German Submarine Warfare 1914-1918 in the Eyes - British Naval ...

Boats of the U-19 to U-70 pre-war classes were built with increasing rapidity
during the first half of the war; construction time dropped from twenty-nine
months to twenty months and less by 1916. For the thirty-five boats of the U-81
type (and following types) as well as the UB III class (seventy-four boats),
construction time went up by 50%. Ironically, the two classes were originally
planned to reduce construction time but the general production slowdown in the
second half of the war defeated the aim. The slowing trend was compounded by
policy issues and lack of standardization.
The 310 ocean-going boats commissioned up to October 31, 1918 had all
been ordered by June, 1917. No ocean-going submarine ordered after June 1917
ever saw service. In any case, boats ordered after June, 1917 would not have seen
service before early 1919; Scheer’s ambitious wish-list of August, 1918 could not
have been put into commission before 1920.
Yard capacities
1914 Germany had built merchant vessels amounting to approximately
380,000 BRT. Her warship tonnage in this year amounted to 192,000 BRT.
Shipyard production declined sharply thereafter due to the wholesale induction of
draft-age men. In the period 1915-1918 some 600,000 BRT in merchant vessels and
585,000 BRT in warships was launched. The average annual output of the German
shipyard industry was roughly 300,000 BRT. 332 submarines with 184,000 BRT
tonnages were commissioned in this time.
Table 22: German warships commissioned 1915-1918, 1,000 BRT 97
97 Numbers based on: Groener, Deutsche Kriegsschiffe; and on: Roessler, Ubootbau.
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