrugge, 27 May 1916 * , scuttled off the coast of Flanders, 5 October 1918 during the German evacuation from Belgium * , grounded on the Shipwash Shoal 27 April 1916; scuttled but charges failed to explode * , sunk in a mined net off North Foreland, 27 September 1917 * , possibly struck a mine north of Zeebrugge, 3 July 1916 * , ran aground on Dutch coast, 14 November 1915. Interned by Netherlands and served in Dutch Navy as the HLNMS ''M-1'' until broken up in 1932Dutchsubmarines.com
/ref> * , missing after 20 October 1915; possibly sunk by its own mine * , torpedoed and sunk by British submarine 21 August 1916, off Dutch coast * , struck a mine and blew up in Strait of Dover, 16 June 1918 * , sunk by detonation of its own mines, 16 March 1916 near Taranto; salvaged and repaired by Italy as ''X1'' (scrapped 1919) * , ran aground in a storm east of the Bosporus, 29 November 1915 * , struck a British mine off Zeebrugge, 3 October 1917 * , missing after 7 November 1916, probably off the mouth of the Danube

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Design

List of Type UC I submarines

References

Citations

Bibliography

Further reading