UB-148 (World War I Prize Submarine)
1919-1921
The Navy retained the alphanumeric name carried by this former Imperial German Navy vessel at the time of her acquisition.
(World War I Prize Submarine: displacement 523 (surfaced), 663 (submerged); 1ength 182'; beam 19'; draft 12'; speed 13.6 knots (surfaced), 8 knots (submerged); complement 34; armament 5 20-inch torpedo tubes, 1 3.4-inch; class UB-142)
UB-148, a UB-III series, small, coastal submarine, was laid down on 27 October 1917 at Bremen, Germany, by Aktiengesellschaft Weser; launched on 7 August 1918; and commissioned on 19 September 1918, Oberleutnant zur See Walter W. J. Warzecha (a decorated U-boat commander credited with nine ships sunk and ten damaged) in command. Two days after the Armistice of 11 November 1918 stilled the guns of The Great War, UB-148 was interned at the Swedish naval base at Karlskrona, Sweden, to await her fate.
By the terms of the Armistice, Germany was required to destroy her aircraft and submarines or surrender them to the Allies. On 26 November 1918, UB-148 was surrendered to the British at Harwich, England. Later, when the U.S. Navy expressed an interest in acquiring several former U-boats to use in conjunction with a Victory Bond drive, UB-148 was one of the six vessels allocated for that purpose. Her U.S. crew, sent to England early in March 1919, took her over later that month, began preparing her for the voyage to America, and placed her in commission, Lt. Cmdr. Harold T. Smith in command.
UB-148 departed England on 3 April 1919 in company with Bushnell (Submarine Tender No. 2) and three other submarines: U-117, UB-88, and UC-97. That task organization, the Ex-German Submarine Expeditionary Force, steamed via the Azores and Bermuda to New York, N.Y., where it arrived on 27 April. After a period of voyage repairs to the former enemy vessels, the Navy opened the submarines for visits by the public.
Tourists, reporters and photographers joined Navy technicians and civilian shipbuilders in swarming over UB-148 and the other submarines. Following that, UB-148 received instructions to call at ports along the east coast of the U.S. in the immediate vicinity of New York City in conjunction with the Victory Bond drive. At the conclusion of the patriotic enterprise that summer, the Navy subjected UB-148 and U-111 to extensive tests and trials to evaluate their performance.
When that experimentation ended, she joined U-117 and U-140 at the Philadelphia (Pa.) Navy Yard, where they were laid up pending final disposition. During the summer of 1921, partially dismantled at Philadelphia, UB-148 figured in gunnery and aerial bombing tests conducted off the east coast. Ultimately, UB-148 was sunk by gunfire from the destroyer Sicard (DD-346).
Raymond A. Mann
Updated, Robert J. Cressman
8 February 2021
