SM UB-13

Sections of UB-13 on board railroad flatcars for transport to Antwerp in early 1915
History
German Empire
Name:	UB-13
Ordered:	15 October 1914
Builder:	AG Weser, Bremen
Yard number:	222
Laid down:	7 November 1914
Launched:	8 March 1915
Commissioned:	6 April 1915
Fate:	sunk on 24 April 1916
Service record
Part of:	German Imperial Navy Flanders Flotilla (April 1915 – April 1916)
Commanders:	Walter Gustav Becker (April – December 1915) Karl Neumann (December 1915 – March 1916) Arthur Metz (March – April 1916)
Operations:	36 patrols
Victories:	11 ships (17,661 GRT) sunk 1 ship captured as prize
General characteristics
Class and type:	German Type UB I submarine
Displacement:	127 t (125 long tons) surfaced 141 t (139 long tons) submerged
Length:	27.88 m (91.5 ft) (o/a)
Beam:	3.15 m (10 ft 4 in)
Draft:	3.03 m (9 ft 11 in)
Propulsion:	1 × propeller shaft 1 × Körting 4-cylinder diesel engine, 59 bhp (44 kW) 1 × Siemens-Schuckert electric motor, 119 shp (89 kW)
Speed:	7.45 knots (13.80 km/h; 8.57 mph) surfaced 6.24 knots (11.56 km/h; 7.18 mph) submerged
Range:	1,500 nmi (2,800 km; 1,700 mi) at 5 knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph) surfaced 45 nmi (83 km; 52 mi) at 4 knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph) submerged
Test depth:	50 metres (160 ft)
Complement:	14
Armament:	2 × 45 cm (17.7 in) bow torpedo tubes 2 × torpedoes 1 × 8 mm (0.31 in) machine gun
Notes:	33-second diving time

SM UB-13 was a German Type UB I submarine or U-boat in the German Imperial Navy (German: Kaiserliche Marine) during World War I. The submarine was probably sunk by a British mine net in April 1916.

UB-13 was ordered in October 1914 and was laid down at the AG Weser shipyard in Bremen in November. UB-13 was a little under 28 metres (92 ft) in length and displaced between 127 and 141 tonnes (125 and 139 long tons), depending on whether surfaced or submerged. She carried two torpedoes for her two bow torpedo tubes and was also armed with a deck-mounted machine gun. UB-13 was broken into sections and shipped by rail to Antwerp for reassembly. She was launched in March 1915 and commissioned as SM UB-13 in April.

UB-13 spent her entire career in the Flanders Flotilla and sank 11 merchant ships, about half of them British fishing vessels. In March 1916, UB-13 was responsible for sinking the Dutch ocean liner Tubantia, raising the ire of the Dutch public. Tubantia was the largest neutral vessel sunk during the war and among the 30 largest ships sunk by U-boats. On 24 April 1916, UB-13 was sunk with all hands.

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 seas off Flanders. 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 28 metres (92 ft) long and displacing about 125 tonnes (123 long tons) with two torpedo tubes.