SM UB-11
Encyclopedia
SM UB-11 was a German Type UB I
German type UB I submarine
The Type UB I was a class of small coastal submarines built in Germany at the beginning of the First World War. Twenty boats were constructed, most of which went into service with the German Imperial Navy. Boats of this design were also operated by the Austro-Hungarian Navy and the Bulgarian...
submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
or U-boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
in the German Imperial Navy during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. UB-11 was ordered in October 1914 and was laid down at the AG Weser
AG Weser
Aktien-Gesellschaft Weser was one of the great German shipbuilding companies, located at the Weser River in Bremen. Founded in 1873 it was finally closed in 1983. Altogether, AG Weser built about 1400 ships of different types, including many war ships...
shipyard in Bremen
Bremen
The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area . Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.Bremen is...
in November. UB-11 was a little under 92 feet (28 m) in length and displaced
Displacement (ship)
A ship's displacement is its weight at any given time, generally expressed in metric tons or long tons. The term is often used to mean the ship's weight when it is loaded to its maximum capacity. A number of synonymous terms exist for this maximum weight, such as loaded displacement, full load...
between 127 and 141 MT (140 and 155.4 ST), depending on whether surfaced or submerged. She carried two torpedo
Torpedo
The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...
es for her two bow torpedo tube
Torpedo tube
A torpedo tube is a 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 installed aboard surface vessels...
s and was also armed with a deck-mounted machine gun
Machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....
. She was launched and commissioned as SM UB-11 in March 1915."SM" stands for "Seiner Majestät" (His Majesty's) and combined with the U for Unterseeboot would be translated as His Majesty's Submarine.
UB-11s commanding officer at commissioning only remained in charge of the ship for a week. Sources do not report any more commanding officers assigned through the end of the war, so it's not clear if the submarine remained in commission. UB-11 was reported in use as a training vessel at Kiel
Kiel
Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...
in September 1915. The U-boat made no war patrols and sank no ships during the war, which may indicate that the vessel remained in a training role. At the end of the war, UB-11 was deemed unseaworthy and unable to surrender at Harwich
Harwich
Harwich is a town in Essex, England and one of the Haven ports, located on the coast with the North Sea to the east. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the northeast, Ipswich to the northwest, Colchester to the southwest and Clacton-on-Sea to the south...
with the rest of Germany's U-boat fleet. She remained in Germany where she was broken up
Ship breaking
Ship breaking or ship demolition is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships for scrap recycling. Most ships have a lifespan of a few decades before there is so much wear that refitting and repair becomes uneconomical. Ship breaking allows materials from the ship, especially...
by Stinnes in February 1920.
Design and construction
After the German ArmyGerman Army (German Empire)
The German Army was the name given the combined land forces of the German Empire, also known as the National Army , Imperial Army or Imperial German Army. The term "Deutsches Heer" is also used for the modern German Army, the land component of the German Bundeswehr...
's rapid advance along the North Sea coast in the earliest stages of World War I, the German Imperial Navy found itself without suitable submarines that could be operated in the narrow and shallow seas off Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
. Project 34, a design effort begun in mid-August 1914, produced the Type UB I
German type UB I submarine
The Type UB I was a class of small coastal submarines built in Germany at the beginning of the First World War. Twenty boats were constructed, most of which went into service with the German Imperial Navy. Boats of this design were also operated by the Austro-Hungarian Navy and the Bulgarian...
design: a small submarine that could be shipped by rail to a port of operations and quickly assembled. Constrained by railroad size limitations, the UB I design called for a boat about 92 feet (28 m) long and displacing about 125 metric tons (137.8 ST) with two torpedo tube
Torpedo tube
A torpedo tube is a 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 installed aboard surface vessels...
s.A further refinement of the design—replacing the torpedo tubes with mine chutes but changing little else—evolved into the Type UC I
German Type UC I submarine
The Type UC I submarines were a class of small coastal minelaying U-boats built in Germany during the early part of World War I. They were the first operational minelaying submarines in the world . A total of fifteen boats were built...
coastal minelaying
Minelayer
Minelaying is the act of deploying explosive mines. Historically this has been carried out by ships, submarines and aircraft. Additionally, since World War I the term minelayer refers specifically to a naval ship used for deploying naval mines...
submarine. See: Miller, p. 458.
UB-11 was part of the initial allotment of seven submarines—numbered to —ordered on 15 October from AG Weser
AG Weser
Aktien-Gesellschaft Weser was one of the great German shipbuilding companies, located at the Weser River in Bremen. Founded in 1873 it was finally closed in 1983. Altogether, AG Weser built about 1400 ships of different types, including many war ships...
of Bremen
Bremen
The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area . Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.Bremen is...
, just shy of two months after planning for the class began. UB-11 was laid down by Weser in Bremen on 7 November. As built, UB-11 was 91 in 6 in (27.89 m) long, 10 in 6 in (3.2 m) abeam
Beam (nautical)
The beam of a ship is its width at the widest point. Generally speaking, the wider the beam of a ship , the more initial stability it has, at expense of reserve stability in the event of a capsize, where more energy is required to right the vessel from its inverted position...
, and had a draft of 9 in 10 in (3 m). She had a single 60 bhp Körting
Körting Hannover
Körting Hannover AG is a long-standing industrial engineering company in Hanover.At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, the company played a leading role in the development of injector pumps in Germany and Europe.Körting still produces pump and pump-based vacuum technology, but...
4-cylinder diesel engine
Diesel engine
A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber...
for surface travel, and a single 120 shp Siemens-Schuckert
Siemens-Schuckert
Siemens-Schuckert was a German electrical engineering company headquartered in Berlin, Erlangen and Nuremberg that was incorporated into the Siemens AG in 1966....
electric motor
Electric motor
An electric motor converts electrical energy into mechanical energy.Most electric motors operate through the interaction of magnetic fields and current-carrying conductors to generate force...
for underwater travel, both attached to a single propeller shaft. Her top speeds were 7.45 knots, surfaced, and 6.24 knots, submerged. At more moderate speeds, she could sail up to 1500 nautical miles (2,778 km) on the surface before refueling, and up to 45 nautical miles (83.3 km) submerged before recharging her batteries. Like all boats of the class, UB-11 was rated to a diving depth of 50 metres (164 ft), and could completely submerge in 33 seconds.
UB-11 was armed with two 45 centimetres (17.7 in) torpedo
Torpedo
The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...
es in two bow torpedo tube
Torpedo tube
A torpedo tube is a 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 installed aboard surface vessels...
s. She was also outfitted for a single 8 millimetre (0.31496062992126 in) machine gun
Machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....
on deck. UB-11s standard complement consisted of one officer and thirteen enlisted men. After work on UB-11 was complete at the Weser yard, she was launched on 2 March.
Career
The submarine was commissioned into the German Imperial Navy as SM UB-11 on 4 March 1915 under the command of Kapitänleutnant (Kapt.) Ralph Wenninger, a 25-year-old first-time U-boat commander.Wenninger was in the Navy's April 1907 cadet class with 34 other future U-boat captains, including Werner FürbringerWerner Fürbringer
Werner "Fips" Fürbringer was a successful German U-boat commander in the Kaiserliche Marine during World War I, sinking 101 ships.He was present on U-20, but left prior to the U-20s sinking of in 1915. He exclusively commanded small, coastal U-boats, starting with UB-2 in February 1915...
, Heino von Heimburg
Heino von Heimburg
Heino von Heimburg was a German U-boat commander in the Kaiserliche Marine during World War I and served also as Vice Admiral in the Kriegsmarine during World War II.-World War I:...
, Hans Howaldt
Hans Howaldt
Hans Howaldt was a successful and highly decorated German U-boat commander in the Kaiserliche Marine during World War I and also active in World War II...
, and Otto Steinbrinck
Otto Steinbrinck
Brigadier General Otto Steinbrinck was a German industrialist and an accused in the Nuremberg Flick Trial....
. See: Wenninger was only in command of UB-11 for a week. Sources do not indicate who, if anyone, succeeded him as commander of UB-11, or if UB-11 remained in commission.
According to authors R. H. Gibson and Maurice Prendergast, UB-11 had been assigned to the Kiel Periscope School by September 1915. Uboat.net reports that UB-11' undertook no war patrols and had no successes against enemy ships, which may indicate that the vessel remained in use only as a training vessel.
At the end of the war, the Allies
Allies of World War I
The Entente Powers were the countries at war with the Central Powers during World War I. The members of the Triple Entente were the United Kingdom, France, and the Russian Empire; Italy entered the war on their side in 1915...
required all German U-boats to be sailed to Harwich
Harwich
Harwich is a town in Essex, England and one of the Haven ports, located on the coast with the North Sea to the east. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the northeast, Ipswich to the northwest, Colchester to the southwest and Clacton-on-Sea to the south...
for surrender. UB-11 was one of eight U-boats deemed unseaworthy and allowed to remain in Germany.The other seven boats were , , , , and three fellow Type UB I
German type UB I submarine
The Type UB I was a class of small coastal submarines built in Germany at the beginning of the First World War. Twenty boats were constructed, most of which went into service with the German Imperial Navy. Boats of this design were also operated by the Austro-Hungarian Navy and the Bulgarian...
boats, , , and . UB-11 was broken up
Ship breaking
Ship breaking or ship demolition is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships for scrap recycling. Most ships have a lifespan of a few decades before there is so much wear that refitting and repair becomes uneconomical. Ship breaking allows materials from the ship, especially...
by Stinnes on 3 February 1920.