SM ''UC-15'' was a German Type UC I

minelayer A minelayer is any warship, submarine, military aircraft or land vehicle deploying explosive mines. Since World War I the term "minelayer" refers specifically to a naval ship used for deploying naval mines. "Mine planting" was the term for ins ...

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

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

German Imperial 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 f ...

() 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 ...

. The U-boat was ordered on 23 November 1914,

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 ...

on 28 January 1915, and was launched on 19 May 1915. She was commissioned into the German Imperial Navy on 28 June 1915 as SM ''UC-15''."SM" stands for "Seiner Majestät" () and combined with the ''U'' for ''Unterseeboot'' would be translated as ''His Majesty's Submarine''. Mines laid by ''UC-15'' during her eight patrols are credited with sinking three ships. ''UC-15'' disappeared in November 1916.

Design

A Type UC I submarine, ''UC-15'' had a displacement of when at the surface and while submerged. She had a

length overall Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, and is also ...

of , a beam of , and a draught of . The submarine was powered by one Benz six-cylinder, four-stroke

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which Combustion, ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to Mechanics, mechanical Compr ...

producing , an electric motor producing , and one

propeller shaft A drive shaft, driveshaft, driving shaft, tailshaft (Australian English), propeller shaft (prop shaft), or Cardan shaft (after Girolamo Cardano) is a component for transmitting mechanical power, torque, and rotation, usually used to connect o ...

. She was capable of operating at depths of up to . The submarine had a maximum surface speed of and a maximum submerged speed of . When submerged, she could operate for at ; when surfaced, she could travel at . ''UC-15'' was fitted with six

naval mine A naval mine is a self-contained explosive weapon placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Similar to anti-personnel mine, anti-personnel and other land mines, and unlike purpose launched naval depth charges, they are ...

tubes, twelve UC 120 mines, and one machine gun. She was built by

AG Weser Aktien-Gesellschaft "Weser" (abbreviated A.G. "Weser") was one of the major Germany, German shipbuilding companies, located at the Weser River in Bremen. Founded in 1872 it was finally closed in 1983. All together, A.G. „Weser" built about 1,4 ...

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...

and her

complement Complement may refer to: The arts * Complement (music), an interval that, when added to another, spans an octave ** Aggregate complementation, the separation of pitch-class collections into complementary sets * Complementary color, in the visu ...

was fourteen crew members.

Loss

After completion, ''UC-15'' joined the Constantinople Flotilla and became the flotilla's only minelaying submarine in November 1915, after her sister ship was accidentally grounded and subsequently destroyed by her crew. In November 1916, ''UC-15'' was sent on a minelaying mission off the Romanian port of Sulina and never returned, being sunk by her own mines. This was probably caused by an encounter with the Romanian

torpedo boat A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of ...

, whose captain surprised a German submarine near Sulina in November 1916, the latter reportedly never returning to her base at

Varna Varna may refer to: Places Europe *Varna, Bulgaria, a city ** Varna Province ** Varna Municipality ** Gulf of Varna ** Lake Varna **Varna Necropolis * Vahrn, or Varna, a municipality in Italy * Varna (Šabac), a village in Serbia Asia * Var ...

. This could only be ''UC-15'', whose systems most likely malfunctioned after being forced to submerge in the shallow waters, upon encountering the Romanian torpedo boat.Cristian Crăciunoiu, ''Romanian navy torpedo boats'', Modelism Publishing, 2003, p. 24

Summary of raiding history

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Uc015 German Type UC I submarines U-boats commissioned in 1915 World War I submarines of Germany Maritime incidents in 1916 U-boats sunk in 1916 1915 ships World War I minelayers of Germany Ships built in Bremen (state) World War I shipwrecks in the Black Sea