With a length of 42 m Submarine U1 is one of the largest exhibits of the Deutsches Museum.
Submarine U1 With a length of 42 m U1 is one of the largest exhibits of the Deutsches Museum. Its history is somewhat complicated, because the first submarine of the German Imperial Navy put into service on Dec. 14th, 1906 was ultimately based on French concepts. Until the turn of the century from a multitude of designs two basic concepts had developed: The submarine, mostly spindle-shaped or in form of a fish, and the submersible ship. The latter was developed further decisively in 1896 by the French engineer Maxim Laubeuf (1864-1939), who designed a boat with a two-mantled hull: Diving tanks set laterally enabled conventional ship forms, thus improving running characteristics afloat. At the same time the internal pressure hull could be designed with a circular cross-section ideal for external pressure load. For the ship’s movements afloat Laubeuf envisioned a diesel engine already in 1901. At first the Imperial Navy was very sceptical concerning the construction of submarines. Therefore Krupp built a test ship, the "Forelle", at own expenses. This was a mere diving boat with electric drive designed by Raimondo Lorenzo d'Équevilley, a co-worker of Laubeuf and launched on the Germania-shipyard in Kiel. Three submarines built afterwards for the Russian Navy were based on plans of Laubeuf, however. Finally the Imperial Navy decided to construct its own submarines, and in 1904 the marine engineer Gustav Berling (1869-?) was ordered to accomplish the project. In 1906 the first submarine of the German Imperial Navy was finished on the Germania-shipyard. It was based on Laubeuf’s designs as well and equipped with two petroleum engines of 200 HP each, which concurrently charged the accumulators of two electric motors used in submerged condition. At the beginning of WW I it was already outdated by the rapid technical progress that had occurred in the meantime and U1 was used for training purposes only. After the end of war it had to be put out of service and delivered like
Size: 4928px × 3264px
Photo credit: © Manfred Glueck / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: based, bavaria, berling, concepts, cut, deutsches, diesel, engine, engineer, finished, french, german, germania-shipyard, germany, gustav, hull, imperial, marine, munich, museum, navy, open, pressure, ship, spindle-shaped, submarine, submersible, u1
