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Type U 51 submarine
German World War I submarine class From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Type U 51 was a class of U-boats built during World War I by the Kaiserliche Marine. Six Type U 51 were ordered at the beginning of the war and these were commissioned in 1916. Two were lost during the war and the remaining four surrendered to the Allies and were scrapped.
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Design
When World War I broke out on 28 July 1914, the German Navy initiated an emergencey war building program, the so-called mobilisation program. This Mobilisation called for the immediate construction of seventeen U-boats by the two submarine building shipyard in Germany: the Germaniawerft in Kiel and the Kaiserliche Werft Danzig. The Kaiserliche Werft received an order for five Type U 43 U-boats and the Germaniawerft would have received an order for the remaining twelve U-boats, but since this yard experienced serious delays in the delivery of the previous order of eleven Type U 31 U-boats, only six Type U 51 U-boats were ordered on 23 August 1914 and the remaining six were ordered from a new yard AG Weser.[1]
The previous two types of diesel engine U-boats produced by the Germaniawerft, the Type U 23 and Type U 31 had two-stroke diesel engines produced by the same shipyard, but since these engines were not sufficient reliable, four-stroke MAN diesel engines were to be installed. Delivery of these U-boats was expected between December 1915 and December 1916.[1]
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Characteristics
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Type U 51s had an overall length of 65.20 m (213 ft 11 in) The boats' beam was 6.44 m (21 ft 2 in), the draught was 3.64 m (11 ft 11 in), with a total height of 7.82 m (25 ft 8 in). The pressure hull had a length of 52.51 m (172 ft 3 in) and had a diameter of 4.18 m (13 ft 9 in). The boats displaced 715 tonnes (704 long tons) when surfaced and 902 t (888 long tons) when submerged.[2][3][4]
Type U 51s were fitted with two MAN six-cylinder four-stroke S6V45/42 diesel engines with a total of 2,400 metric horsepower (1,765 kW; 2,367 bhp) for use on the surface and two Siemens-Schuckert double-acting electric motors with a total of 880 kW (1,196 PS; 1,180 shp) for underwater use. These engines powered two shafts, which gave the boats a top surface speed of 17.1 knots (31.7 km/h; 19.7 mph), and 9.1 knots (16.9 km/h; 10.5 mph) when submerged. Cruising range was 9,400 nautical miles (17,400 km; 10,800 mi) at 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) on the surface and 55 nautical miles (102 km; 63 mi) at 5 knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph) submerged.[2] Constructional diving depth[a] was 50 m (164 ft 1 in).[5][3]
The U-boats were armed with four 50 cm (20 in) torpedo tubes, two fitted in the bow and two in the stern, and carried seven torpedoes. Most boats received initially one or two 8.8 cm (3.5 in) SK L/30 deck guns. Some boats had their sole deck gun replaced with a 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK L/45 gun. The boats' complement was four officers and thirty-two enlisted men.[2][3]
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