SM ''U-10'' or ''U-X'' was the

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

of the ''U-10'' class of

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

s for 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 ...

(german: Kaiserliche und Königliche Kriegsmarine or ) during

World War I 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 ...

. She was originally a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

Type UB I submarine commissioned into the

German Imperial 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. Kaiser ...

(german: Kaiserliche Marine) as SM ''UB-1''. SM ''UB-1'' was constructed in Germany and shipped by rail to

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 Gojawiczyńska (18 ...

where she was assembled and launched in January 1915. She was commissioned into the German Imperial Navy later that same month and sank an Italian

torpedo boat A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of se ...

in June. The boat was handed over to

Austria-Hungary 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 ...

and commissioned as SM ''U-10'' in July. In May 1917, ''U-10'' was fired upon by a British submarine, but both of the torpedoes that were launched missed. In July 1918, ''U-10'' hit a

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...

and was beached with heavy damage. She was towed to

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into provi ...

for repairs which remained unfinished at the war's end. ''U-10'' was handed over to Italy as a

war reparation War reparations are compensation payments made after a war by one side to the other. They are intended to cover damage or injury inflicted during a war. History Making one party pay a war indemnity is a common practice with a long history. R ...

and scrapped in 1920.

Design and construction

''U-10'' was a small, coastal submarine that displaced surfaced and submerged. She featured a single shaft, a single

Daimler Daimler is a German surname. It may refer to: People * Gottlieb Daimler (1834–1900), German inventor, industrialist and namesake of a series of automobile companies * Adolf Daimler (1871–1913), engineer and son of Gottlieb Daimler * Paul Da ...

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-call ...

for surface running, and a single electric motor for submerged travel. ''U-10'' was capable of up to while surfaced and while submerged at a diving depth of up to . She was designed for a crew of 17 officers and men. ''U-10'' was equipped with two

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 ...

s located in the front and carried a complement of two torpedoes. German Type UB I submarines were additionally equipped with a

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) a ...

, but it is not clear from sources if ''U-10'', as a former German boat, was either equipped with one or, if so, retained it in Austro-Hungarian service. In October 1916, ''U-10''s armament was supplemented with a 37-mm/23 (1.5 in) quick-firing (QF) gun. This gun was replaced by a /33 QF gun in November 1917. Construction of ''UB-1'' was started on 1 November 1914 at Germaniawerft in

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the J ...

. After her assembly was complete ''UB-1'' was launched on 22 January 1915. After extended negotiations between Austria-Hungary and Germany, in March 1915 it was decided for Germany to supply five submarines of the ''UB I'' type. This model was familiar to the Austro-Hungarian Navy since the Imperial German Navy had reassembled ''UB3'', ''UB 8'', and ''UB 9'' at the

Pola Navy Yard Uljanik was a shipbuilding company in Pula, Croatia. History Uljanik was founded in 1856, in the carefully selected bay of Pula (then known as Pola) as a shipyard of the Austro-Venetian Navy (from 1867 to 1918 Austro-Hungarian Navy). The foun ...

. The first boat was bought on April 4, 1915, a "sample" ''UB 1'' boat. This submarine was shipped by rail in sections to

, where the sections were riveted together. Though there is no record of how long it took for ''UB-1''s parts to be assembled, a sister boat, , shipped from Germany in mid-April 1915, was assembled in about two weeks.

Operational history

SM ''UB-1'' was commissioned into the German Imperial Navy under the command of

Oberleutnant zur See ''Oberleutnant zur See'' (''OLt zS'' or ''OLZS'' in the German Navy, ''Oblt.z.S.'' in the ''Kriegsmarine'') is traditionally the highest rank of Lieutenant in the German Navy. It is grouped as OF-1 in NATO. The rank was introduced in the Imper ...

Franz Wäger on 29 January. An Austro-Hungarian Navy officer was assigned to the boat for piloting and training purposes. On 26 June 1915, ''UB-1'' sank an Italian

''5 PN'' in the

Gulf of Venice The Gulf of Venice ( it, Golfo di Venezia, sl, Beneški zaliv, hr, Venecijanski zaljev) is an informally recognized gulf of the Adriatic Sea. It lies at the extreme north end of the Adriatic, limited on the southwest by the easternmost point of ...

. On 4 June 1915, after being disassembled into three sections and transported by rail to

for reassembling, ''UB-1'' was handed over to the Austro-Hungarian Navy and commissioned as ''U-10'' under the command of ''

Linienschiffsleutnant is a German language variant of the naval officer rank ship-of-the-line lieutenant. The rank is used by the Belgian Navy and formerly the Austro-Hungarian Navy. Austro-Hungary (; hu, Sorhajóhadnagy) was an officer rank in the Austro-Hu ...

'' Karl Edler von Unczowski. British submarine had an encounter with ''U-10'' on 11 May 1917. While cruising off Pola, ''H4'' came across ''U-10'' and fired a spread of two torpedoes at the submarine. The torpedoes were aimed to be 5° apart at a distance of which was apparently too wide, because the captain of ''H4'' observed the torpedoes miss just ahead and just astern of ''U-10''. On 9 July 1918, ''U-10'' hit an Italian

near

Caorle Caorle (; vec, Càorle) is a coastal town in the Metropolitan City of Venice, Veneto, northern Italy, located between the estuaries of the Livenza and Lemene rivers. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea between two other tourist towns, Eraclea and ...

in the northern

Adriatic Sea The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the 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) to t ...

at position , and was beached with heavy damage. Although she was looted by

Austro-Hungarian Army The Austro-Hungarian Army (, literally "Ground Forces of the Austro-Hungarians"; , literally "Imperial and Royal Army") was the ground force of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy from 1867 to 1918. It was composed of three parts: the joint arm ...

troops, she was later towed to

for repairs, which remained unfinished at war's end; all of the 13 crew personnel were saved. ''U-10'' was handed over to Italy as a

and scrapped at Pola by 1920. ''U-10'' sank no ships in her Austro-Hungarian service.

Summary of raiding history

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:U0010 Ships built in Kiel Ships built in Pola U-boats commissioned in 1915 World War I submarines of Germany U-10-class submarines World War I submarines of Austria-Hungary