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SM ''U-12'' or ''U-XII'' was a or U-boat built for and operated by the
On 21 December 1914, Lerch and ''U-12'' chanced upon the French dreadnought in the Straits of Otranto steaming at a leisurely and unprotected by escort ships.Gibson and Prendergast, p. 69. ''U-12'' hit French Augustin Boué de Lapeyrère, Admiral Lapeyrère's flagship with a single torpedo in the bow,Halpern, p. 61. destroying the battleship's wine storeroom but sparing her forward Magazine (artillery)#Naval magazines, magazine.Gardiner, p. 197. ''Jean Bart''s watertight compartments saved the ship, which made her way to Malta to undergo repairs at the British dockyards there.
''U-12'' survived an attack from an unknown French on 27 February 1915. ''U-12''s next success was the capture of two Montenegro, Montenegrin schooners on 22 March 1916, ''Fiore Di Dulcigno'' and ''Hilussie''. Nine days later the U-boat captured another four Montenegrin boats, ''Buona Forte'', ''Fiore I'', ''Hailie'', and ''Indaverdi''. On 29 May, she sank the Greek steamer ''Virginia'', which was the only ship reported sunk by ''U-12''. In June, ''U-12'' underwent a refit that added an additional two torpedo tubes on her forward casing (submarine), casing.
In early August, Lerch and ''U-12'' set out from Pula, Pola for Venice to look for enemy ships to sink.von Trapp, pp. 63–64. On 6 August, the Italian destroyer rammed ''U-12'', probably by chance, at about 05:00 in the Lido inlet of the Venetian Lagoon. Two days later, when Italian workers were dredge, dredging to try to determine the object ''Rosolino Pilo'' had hit, they heard a heavy explosion. When divers went down in the area, they discovered the wreck of ''U-12'' with her stern blown off.Grant, p. 162. ''U-12''s entire complement of 17 men was lost when she went down.Sieche (1980), p. 23.Grant (p. 162) and Kemp (p. 14) report ''U-12''s loss in detail and give the date of her loss as 8 August 1915. Sieche (p. 23) gives the date as four days later, on 12 August. ''U-12'' was the first Austro-Hungarian submarine sunk during the war.Halpern, p. 150.
In late 1916, the Italians salvaged the hulk of ''U-12'' and transported it to Venice. The bodies of ''U-12''s crew were interred at the San Michele cemetery in Venice, and ''U-12''s hulk, of no salvage value, was scrapped at the Venice naval arsenal. In her military service, ''U-12'' sank one ship of , damaged one warship (22,189 tons), and captured six ships as prizes.
File:SMU-12.jpg
Image:SM U-12 (Austria-Hungary).jpg, Entering Pola harbor
File:SMU-12 Gruppe.jpg, Crew with medals after the Jean Bart attack
File:SMU-12 Wrack.jpg, SM ''U-12'' in Italian dock with heavy damage
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 ...
before and during the First World War.
Built on speculation by Whitehead & Co. of Fiume, the submarine was Ceremonial ship launching, launched as ''SS-3'' in March 1911 and featured improvements in the electrical and mechanical systems from the design by the American John Philip Holland, to which her older Sister ship, sister boats, and , had been built.
''SS-3'' was keel laying, laid down in 1909. The double-submarine hull, hulled submarine was just over long and displacement (ship), displaced between , depending on whether surfaced or submerged. Whitehead tried selling ''SS-3'' to several different navies, but she was bought by the Austro-Hungarian Navy after the outbreak of World War I, despite having been rejected by them twice before. She was Ship commissioning, commissioned as ''U-12'' in August 1914.
The submarine sank only one ship, a Greek cargo ship in May 1915, but she had earlier captured six Montenegro, Montenegrin sailing vessels as prize (law), prizes in March. ''U-12'' also damaged, but did not sink, the French battleship in December 1914. While searching for targets in the vicinity of Venice in August 1915, ''U-12'' struck a mine that blew her stern off, and sank with all hands, becoming the first Austro-Hungarian submarine sunk in the war. Her wreck was salvaged the next year by the Italians, who interred ''U-12''s crewmen in a Venetian cemetery.
Design and construction
''SS-3'' was built on speculation"Built on speculation" means that Whitehead & Co. built her without a specific customer in mind. by Whitehead & Co. of Fiume. Her design was based on the John Philip Holland design licensed by Whitehead for and , two submarines ordered by theAustro-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 ...
and built 1907–1910,Sieche (1980), pp. 21–22. and featured improvements in the mechanical and electrical systems. ''SS-3'' was Keel laying, laid down in 1909 and Ceremonial ship launching, launched at Fiume on 14 March 1911.
''SS-3''s featured a single-hull (watercraft), hull with a tear-drop shaped body that bore a strong resemblance to modern nuclear submarines.Sieche (1980), p. 21. She was long by beam (ship), abeam and had a draft (ship), draft of . She displacement (ship), displaced surfaced, and submerged. Her two bow torpedo tubes featured unique, cloverleaf-shaped design trapdoor, hatches that rotated on a central axis, and the boat was designed to carry up to four torpedoes.
According to one source, ''SS-3'' was initially propelled by a pair of electric motors for surface running,Gibson and Prendergast, p. 385. but had them replaced with twin 6-cylinder gasoline engines of each when they proved disappointing during trials.Gibson and Prendergast, p. 384.These engines were more powerful than those in the other U-5-class submarine (Austria-Hungary), ''U-5''-class boats, which were each. See Gibson and Prendergast, p. 384. It is not specifically reported for ''U-12'', but the other U-5-class submarine (Austria-Hungary), ''U-5''-class boats both suffered from inadequate ventilation, which resulted in frequent intoxication of the crew from the engine exhaust.Gardiner, p. 340. ''SS-3''s underwater propulsion was by two electric motors that totaled .
Career
After ''SS-3''s March 1911 launch, Whitehead tried to sell ''SS-3'' to the Austro-Hungarian Navy, but because the evaluation of the first two ''U-5''-class boats was still underway, they declined to purchase. Over the next three years Whitehead attempted to sell the boat to the navies of Peru, Portugal, the Netherlands, Brazil, and Bulgaria, before the Austro-Hungarian Navy rejected an offer for the second time. With the outbreak of war, however, the Austro-Hungarian Navy purchased the unsold submarine to quickly bolster its fleet.Gardiner, p. 341. Although provisionally assigned the designation ''U-7'', the submarine was commissioned as SM ''U-12'' on 21 August 1914, with ''Linienschiffsleutnant'' Egon Lerch in command. ''U-12''s activities over the early part of the war are not reported, but the boat's armament was augmented by a /23 quick-firing gun, quick-firing (QF) deck gun in November 1914. Sister boat ''U-5'' had her first radio receiver installed at the same time her deck gun was added, but it is not reported whether ''U-12'' did as well.
On 21 December 1914, Lerch and ''U-12'' chanced upon the French dreadnought in the Straits of Otranto steaming at a leisurely and unprotected by escort ships.Gibson and Prendergast, p. 69. ''U-12'' hit French Augustin Boué de Lapeyrère, Admiral Lapeyrère's flagship with a single torpedo in the bow,Halpern, p. 61. destroying the battleship's wine storeroom but sparing her forward Magazine (artillery)#Naval magazines, magazine.Gardiner, p. 197. ''Jean Bart''s watertight compartments saved the ship, which made her way to Malta to undergo repairs at the British dockyards there.
''U-12'' survived an attack from an unknown French on 27 February 1915. ''U-12''s next success was the capture of two Montenegro, Montenegrin schooners on 22 March 1916, ''Fiore Di Dulcigno'' and ''Hilussie''. Nine days later the U-boat captured another four Montenegrin boats, ''Buona Forte'', ''Fiore I'', ''Hailie'', and ''Indaverdi''. On 29 May, she sank the Greek steamer ''Virginia'', which was the only ship reported sunk by ''U-12''. In June, ''U-12'' underwent a refit that added an additional two torpedo tubes on her forward casing (submarine), casing.
In early August, Lerch and ''U-12'' set out from Pula, Pola for Venice to look for enemy ships to sink.von Trapp, pp. 63–64. On 6 August, the Italian destroyer rammed ''U-12'', probably by chance, at about 05:00 in the Lido inlet of the Venetian Lagoon. Two days later, when Italian workers were dredge, dredging to try to determine the object ''Rosolino Pilo'' had hit, they heard a heavy explosion. When divers went down in the area, they discovered the wreck of ''U-12'' with her stern blown off.Grant, p. 162. ''U-12''s entire complement of 17 men was lost when she went down.Sieche (1980), p. 23.Grant (p. 162) and Kemp (p. 14) report ''U-12''s loss in detail and give the date of her loss as 8 August 1915. Sieche (p. 23) gives the date as four days later, on 12 August. ''U-12'' was the first Austro-Hungarian submarine sunk during the war.Halpern, p. 150.
In late 1916, the Italians salvaged the hulk of ''U-12'' and transported it to Venice. The bodies of ''U-12''s crew were interred at the San Michele cemetery in Venice, and ''U-12''s hulk, of no salvage value, was scrapped at the Venice naval arsenal. In her military service, ''U-12'' sank one ship of , damaged one warship (22,189 tons), and captured six ships as prizes.
Summary of raiding history
Gallery
Notes
References
Bibliography
* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:U0012 U-5-class submarines U-boats commissioned in 1914 U-boats sunk in 1915 World War I shipwrecks in the Adriatic Sea U-boats sunk by mines 1911 ships World War I submarines of Austria-Hungary Maritime incidents in 1915 Ships built in Fiume