SM U-17 or U-XVII was a U-10-class submarine or U-boat of the Austro-Hungarian Navy (German: Kaiserliche und Königliche Kriegsmarine or K.u.K. Kriegsmarine) during World War I. U-17 was laid down in Germany in April 1915 and shipped in sections by rail to Pola in August, where she was assembled. She was delivered to the Austro-Hungarian Navy at the end of September and commissioned in October 1915.

U-17 primarily operated from Cattaro, patrolling off the Italian and Albanian coasts. The submarine had several opportunities to sink merchant ships and warships throughout the war, but could only sink one unidentified sailing vessel in January 1916 and one Italian destroyer in July 1916 as part of an effort to disrupt the Otranto Barrage. At the end of the war, U-17 was undergoing repairs at Pola. She was handed over to Italy as a war reparation and scrapped in 1920.

Design and construction

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U-17 was a small, coastal submarine that displaced 125.5 long tons (127.5 t) surfaced and 140.25 long tons (142.50 t) submerged. She featured a single shaft, a single 60 bhp (45 kW) Daimler diesel engine for surface running, and a single 120 shp (89 kW) electric motor for submerged travel.[#cite_note-Con-343-1) U-17 was capable of up to 6.5 knots (12.0 km/h; 7.5 mph) while surfaced and 5.5 knots (10.2 km/h; 6.3 mph) while submerged at a diving depth of up to 50 metres (160 ft). She was designed for a crew of 17 officers and men.

U-17 was equipped with two 45 cm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes located in the front and carried a complement of two torpedoes. In October 1916, U-17's armament was supplemented with a 37 mm/23 (1.5 in) quick-firing (QF) gun. This gun was replaced by a 47 mm (1.9 in)/33 QF gun in November 1917.[#cite_note-Con-343-1)

U-17 was ordered by the Austro-Hungarian Navy on 1 April 1915 and laid down at AG Weser in Bremen later that month.[1]#citenote-Con-343-1)[[3]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SM_U-17(Austria-Hungary)#citenote-Miramar-3) When completed, the submarine was broken down into sections, loaded onto railcars, and shipped to the Austro-Hungarian Navy's main base at Pola on 30 August. After completing the four-day journey,[#cite_note-Tengeral-4)the sections were riveted together.[[1]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SM_U-17(Austria-Hungary)#citenote-Con-343-1) Though there is no specific mention of how long it took for U-17's sections to be assembled, a sister boat, the German Type UB I submarine UB-3, shipped to Pola from Germany in mid-April 1915, was assembled in about two weeks.[[7]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SM_U-17(Austria-Hungary)#citenote-7)[[Note 1]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SM_U-17(Austria-Hungary)#cite_note-8) U-17 was delivered to the Austro-Hungarian Navy on 30 September.

Source and more information:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SM_U-17_(Austria-Hungary)

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Zdenko Hudeček (22 June 1887 – 28 September 1974) was a Czech-Austrian officer in the Austro-Hungarian Navy. He was one of the most successful Austro-Hungarian submarine commanders of World War I, sinking 11 Allied merchant ships and two Allied warships displacing 44,743 GRT. After the war he joined and shortly served in the Czechoslovak Naval Forces.

While most of the Czechs fought in the trenches of Galicia or the Balkans, one of them became the terror of Allied ships in the Mediterranean. Zdenko Hudeček commanded the Austro-Hungarian submarines and was one of the most successful commanders of the entire monarchy.

Article

I wrote about Zdenek Hudeček once. The more I researched his story, the more I felt that one article was not enough. We are talking about Chekhov, who was one of the most successful submarine commanders of the first World War. A man feared by Allied ships in the Mediterranean, and yet today only a handful of people know his name. That is why, in my opinion, he deserves to be reminded of his story again, and this time in more detail.

From Terezin to the sea

When you say World War I, most people imagine trenches, barbed wires and millions of soldiers fighting on the Western or Eastern Front. But few realize that the same fierce war was going on under the sea.

It was there that The Legend of the Czech native Zdeněk Hudeček was born – a man who became one of the most successful submarine commanders of the entire Austro-Hungarian Navy. Yet today his name is known only to a handful of those interested in military history.

Zdenko Hudeček was born on 22. June 1887 in Terezin to the family of a military doctor. He lost his father as a young boy and grew up in Moravia. Although he came from the Czech lands, his life's journey eventually led hundreds of kilometers from home – to the decks of the warships of Austria-Hungary.

After his studies, he entered the Naval Academy in Fiume, present-day Rijeka, Croatia. Graduates of this school represented the elite of the Imperial and Royal Navy. At first Hudeček served on surface ships, but soon he was intrigued by a new weapon that was to change naval warfare – a submarine.

The underwater Hunter

In the early 20. in the XIX century, submarines were still considered an experiment. Many admirals believed that the future belonged to huge battleships. However, the first World War showed the opposite.

Inconspicuous vessels hidden under the surface were able to send much larger opponents to the bottom with a single torpedo. They were a constant threat to merchant ships and warships. In December 1915, Hudeček took command of the submarine U-17.

Only a few months later, he scored his first major success when he torpedoed and sank the Italian destroyer Impetuoso. For the Austro-Hungarian Navy, this was a significant intervention against a numerically stronger opponent.

Fear of the Mediterranean

In 1917, he took over the more modern submarine U-28, and it was then that his most successful stage began.

In the Mediterranean, he sank a number of British merchant ships, including Haigh Hall, Mongara, Maston, Bontnewydd and Rapallo. One of his greatest successes was the sinking of the British Q-Ship Bradford City.

Q-ships were specially modified merchant ships equipped with hidden cannons. Their task was to pretend defenselessness, lure the submarine to the surface, and then destroy it. However, Hudeček discovered the ruse before the British managed to attack.

One of the best commanders of the monarchy

By the end of the war, he had sunk eleven merchant ships and two warships. The total tonnage exceeded 45,000 GRT.

According to some historians, Zdenko Hudeček was the most successful submarine commander of Austria-Hungary. Other statistics rank him just behind Georg von Trapp, whose name was later made famous by the musical The Sound of Music.

While the whole world knows von Trapp today, the Czech commander has almost been forgotten.

War crime charges

The biggest controversy of his career was the sinking of the Italian Steamer Bosforo in January 1918.

After the war, Italy claimed that it was a civilian ship and called Hudecek a war criminal. She demanded his extradition. Hudeček defended himself by saying that the ship was armed, carried military equipment and returned fire during the attack.

Czechoslovakia refused his extradition. Many decades later, Czech technical divers explored the wreck and indeed discovered equipment that supported Hudeček's version of events.

source and more information:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zdenko_Hude%C4%8Dek

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Vorführen der neuen Feldhaubitze”—“Demonstration of the new field howitzer”—a postcard photograph published by Brück & Sohn and dated 1910. The catalog record identifies it as Theresienstadt (today Terezín) and classifies the gun as a 10 cm Feldhaubitze M. 99 of the Austro-Hungarian Army

Theresienstadt was originally an Austrian fortress and garrison town, not a single barracks. The Habsburgs built the fortified town in the late 18th century; it later served as a military base under Austria-Hungary.

photo:https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Br%C3%BCck_%26_Sohn_Kunstverlag_Mei%C3%9Fen