SM UB-47

History
German Empire
Name	UB-47
Ordered	31 July 1915[1]
Builder	AG Weser, Bremen[1]
Yard number	249[1]
Laid down	4 September 1915[1]
Launched	17 June 1916[1]
Commissioned	4 July 1916[1]
Decommissioned	21 July 1917[1]
Fate	Sold to Austria-Hungary
Service record as UB-47
Part of:	Pola / Mittelmeer Flotilla 4 July 1916 - 21 July 1917
Commanders:	Oblt.z.S. Wolfgang Steinbauer[2] 4 July 1916 – 31 March 1917[1] Oblt.z.S. Hans Hermann Wendlandt[3] 1 April – 21 July 1917
Operations:	7 patrols
Victories:	20 merchant ships sunk (76,195 GRT)[1] 2 warships sunk (11,450 tons) 3 merchant ships damaged (16,967 GRT)
Austria-Hungary
Name	SM U-47
Acquired	21 July 1917
Commissioned	30 July 1917
Fate	Ceded to France as war reparation, 1920; scrapped
Service record as U-47
Commanders:	Otto Molitor 30 July 1917 – 29 March 1918[4] Reichsfreiherr Hugo von Seyffertitz 4 April – 31 October 1918
Victories:	2 merchant ships sunk (6,201 GRT)[4] 1 warship sunk (351 tons)
General characteristics [5]
Class and type	As built: Type UB II submarine After July 1917: U-43-class submarine
Displacement	272 t (268 long tons) surfaced 305 t (300 long tons), submerged
Length	36.90 m (121 ft 1 in) o/a 27.90 m (91 ft 6 in) pressure hull
Beam	4.37 m (14 ft 4 in) o/a 3.85 m (12 ft 8 in) pressure hull
Draught	3.68 m (12 ft 1 in)
Propulsion	1 × propeller shaft 2 × 4-stroke 6-cylinder diesel engine, 284 PS (209 kW; 280 bhp) 2 × electric motor, 280 PS (210 kW; 280 shp)
Speed	8.82 knots (16.33 km/h; 10.15 mph) surfaced 6.22 knots (11.52 km/h; 7.16 mph) submerged
Range	6,940 nmi (12,850 km; 7,990 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
Complement	22
Armament	2 × 50 cm (19.7 in) bow torpedo tubes 4 torpedoes 1 × 8.8 cm (3.5 in) SK L/30 deck gun

SM UB-47 was a Type UB II submarine or U-boat for the German Imperial Navy (German: Kaiserliche Marine) during World War I. UB-47 was sold to the Austro-Hungarian Navy (German: Kaiserliche und Königliche Kriegsmarine or K.u.K. Kriegsmarine) during the war. In Austro-Hungarian service the B was dropped from her name and she was known as SM U-47 or U-XLVII as a member of the Austro-Hungarian U-43 class.

UB-47 was ordered in July 1915 and was laid down at the AG Weser shipyard in Bremen in September. UB-47 was a little more than 121 feet (37 m) in length and displaced between 270 and 305 tonnes (266 and 300 long tons), depending on whether surfaced or submerged. She was equipped to carry a complement of four torpedoes for her two bow torpedo tubes and had an 8.8-centimeter (3.5 in) deck gun. As part of a group of six submarines selected for Mediterranean service, UB-47 was broken into railcar sized components and shipped to Pola where she was assembled and launched in June 1916, and commissioned in July. Over the next year the U-boat sank twenty-two ships, which included the French battleship Gaulois and two Cunard Line steamers in use as troopships, Franconia and Ivernia.

The German Imperial Navy was having difficulties in finding trained submarine crews and offered to sell UB-47 and a sister boat UB-43 to the Austro-Hungarian Navy. After the terms were agreed to in June 1917, both boats were handed over at Pola. When commissioned into the Austro-Hungarian Navy, the B in her designation was dropped so that she became U-47 or U-XLVII. She sank an additional three ships in Austro-Hungarian service through the end of the war. U-47 was ceded to France as a war reparation in 1920 and broken at Bizerta that same year.