SM ''UB-53'' was a German

Type UB III submarine The Type UB III submarine was a class of U-boat built during World War I by the German Imperial Navy. Design UB III boats carried 10 torpedoes and were usually armed with either an or a deck gun. They carried a crew of 34 and had a cruising ...

U-boat U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...

in the

Imperial German Navy The Imperial German Navy or the ''Kaiserliche Marine'' (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 ...

() during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. She was commissioned into the

Pola Flotilla The Pola flotilla (''U-Flottille Pola'') was an Imperial German Navy (IGN) formation set up to implement the U-boat campaign against Allied shipping in the Mediterranean during the First World War in support of Germany's ally, the Austro-Hungaria ...

of the German Imperial Navy on 21 August 1917 as SM ''UB-53''. She operated as part of the

based in

Cattaro Kotor (Cyrillic: Котор, ), historically known as Cattaro (from Italian: ), is a town in Coastal region of Montenegro. It is located in a secluded part of the Bay of Kotor. The city has a population of 13,347 and is the administrative cen ...

. ''UB-53'' was sunk by mines of the

Otranto Barrage The Otranto Barrage was an Allied naval blockade of the Strait of Otranto between Brindisi in Italy and Corfu on the Greek side of the Adriatic Sea in the First World War. The operation consisted of over 200 vessels at the height of the block ...

on 3 August 1918 at in the

Otranto Strait The Strait of Otranto (; ) connects the Adriatic Sea with the Ionian Sea and separates Italy from Albania. Its width between Punta Palascìa, eastern Salento, and Karaburun Peninsula, western Albania, is less than . The strait is named after t ...

, 10 crew members died.SS Athenia (1914). On 7 April 1918 the submarine saw an airship catch fire accidentally and crash into the sea near the

Strait of Otranto The Strait of Otranto (; ) connects the Adriatic Sea with the Ionian Sea and separates Italy from Albania. Its width between Punta Palascìa, eastern Salento, and Karaburun Peninsula, western Albania, is less than . The strait is named after ...

with the loss of all hands. It apparently was the German Navy Zeppelin ''L 59'', modified for long-range flights, on the outbound leg of a flight from

Yambol Yambol ( ) is a city in Southeastern Bulgaria and administrative centre of Yambol Province. It lies on both banks of the Tundzha river in the historical region of Thrace. It is occasionally spelled ''Jambol''. Yambol is the administrative cente ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

, in an attempt to bomb the Royal Navy base at

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

.Whitehouse, Arch, ''The Zeppelin Fighters'', New York: Ace Books, 1966, no ISBN, p. 236.

Construction

''UB-53'' was ordered by the GIN on 20 May 1916. She was built by

Blohm & Voss Blohm+Voss (B+V), also written historically as Blohm & Voss, Blohm und Voß etc., is a German shipbuilding and engineering company. Founded in Hamburg in 1877 to specialise in steel-hulled ships, its most famous product was the World War II battle ...

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

and following just under a year of construction, launched at Hamburg on 9 March 1917. ''UB-53'' was commissioned later that same year under the command of ''Kptlt.'' Robert Sprenger. Like all Type UB III submarines, ''UB-53'' carried 10

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...

es and was armed with a deck gun. ''UB-53'' would carry a crew of up to 3 officer and 31 men and had a cruising range of . ''UB-53'' had a displacement of while surfaced and when submerged. Her engines enabled her to travel at when surfaced and when submerged.

Summary of raiding history

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ub053 German Type UB III submarines World War I submarines of Germany U-boats commissioned in 1917 U-boats sunk in 1918 Maritime incidents in 1918 World War I shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea U-boats sunk by mines 1917 ships Ships built in Hamburg