The Pola flotilla (''U-Flottille Pola'') was an

Imperial German Navy The Imperial German Navy or the Imperial Navy () was the navy of the German Empire, which existed between 1871 and 1919. It grew out of the small Prussian Navy (from 1867 the North German Federal Navy), which was mainly for coast defence. Wilhel ...

(IGN) formation set up to implement the

U-boat campaign The U-boat Campaign from 1914 to 1918 was the World War I naval campaign fought by German U-boats against the trade routes of the Allies. It took place largely in the seas around the British Isles and in the Mediterranean. The German Empir ...

against Allied shipping in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

in support of Germany's ally, the

Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

. It was formed in 1915 from the previously established ''U-Halbflottille Pola'' (''German U-Boat Half-Flotilla,

Pola Pola or POLA may refer to: People * House of Pola, an Italian noble family * Pola Alonso (1923–2004), Argentine actress * Pola Brändle (born 1980), German artist and photographer * Pola Gauguin (1883–1961), Danish painter * Pola Gojawiczyńsk ...

''). It operated mainly from an advanced base at

Cattaro Kotor (Montenegrin Cyrillic: Котор, ), historically known as Cattaro (from Italian: ), is a coastal town in Montenegro. It is located in a secluded part of the Bay of Kotor. The city has a population of 13,510 and is the administrative ...

in the

Adriatic The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) ...

, rather than from Pola. The flotilla was made up of

U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role ...

s dispatched from German home ports, which travelled via the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

and the

Strait of Gibraltar The Strait of Gibraltar ( ar, مضيق جبل طارق, Maḍīq Jabal Ṭāriq; es, Estrecho de Gibraltar, Archaic: Pillars of Hercules), also known as the Straits of Gibraltar, is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Medi ...

, and coastal-type UB- and UC-boats, which were moved in segments by rail to Pola and assembled there at the ''See-Arsenal'' of the

Austro-Hungarian Navy The Austro-Hungarian Navy or Imperial and Royal War Navy (german: kaiserliche und königliche Kriegsmarine, in short ''k.u.k. Kriegsmarine'', hu, Császári és Királyi Haditengerészet) was the naval force of Austria-Hungary. Ships of the A ...

(''kaiserliche und königliche Kriegsmarine'': k.u.k.). The Pola Flotilla had a maximum strength of 33 U–boats. Due to the favourable conditions for commerce raiding in the Mediterranean, they caused a disproportionately large number of Allied losses during the U-boat campaign. 3.6 million tons of the 14 million tons lost by the Allies were sunk in the Mediterranean. Eight of the IGNs top dozen U-boat aces served in the Pola flotilla, including

Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière ''Vizeadmiral'' Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière (; March 18, 1886 – February 24, 1941), born in Posen, Prussia, and of French-German descent, was a German U-boat commander during World War I. With 194 ships and sunk, he is the most successfu ...

and

Waldemar Kophamel Waldemar Kophamel (August 16, 1880 – November 4, 1934) was a highly decorated German U-boat commanding officer in the Imperial German Navy during World War I. Kophamel joined the Imperial German Navy on 12 April 1898 and started his milita ...

. In all, 45 U-boats served in the Pola Flotilla, eleven of which were lost operationally. In June 1917, the unit was renamed ''U-Flottille Mittelmeer'' and in January 1918 it was divided into two separate Flotillas, the first based at Pola, and the second at Cattaro, while the commander, re-titled (''

Führer der Unterseeboote The post of ''Führer der Unterseeboote (FdU)'' ("Leader of the U-boats") was the senior commanding officer of U-boat forces in a theatre of war. The submarine service in the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the Kriegsmarine of World War II, u ...

im Mittelmeer'': U-Boat Leader, Mediterranean) assumed overall command of the forces there and at

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

. In 1918 at the end of the campaign, the Pola Flotilla was evacuated to Germany. One of its boats, sank the battleship , the last British warship sunk during the U-Boat Campaign in World War I.

Commanding officers

References

*VE Tarrant ''The U-Boat offensive 1914-1945'' (1989) {{Uboat U-boat flotillas Military units and formations of the Imperial German Navy Naval units and formations of Germany in World War I