 Shipyard workers from Weser assembled the boat and her five sisters at Pola, where she was launched on 17 June.SM "UB-47" was commissioned into the Imperial German Navy on 4 July 1916 under the command of "Oberleutnant zur See" Wolfgang Steinbauer.Steinbauer and "UB-47" sank 15 ships () over the next nine months, including two Cunard Line steamers— and —serving as British troopships, as well as the French battleship .