page_title: SM UB-8
section_title: Bulgarian career
hierarchical_section_title: SM UB-8 / Bulgarian career
caption_attribution_description: Български: Военноморският музей във Варна. English: Naval Museum in Varna, Bulgaria
context_page_description: SM UB-8 was a German Type UB I submarine or U-boat in the German Imperial Navy during World War I. She was sold to Bulgaria in 1916 and renamed Podvodnik No. 18, and was the first ever Bulgarian submarine.
  UB-8 was ordered in October 1914 and was laid down at the AG Weser shipyard in Bremen in November. UB-8 was a little under 28 metres in length and displaced between 127 and 141 tonnes, 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-8 was originally one of a pair of UB I boats sent to the Austro-Hungarian Navy to replace an Austrian pair to be sent to the Dardanelles, and was broken into sections and shipped by rail to Pola in March 1915 for reassembly. She was launched and commissioned as SM UB-8 in the German Imperial Navy in April when the Austrians opted out of the agreement.
  Although briefly a part of the Pola Flotilla at commissioning, UB-8 spent the majority of her German career patrolling the Black Sea as part of the Constantinople Flotilla. The U-boat sank two ships.
context_section_description: Upon acceptance of UB-8 by the Bulgarian Navy, she was renamed Podvodnik No. 18 (in Cyrillic: Подводник №18). Although the commissioning ceremony for Podvodnik No. 18 was kept out of newspapers, it was attended by Crown Prince Boris and his brother Prince Kiril, who both boarded the submarine for a ceremonial first voyage to Euxinograd, the Bulgarian summer palace located just north of Varna. In Bulgarian service, the submarine was armed with a 47-millimeter (1.9 in) deck gun that supplemented its machine gun.
  Podvodnik No. 18's first patrol under the Bulgarian flag took place on 4 and 5 July 1916 when she sailed to Cape Shabla and Mangalia. The submarine was used for reconnaissance and coastal defense, and patrolled a regular route. This route was a loop that began in Varna and went northward to Kaliakra, Mangalia, and Constanţa; then southward to Burgas, and Sozopol; then ended at Varna. On 6 September, she had an encounter with the Russian destroyers Bystry and Gromki, drove off Russian submarines on other occasions, and on 16 December helped turn back a Russian sortie against Balchik. After the Russian withdrawal from World War I in 1917, Podvodnik No. 18's activities were greatly reduced.
  After the end of the war, Podvodnik No. 18 was surrendered to the French on 23 February 1919. Towed to Bizerta, she was scrapped after August 1921.
caption: A 47 mm from the UB-8 on display at the Naval Museum Varna Bulgaria.
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