U-30, built by the Hungarian firm of Ganz Danubius at Fiume, was launched in December 1916 and commissioned in February 1917.

Austria-Hungary's U-boat fleet was largely obsolete at the outbreak of World War I.

[3][Note 2] After these steps alleviated their most urgent needs,[5] the Austro-Hungarian Navy selected the German Type UB II design for its newest submarines in mid 1915.

[3] Although there is no specific notation of a range for U-30 in Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921, the German UB II boats, upon which the U-27 class was based, had a range of over 6,000 nautical miles (11,000 km) at 5 knots (9.3 km/h) surfaced, and 45 nautical miles (83 km) at 4 knots (7.4 km/h) submerged.

[3] After intricate political negotiations to allocate production of the class between Austrian and Hungarian firms,[7] U-27 was ordered from Ganz Danubius on 12 October 1915.

[2] At that port, on 21 January 1917, SM U-30 was commissioned into the Austro-Hungarian Navy under the command of Linienschiffsleutnant Friedrich Fähndrich.

Cutting short her cruise with damage to the parapet on her conning tower, a missing radio aerial, and a broken gyrocompass, U-30 arrived in Cattaro on 16 March for repairs.