Type U 43 submarine


Type U 43 was a class of U-boats built before and during World War I by the Kaiserliche Marine.

Construction

The first two Type U43 U-boats were ordered on 10 July 1913 from the Kaiserliche Werft Danzig. A third boat was ordered on 22 June 1914. When World War I broke out, the German Navy abandonned its scheduled building program and on 7 August 1914 ordered a further five Type U43 U-boats from KWD in its emergency war building program.

Design

The Type U43 was the continuation of previous double-hull U-boats design but featered a few novelties: these boats were the first U-boats with frames mounted on the exterior of the pressure hull. A further departure of previous U-boat designs was the relocation of the living quarters between the diesel engine compartment and the control room, which as a consequence moved the conning tower above the control room more forward. The boats also lacked the typical step with tank decks, instead the upper deck was incorporated completely in the second, outer hull. Longer periscopes were installed so that periscope depth rose to twelve meter. Type U43s were also the first boats to be equipped with six torpedo tubes. Although the longer range G7 torpedo became available the Type U43 were still equipped with G6 torpedoes as no space was available for the longer G7, and as a U-boat was expected to make its attacks on short ranges of less than one kilometer, the range of the G6 was considered adequate enough.

Characteristics

Type U 43s had an overall length of The boats' beam was, the draught was, with a total height of. The pressure hull had a length of and had a diameter of. The boats displaced when surfaced and when submerged.
Type U 43s were fitted with two MAN six-cylinder four-stroke S6V41/42 diesel engines with a total of for use on the surface and two AEG double-acting electric motors with a total of for underwater use. These engines powered two shafts, which gave the boats a top surface speed of, and when submerged. Cruising range was at on the surface and at submerged. Constructional diving depth was.
The U-boats were armed with six torpedo tubes, four fitted in the bow and two in the stern, and carried eight torpedoes. All boats received initially one or two SK L/30 deck guns. Some boats had their sole deck gun replaced with a SK L/45 gun. The boats' complement was four officers and thirty-two enlisted men.