German Type U 31 submarine

U 31 was a class of U-boats built during World War I by the Kaiserliche Marine.

U 31 U-boats carried 6 torpedoes and were originally armed with one 8.8 cm deck gun, which was replaced in 1916/17 by a 10.5 cm deck gun. They carried a crew of 35 and had a cruising range of around 8790 nmi.

Between 1912 and 1915 11 were built on Germaniawerft in Kiel, amongst these top-three-scoring SMU U-35 (Germany) with the famous Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière as commander, SMU U-39 with Walter Forstmann and SMU U-38 with Max Valentiner. Together these U-boats sunk more than.

Later Admiral and head of the Abwehr from 1935 to 1944 Wilhelm Canaris also served as commander on two different U 31 U-boats. He first took over from Max Valentiner on U-38 and later on SMU U-34 (Germany).

List of Type U 31 submarines
There were eleven Type U 31 submarines commissioned into the Kaiserliche Marine.