"UB-5" was initially assigned to the Flanders Flotilla in March 1915 and sank five British ships of under the command of Wilhelm Smiths. The U-boat was assigned to the Baltic Flotilla in October 1915, and relegated to a training role from September 1916. At the end of the war, "UB-5" was deemed unseaworthy and unable to surrender at Harwich with the rest of Germany's U-boat fleet. She remained in Germany where she was broken up by Dräger at Lübeck, Germany, in 1919.