SM U-17 (Austria-Hungary) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

SM U-17 or U-XVII was a 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...

of the Austro-Hungarian Navy

Austro-Hungarian Navy

The Austro-Hungarian Navy was the naval force of Austria-Hungary. Its official name in German was Kaiserliche und Königliche Kriegsmarine , abbreviated as k.u.k. Kriegsmarine....

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...

. U-17 was laid down in Germany in April 1915 and shipped in sections by rail to Pola

Pula

Pula is the largest city in Istria County, Croatia, situated at the southern tip of the Istria peninsula, with a population of 62,080 .Like the rest of the region, it is known for its mild climate, smooth sea, and unspoiled nature. The city has a long tradition of winemaking, fishing,...

in August, where she was assembled. She was delivered to the Austro-Hungarian Navy at the end of September and commissioned

Ship commissioning

Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military...

in October 1915.

U-17 primarily operated from Cattaro, patrolling off the Italian and Albania

Albania

Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...

n coasts. The submarine had several opportunities to sink merchant ships and warships throughout the war, but sank only one Italian destroyer

Destroyer

In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...

in July 1916 as part of an effort to disrupt the Otranto Barrage

Otranto Barrage

The Otranto Barrage was an Allied naval blockade of the Otranto Straits between Brindisi in Italy and Corfu on the Albanian side of the Adriatic Sea in World War I. The blockade was intended to prevent the Austro-Hungarian Navy from escaping into the Mediterranean and threatening Allied operations...

. At the end of the war, U-17 was undergoing repairs at Pola

Pula

. She was handed over to Italy as a war reparation and scrapped in 1920.

Design and construction

U-17 was a small, coastal submarine that displaced 125.5 long tons (127.5 t) surfaced and 140.25 long tons (142.5 t) submerged. She featured a single shaft, a single 60 bhp Daimler 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 running, and a single 120 shp electric motor for submerged travel. U-17 was capable of up to 6.5 knots while surfaced and 5.5 knots while submerged at a diving depth of up to 50 metres (164 ft). She was designed for a crew of 17 officers and men.

U-17 was equipped with two 45 cm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes located in the front and carried a complement of two torpedoes. In October 1916, U-17s armament was supplemented with a 37 mm/23 (1.5 in) quick-firing

Quick-firing gun

A quick-firing gun is an artillery piece, typically a gun or howitzer, which has several characteristics which taken together mean the weapon can fire at a fast rate...

(QF) gun. This gun was replaced by a 47 mm/23 (1.9 in) QF gun in November 1917.

U-17 was ordered by the Austro-Hungarian Navy on 1 April 1915 and laid down at 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...

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...

later that month. When completed, the submarine was broken down into sections, loaded onto railcars, and shipped to the Austro-Hungarian Navy's main base at Pola

Pula

on 30 August. After completing the four-day journey, the sections were riveted together. Though there is no specific mention of how long it took for U-17s sections to be assembled, a sister boat, the German Type UB I submarine

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...

UB-3, shipped to Pola from Germany in mid-April 1915, was assembled in about two weeks.The Austro-Hungarian and the German Type UB I

German type UB I submarine

were virtually identical. U-17 was delivered to the Austro-Hungarian Navy on 30 September.

Operational history

SM U-17 was commissioned into the Austro-Hungarian Navy on 6 October under the command of Linienschiffsleutnant Frank Skopinic.Two of U-16s sister ships, and , were commissioned the same day. The boat patrolled the Italian coast out of Pola for most of the next two months, interrupted by engine repairs in mid November. On 9 December, Skopinic was succeeded as U-17s commanding officer by Linienschiffsleutnant Zdenko Hudecek.

By the end of December, U-17 was operating from Cattaro and patrolling off the Albania

Albania

n and Montenegrin

Montenegro

Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...

coasts. Hudecek and U-17 made two unsuccessful attacks on enemy destroyers in January. On 23 February, Hudecek attempted an attack on a cargo ship off Durazzo, but was discovered and depth charge

Depth charge

A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare weapon intended to destroy or cripple a target submarine by the shock of exploding near it. Most use explosives and a fuze set to go off at a preselected depth in the ocean. Depth charges can be dropped by either surface ships, patrol aircraft, or from...

d. Two days later the submarine put in to Cattaro to replace a broken gyrocompass

Gyrocompass

A gyrocompass is a type of non-magnetic compass which bases on a fast-spinning disc and rotation of our planet to automatically find geographical direction...

with a new magnetic compass.

In mid-March, U-17 shifted to patrol off the Italian coast once again and was attacked by air on 15 March off Brindisi

Brindisi

Brindisi is a city in the Apulia region of Italy, the capital of the province of Brindisi, off the coast of the Adriatic Sea.Historically, the city has played an important role in commerce and culture, due to its position on the Italian Peninsula and its natural port on the Adriatic Sea. The city...

. The Italian patrols continued until late May, when U-17 was sent to patrol in the Ionian Sea

Ionian Sea

The Ionian Sea , is an arm of the Mediterranean Sea, south of the Adriatic Sea. It is bounded by southern Italy including Calabria, Sicily and the Salento peninsula to the west, southern Albania to the north, and a large number of Greek islands, including Corfu, Zante, Kephalonia, Ithaka, and...

. Duty in the Straits of Otranto followed in June, as part of the plan to disrupt the Otranto Barrage

Otranto Barrage

. On 12 June, the submarine attempted an attack on an Italian ; the torpedo boat survived and repaid U-17 by dropping several depth charges nearby. On 10 July, U-17 torpedoed and sank the 680 metric tons (749.6 ST) Italian destroyer

Destroyer

Impetuoso, The Italian ship had been guarding drifters

Drifter (fishing boat)

A drifter is a type of fishing boat. They were designed to catch herrings in a long drift net. Herring fishing using drifters has a long history in the Netherlands and in many British fishing ports, particularly in East Scottish ports....

, small fishing vessels with anti-submarine net

Anti-submarine net

An anti-submarine net is a device placed across the mouth of a harbour or a strait for protection against submarines.-Examples of anti-submarine nets:*Lake Macquarie anti-submarine boom*Indicator net*Naval operations in the Dardanelles Campaign...

s stretched between them as part of the Otranto Barrage. Impetuoso was the only ship sunk by U-17. The U-boat continued patrols in the Adriatic throughout the remainder of 1916. U-17 was depth charged by a destroyer off Fano

Fano

Fano is a town and comune of the province of Pesaro and Urbino in the Marche region of Italy. It is a beach resort 12 km southeast of Pesaro, located where the Via Flaminia reaches the Adriatic Sea...

on 14 September. Two days later, a failed attack on a steamer resulted in another depth charging of U-17, this time by an Orfeo-class torpedo boat. In early October, an air attack by two airplanes damaged U-17.

The year 1917 was uneventful for U-17. The submarine resumed patrols off Albania in January. In May, the U-boat had to crash dive

Crash dive

A crash dive is a maneuver performed by a submarine to submerge as quickly as possible to avoid attack. Crash diving from the surface to avoid attack has been largely rendered obsolete with the advent of nuclear-powered submarines as they operate constantly submerged and are unlikely to be found on...

near Valona when a bomber appeared overhead and dropped its payload. A foray to Bari

Bari

Bari is the capital city of the province of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, in Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy after Naples, and is well known as a port and university city, as well as the city of Saint Nicholas...

in July provided another opportunity to attack a steamer, but the torpedoes missed their mark. On 16 August, U-17, by now under the command of Linienschiffsleutnant Hermann Rigele, attempted a torpedo attack on a cargo ship

Cargo ship

A cargo ship or freighter is any sort of ship or vessel that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year; they handle the bulk of international trade...

off Saseno. At the end of October, U-17 escaped damage from a torpedo attack by an enemy submarine near Cape Menders, Albania. A month later, the submarine was once again attacked by air, surviving two bombs dropped from a single airplane.

In the first part of June 1918, U-17 patrolled off the coast of Italy, but had returned to Cattaro on 12 June. Two weeks later, the boat set out for Pola to undergo repairs. At the end of the war, the ship's repairs remained unfinished. U-17, at Pola with six other Austro-Hungarian submarines, was ceded to Italy as a war reparation.The other six submarines at Pola were , , , , , and . U-17 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...

at Pola by the Italians in 1920.

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