The ''U-52'' 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

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 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 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 ...

. The submarine design was based on the A 6 proposal submitted by

Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino (STT) ("Technical Establishment of Trieste") was a private shipbuilding company based in Trieste from the mid-19th to early 20th century, and the most important naval shipbuilding firm of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. ...

(STT) as part of a Navy design competition. STT, under its wartime name of Austriawerft, began construction on the first two boats in 1916, but neither boat was launched or completed before the end of the war. Both incomplete submarines were scrapped after the war ended. Neither of the third and fourth submarines was ever

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 ...

Design

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

, and over the first two years of the war the

focused its efforts on building a U-boat fleet for local defense within 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) ...

. 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, outside the Adriatic.Gardiner, p. 341. To that end, the Austro-Hungarian Navy selected the

(STT) A 6 design as the winner of a design competition for a new ocean-going submarine. The plans called for a boat that displaced surfaced and submerged. The boats were to be 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 of . For propulsion, the design featured two shafts, with twin diesel engines of (total) for surface running at up to , and twin electric motors of (total) for submerged travel at up to . The ''U-52'' class boats were designed for a crew of 40 men. The ''U-52'' design called for six torpedo tubes—four bow tubes and two stern tubes—and a complement of nine torpedoes. The original design specified two 10 cm/35 (3.9 in) deck guns, which were superseded by two 12 cm/35 (4.7 in) deck guns in plans for the third and fourth boats.

Construction

By 1916, Austriawerft, the new, more-"patriotic" wartime name for STT,Baumgartner and Sieche, as excerpte
here
(reprinted and translated into English by Sieche). Retrieved 2 December 2008. had begun construction on ''U-52'' and ''U-53'', the first two boats of the class. Austriawerft remained headquartered at Trieste, but sources do not specifically say where the two ''U-52'' submarines were

. 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-50'' and ''U-51'' of the . See: Gardiner, p. 341. were followed by orders for ''U-54'' and ''U-55'' in December 1917.Gardiner, p. 342. Shortages of skilled shipyard workers as well as material slowed construction of all of the ocean-going boats. As a result, neither of the first two boats was ever launched, much less completed, and the second pair was cancelled before either was laid down. ''U-52'' was 25% complete at war's end, while ''U-53'' was only 10% complete. Both boats were scrapped in 1919.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:U0052 class submarine Submarine classes Submarines of the Austro-Hungarian Navy