Antedating of "U-Boat"

[Shapiro, Fred]

U-boat (OED July 1916)

1915 _Manchester Guardian_ 8 Mar. 9 (ProQuest Historical Newspapers)  The official wireless message from Berlin on Saturday stated: -- With regard to the loss of the submarine U 8, the papers remark that the destruction of one U-boat after a three weeks' U-boat war cannot be called an important triumph for the English.

Fred Shapiro

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org