Deutsches U-Boot-Museum

Type U-7
U-7 to U-11= 5 U-Boats

In 1913, the Austro-Hungarian Navy put on order 5 U-Boats at the Germania Shipyard at Kiel ("U-7" to "U-11"). At the outbreak of World War I, it was judged (decisive assessment by Admiral Anton Hans, 1913 to 1917 Commander-in-Chief of the Austro-Hungarian Navy) that it would be militarily not bearable to order the almost completed U-Boats to transit without delay and unharmed from Germany to the Mediterranean. Therefore, after short negotiations with Germany the U-Boats were sold to the Imperial German Navy.

However, on 13th of May 1915, that assessment eventually proved to be premature, when "U-21" of the Imperial German Navy managed to transit successfully to the Mediterranean, followed by many more German U-Boats. In July, August and September 1915, the five U-Boats were commissioned by the Imperial German Navy as "U-66" to "U-70":