The ''U-50'' class was a

class Class or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used differentl ...

of four ocean-going submarines or

U-boats 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 rol ...

planned for the Austro-Hungarian Navy (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 ...

. The design of the boats was based on the Project 835 design purchased from the German firm of Germaniawerft in July 1915. The Navy authorized

Ganz Danubius The Ganz Works or Ganz ( or , ''Ganz companies'', formerly ''Ganz and Partner Iron Mill and Machine Factory'') was a group of companies operating between 1845 and 1949 in Budapest, Hungary. It was named after Ábrahám Ganz, the founder and th ...

to begin construction of the submarines in

Fiume Rijeka ( , , ; also known as Fiume hu, Fiume, it, Fiume ; local Chakavian: ''Reka''; german: Sankt Veit am Flaum; sl, Reka) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia (after Zagreb and Split). It is located in Primor ...

in February 1916. Only two of the planned four boats were

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one o ...

, but neither were ever launched or completed. The two incomplete submarines were

scrapped Scrap consists of recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap has monetary value, especially recovered me ...

after the war ended.

Design

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 ...

's U-boat fleet was largely obsolete at the outbreak of

, and, over the first two years of the war, the Austro-Hungarian Navy focused its efforts on building a U-boat fleet for local defense within the Adriatic. With boats to fill that need either under construction or purchased from Germany, efforts were focused on building ocean-going submarines for operation in the wider

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 Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

, outside the Adriatic.Gardiner, p. 341. To that end, the Austro-Hungarian Navy purchased plans for the Germaniawerft Project 835 design on 11 July 1915 in order to build under license in Austria-Hungary. The plans called for a submarine that displaced surfaced and submerged. The boats were to be about long with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

of and a

draft Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vesse ...

of . For propulsion, the design featured two shafts, with twin

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-ca ...

s of (total) for surface running at up to , and twin

electric motor An electric motor is an electrical machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a wire winding to generate for ...

s of (total) for submerged travel at up to . The ''U-50'' class boats were designed for a crew of 33 men. The ''U-50'' design called for six torpedo tubes—four bow tubes and two stern tubes—and carried a complement of nine torpedoes. The original design specified two 10 cm/35 (3.9 in)

deck gun A deck gun is a type of naval artillery mounted on the deck of a submarine. Most submarine deck guns were open, with or without a shield; however, a few larger submarines placed these guns in a turret. The main deck gun was a dual-purpose ...

s, which were superseded by two 120 mm/35 (4.7 in) deck guns in plans for the third and fourth boats.

Construction

On 7 February 1916,

received authorization to build two boats of the class, ''U-50'' and ''U-51''.Baumgartner and Sieche, as excerpte
here
(reprinted and translated into English by Sieche). Retrieved 2 December 2008. These first two boats, which comprised one-third of the six ocean-going submarines under construction in 1916,The other four boats were ''U-48'' and ''U-49'' of the and ''U-52'' and ''U-53'' of the . See: Gardiner, p. 341. were followed by orders for ''U-56'' and ''U-57'' in September 1918. Shortages of skilled shipyard workers and materials slowed construction of the boats, and as a result, neither of the first two boats was ever launched, much less completed. The second pair was cancelled before either was

. ''U-50'' was 90% complete at war's end, while ''U-51'' was only 60% complete. Both boats had been scrapped in place in 1920.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:U0050 class submarine Submarine classes Submarines of the Austro-Hungarian Navy