***UNDER CONSTRUCTION***
SILENT HUNTER III
SUBMARINE SIMULATOR
Type I U-Boat
The Type I U-boat was the German Navy's first attempt to establish a post-World War I submarine upon the beginning of Germany's rearmament in 1934. Despite its name, however, the Type I was not the first operational class of submarine to be deployed by the Kriegsmarine, instead the design languished in construction until 1936, by which time the more practical and less expensive Type II had been deployed as the main line of the German Navy's submarine force.
The Type I U-boat was designed upon the ocean going submarines of the First World War. At just under 73 meters in length, the Type I was powered by two eight cylinder diesel engines and, when submerged, operated off of two BBC GG UB 720/8 electric motors. The submarine had a range of nearly eight thousand miles with a top surface speed of 19 knots and nine knots while submerged. The submarine carried a crew of forty five.
The Type I U-boat
Offensively, the Type I held a capacity to carry twenty two torpedoes with four launch tubes forward and two in the stern. The submarine also possessed a mounted deck gun and anti-aircraft platform.
As formidable as the Type I was, however, its long range and heavy armaments were seen as impractical for Germany's original role for submarines, this being coastal defense. Funding was therefor channeled into the Type II coastal boat with only two Type I's ever construction (U-25 and U-26). Both ships, commissioned in 1936, were lost during World War II to enemy actions. The design of the Type I itself was later folded into the mass produced Type VII German U-boat.
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