:SM UB-3

After the German Army's rapid advance along the North Sea coast in the earliest stages of World War I, the German Imperial Navy found itself without suitable submarines that could be operated in the narrow and shallow environment off Flanders.Miller, pp. 46–47.Karau, p. 48. Project 34, a design effort begun in mid-August 1914, produced the Type UB I design: a small submarine that could be shipped by rail to a port of operations and quickly assembled. Constrained by railroad size limitations, the UB I design called for a boat about {{convert|28|m|ft}} long and displacing about {{convert|125|MT|LT}} with two torpedo tubes.A further refinement of the design—replacing the torpedo tubes with mine chutes but changing little else—evolved into the Type UC I coastal minelaying submarine. See: Miller, p. 458. UB-3 was part of the initial allotment of eight submarines—numbered {{SMU|UB-1||2}} to {{SMU|UB-8||2}}—ordered on 15 October from Germaniawerft of Kiel, just shy of two months after planning for the class began.Williamson, p. 12.

UB-3 was laid down by Germaniawerft on 3 November and was launched on 5 March 1915. As built, UB-3 was {{convert|92|ft|2|in|m}} long, {{convert|3.15|m|ftin}} abeam, and had a draft of {{convert|3.03|m|ftin}}. She had a single {{convert|44|kW|bhp|order=flip|adj=on}} Daimler 4-cylinder diesel engine for surface travel, and a single {{convert|89|kW|shp|order=flip|adj=on}} Siemens-Schuckert electric motor for underwater travel, both attached to a single propeller shaft. Her top speeds were {{convert|6.47|kn}}, surfaced, and {{convert|5.51|kn}}, submerged. At more moderate speeds, she could sail up to {{convert|1,650|nmi}} on the surface before refueling, and up to {{convert|45|nmi}} submerged before recharging her batteries. Like all boats of the class, UB-3 was rated to a diving depth of {{convert|50|m|ft}}, and could completely submerge in 33 seconds.

UB-3 was armed with two {{convert|45|cm|in|1|sp=us|adj=on}} torpedoes in two bow torpedo tubes. She was also outfitted for a single {{convert|8|mm|in|sp=us|adj=on}} machine gun on deck. UB-3{{'}}s complement consisted of one officer and thirteen enlisted men.Karau, p. 49.

The submarine was commissioned into the German Imperial Navy as SM UB-3 on 14 March under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Siegfried Schmidt, a 27-year-old, first-time U-boat skipper,Schmidt was in the Navy's April 1906 cadet class with 34 other future U-boat captains, including Wilhelm Marschall, Matthias Graf von Schmettow, Max Viebeg, and Erwin Waßner. See: {{cite Uboat.net

|name=Crew 4/06

|id=4%2F06

|type=1crew

|access-date=4 March 2009

}} and underwent trials in German home waters.

As one of the UB I boats selected for Mediterranean duty, UB-3 was readied for rail shipment. The process of shipping a UB I boat involved breaking the submarine down into what was essentially a knock down kit. Each boat was broken into approximately fifteen pieces and loaded onto eight railway flatcars. UB-3 was shipped to the port of Pola,Messimer, pp. 126–27. site of ally Austria-Hungary's main naval base,Halpern, p. 384. on 15 April. After UB-3{{'}}s parts arrived at Pola, it took about two weeks to assemble them. UB-3 joined the Pola Flotilla ({{langx|de|Deutsche U-Halbflotille Pola}}) on 1 May.

By late May, UB-3 had made her way down the Adriatic to the Austro–Hungarian port of Cattaro, the base from which most boats of the Pola Flotilla actually operated.Although the flotilla was based in Pola, boats of the flotilla operated out of Cattaro which was located farther south and closer to the Mediterranean. German U-boats typically returned to Pola only for repairs. See: Halpern, p. 384. For her first patrol, UB-3 was loaded with ammunition for Turkish forces at İzmir, Turkey.Gibson and Prendergast, p. 71. Because of her limited range, UB-3 was towed by the light cruiser SMS Novara of the Austro-Hungarian NavyBendert, Die UB-Boote der Kaiserlichen Marine, 1914-1918. Einsätze, Erfolge, Schicksal p. 30. through the Straits of Otranto and cast off near the island of Kérkira. UB-3{{'}}s planned route was south of the Ionian Islands, around the Peloponnese, through the Cyclades, north around Khios and Karaburun, and into the Gulf of İzmir. If all went well, UB-3 would have arrived at İzmir on 28 or 29 May with about half her fuel left. The Germans received a garbled radio message from UB-3 when she was about {{convert|80|nmi}} from İzmir, but were unable to completely understand it. No trace of UB-3 has ever been found. UB-3 was the first of the UB I boats to be lost during the war.Tarrant, p. 24. The first UB I boats entered service in March 1915. The list presented by Tarrant shows UB-3 was sunk three months before sister ship UB-4.

A postwar German study concluded that UB-3{{'}}s loss was probably the result of some unexplained technical problem, because there were no minefields along UB-3{{'}}s route and no record of any attacks against U-boats in the area. British records, and some sources based on them,{{cite encyclopedia | last = Dewar | first = Alfred C. | authorlink = Alfred Dewar | editor = Franklin Henry Hooper | editor-link = Franklin Henry Hooper | encyclopedia = Encyclopædia Britannica |title=Munitions of War: Minesweeping and Minelaying | edition = 12th | year = 1922 | publisher = The Encyclopædia Britannica | volume = XXXI | oclc = 15093864 | page = 953 }} give the particulars of UB-3{{'}}s demise as being in the North Sea on 24 April 1916, which authors R. H. Gibson and Maurice Prendergast assert was actually the fate of {{SMU|UB-13||2}}. They also point out that UB-3 had gone missing nearly a year before UB-3{{'}}s supposed sinking in the North Sea.Gibson and Prendergast, p. 91.

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• {{Cite book

|last=Bendert

|first=Harald

|title=Die UB-Boote der Kaiserlichen Marine, 1914-1918. Einsätze, Erfolge, Schicksal

|location=Hamburg

|publisher=Verlag E.S. Mittler & Sohn GmbH

|year=2000

|isbn=3-8132-0713-7

|language=German

}}

• {{cite book

|last1=Gröner

|first1=Erich

|last2=Jung

|first2=Dieter

|last3=Maass

|first3=Martin

|translator-last1=Thomas

|translator-first1=Keith

|translator-last2=Magowan

|translator-first2=Rachel

|year=1991

|title=U-boats and Mine Warfare Vessels

|volume=2

|series=German Warships 1815–1945

|location=London

|publisher=Conway Maritime Press

|isbn=0-85177-593-4

|ref=CITEREFGröner1991

}}

• {{cite book | editor1-last=Gardiner | editor1-first=Robert | editor2-last=Gray | editor2-first=Randal |title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921 | location = Annapolis, Maryland | publisher = Naval Institute Press | year = 1985 | isbn = 978-0-87021-907-8 | oclc = 12119866 }}
• {{Gibson}}
• {{cite book | last = Halpern | first = Paul G. |title=A Naval History of World War I | location = Annapolis, Maryland | publisher = Naval Institute Press | year = 1994 | isbn = 978-0-87021-266-6 | oclc = 28411665 }}
• {{cite book | last = Karau | first = Mark D. |title=Wielding the Dagger: the MarineKorps Flandern and the German War Effort, 1914–1918 | location = Westport, Connecticut | publisher = Praeger | year = 2003 | isbn = 978-0-313-32475-8 | oclc = 51204317 }}
• {{cite book | last = Messimer | first = Dwight R. | title = Verschollen: World War I U-boat losses | location = Annapolis, Maryland | publisher = Naval Institute Press | year = 2002 | isbn = 978-1-55750-475-3 | oclc = 231973419 }}
• {{cite book | last = Miller | first = David | title = The Illustrated Directory of Submarines of the World | location = St. Paul, Minnesota | publisher = MBI Pub. Co | year = 2002 | isbn = 978-0-7603-1345-9 | oclc = 50208951 }}
• {{cite book | last = Miller | first = David |title= The Illustrated Directory of Submarines of the World | location = St. Paul, Minnesota | publisher = MBI Pub. Co | year = 2002 | isbn = 978-0-7603-1345-9 | oclc = 50208951 }}
• {{cite book | last = Tarrant | first = V. E. |title=The U-Boat Offensive: 1914–1945 | location = Annapolis, Maryland | publisher = Naval Institute Press | year = 1989 | isbn = 978-0-87021-764-7 | oclc = 20338385 }}
• {{cite book | last = Williamson | first = Gordon|author-link=Gordon Williamson (writer)|title=U-boats of the Kaiser's Navy | location = Oxford | publisher = Osprey | year = 2002 | isbn = 978-1-84176-362-0 | oclc = 48627495 }}

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{{German Type UB I submarines}}

{{May 1915 shipwrecks}}

{{Good article}}

{{coord unknown|Aegean Sea}}

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Category:German Type UB I submarines

Category:Ships built in Kiel

Category:1915 ships

Category:U-boats commissioned in 1915

Category:World War I submarines of Germany

Category:Maritime incidents in 1915

Category:U-boats sunk in 1915

Category:World War I shipwrecks in the Aegean Sea

Category:Submarines lost with all hands

Category:Missing U-boats of World War I