SM U - 1 ( Austria - Hungary ) SM " U - 1 or U - I " was the lead boat of her class of submarine or U - boat built for and operated by the Austro - Hungarian Navy ( ) . " U - 1 " was designed by American Simon Lake ' s Lake Torpedo Boat Company and built at the navy yard in Pola . She was one of two Lake - designed submarines purchased as part of a competitive evaluation of foreign submarine designs . " U - 1 " was launched in February 1909 and was long and displaced between depending on whether surfaced or submerged . She was originally powered by gasoline engines for surface running , but during her trials , they were found to be incapable of reaching the contracted speed . " U - 1 " was commissioned in April 1911 and served as a training boat through 1914 . At the beginning of World War I , " U - 1 " was in drydock awaiting new batteries and replacement diesel engines . " U - 1 " returned to service as a training boat until October 1915 . From November she conducted reconnaissance cruises out of Trieste and Pola until she was declared obsolete in early 1918 . She continued to serve in a training role at the submarine base on Brioni , but was at Pola at the end of the war . She was awarded to Italy as a war reparation in 1920 and scrapped at Pola . " U - 1 " did not sink any ships during the war . Design and construction . " U - 1 " was built as part of a plan by the Austro - Hungarian Navy to competitively evaluate foreign submarine designs from Simon Lake , Germaniawerft , and John Philip Holland . The Austro - Hungarian Navy ordered plans for " U - 1 " ( and sister ship ) in 1906 from the Lake Torpedo Boat Company of Bridgeport , Connecticut . " U - 1 " was built at the Pola Navy Yard and was launched on 10 February 1909 . " U - 1 " had several features typical of Lake ' s designs , including a diving chamber under the bow and two variable pitch propellers . Lake ' s design also called for two retractable wheels that allowed travel over the seabed . The design also placed the diving tank s above the waterline of the single , cylindrical hull , which necessitated a heavy ballast keel for vertical stability . This arrangement required mechanical pumping , a procedure that took 8 minutes . " U - 1 " s propulsion system consisted of two gasoline engines for surface running and two electric motors for running while submerged . The boat was long by abeam and had a draft of . As designed , her displacement was surfaced and submerged . She was outfitted with three torpedo tubes — two in the bow , one in the stern — and could carry up to five torpedoes , but typically carried three . " U - 1 " was also armed with a deck gun . Service career . Upon " U - 1 " s completion , the Austro - Hungarian Navy conducted trials of the submarine throughout most of 1910 . On 5 April both of " U - 1 " s electric motors were damaged in a flooding incident during her trials . " U - 1 " s gasoline engines were never able to meet the speed called for in the contract during the Navy evaluations , and were considered not suitable for wartime use . As a result , the Navy only paid for " U - 1 " s hull and armament , and arranged a lease of the gasoline engines while replacement diesel engines were ordered from the Austrian firm " Maschinenfabrik " Leobersdorf . Despite the engine problems , " U - 1 " and her sister ship had the best performance in diving and steering amongst the U - boats under evaluation by the Navy . " U - 1 " was commissioned into the Austro - Hungarian Navy on 15 April 1911 and served as a training boat — conducting up to ten training cruises per month — through 1914 . On 13 January 1914 , the submarine was accidentally rammed by the Austro - Hungarian cruiser in the Fasana Channel , which damaged the her periscope . At the outbreak of World War I , " U - 1 " was in drydock awaiting the installation of new batteries and her new diesel engines . To accommodate the new engines , she was lengthened by about . The modifications and new engines lowered her surface displacement to but increased her submerged displacement to . Upon completion in early 1915 , " U - 1 " returned to training duties through 4 October . She was stationed at Trieste in early November and conducted reconnaissance cruises from that port through December 1917 , when she was assigned to the naval base at Pola . On 11 January 1918 , she was declared obsolete , but was retained as a training boat at the submarine base on Brioni . " U - 1 " was at Pola at the war ' s end , and was scrapped after her cession to Italy as a war reparation in 1920 . " U - 1 " did not sink any ships during the war .