She had been laid down in November 1913 as U-8 the second boat of the U-7 class for the Austro-Hungarian Navy (German: Kaiserliche und Königliche (K.u.K.)

After the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, the Austro-Hungarian Navy became convinced that none of the submarines of the class could be delivered to the Adriatic via Gibraltar.

As a consequence, the entire class, including U-8, was sold to the German Imperial Navy in November 1914.

The boat was 69.50 metres (228 ft) long and was armed with five torpedo tubes and a deck gun.

The Austrian specifications called for two shafts with twin diesel engines (2,300 metric horsepower (2,269 bhp; 1,692 kW) total) for surface running at up to 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph), and twin electric motors (1,240 PS (1,223 shp; 912 kW) total) for a maximum of 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph) when submerged.

[1] On 4 August, SM U-67 was commissioned into the Imperial German Navy under the command of Kapitänleutnant Erich von Rosenberg-Grusczyski.

[11] U-67's most successful month was April 1917, when she sank four ships of 15,223 GRT in a span of twelve days.

[11][Note 4] Nieland was succeeded as commander of U-67 by Oberleutnant zur See Helmuth von Rabenau in December 1917.