German Navy – Submarines

Submarines

Back to Frigates

Attack Submarines

Type 212 LOA 184-188′ / 56.1-57.3 m TDISP 1,830 tons submerged (8 active with German Navy, 4 with Italian Navy)Type 212 German sub Lisbon 2015Type 212 submarine Eckernförde 2016

Type 206 (Service 1973-2011) LOA 159′ / 48.5 m TDISP 500 tons submerged (16 all retired, 2 sold and in service with Colombia)Type 206 sub Kiel 2016Type 206 subs Kiel 2016Type 206 sub Kiel 2005

Type 205 LOA 145′ / 44.2 m TDISP 455 tons submerged (13, 2 served in Danish Navy, all retired, 3 preserved)

U-10 (1967-1993) Museum ship at WilhelmshavenU-10 Wilhelmshaven 2017

Type XXI U-Boat LOA 252′ / 76.8 m TDISP 1,800 tons submerged (118 built, 1 preserved)

Wilhelm Bauer (formerly U-2540) 1945 commissioned and scuttled at end of Second World War, raised in 1957, Service in West German Navy from 1960-1982, mostly as a research and test boat. Museum boat at Bremerhaven since 1984.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Wilhelm Bauer museum boat, Bremerhaven, restored to Second World War appearance (2009). Credit: Ra Boe, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

FGS Wilhelm Bauer U-2540 museum Bremerhaven 2018

Type IXC U-boat LOA 252′ / 76.8 m TDISP 1,120 tons, 1,230 tons submerged. (194 built, 2 preserved)

U-505 (1941-1944) Captured by USN 4 June 1944, as a “Top secret” capture, cover story of sinking, technically evaluated by USN and disguised as a USN boat. In 1954 donated to the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. On exterior display until refurbishment in 2004. According to the museum website, the capture resulted in the Allies gaining access to 900 pounds of codebooks and 2 intact enigma machines.

U505_outside_Museum_of_Science_and_Industry_Chicago_circa_1956
U-505 soon after it was donated to the museum, 1956 [detail of]. Credit: estate sale from eBay, CC0,via Wikimedia Commons
U-505 museum boat Chicago IL 2002

U-534 (1942-1945) sunk by aircraft 5 May 1945. Wreck discovered by a Danish treasure hunter in 1986. Raised and salvaged 1993, transported to Birkenhead, where it joined the collection of the Warship Preservation Trust, until that museum ceased operations 2006. Sectioned into several components and Moved to nearby Woodside Ferry Terminal and is on exterior display.

U_534_fra_Anholt_efter_bjægning_-_panoramio
U-534 on display at the former location of the Warship Preservation Trust facility on the West Float, Birkenhead UK, 2009. Credit: Carsten Wiehe, CC BY-SA 3.0,via Wikimedia Commons

U-534 Museum boat Birkenhead 2005U-534 Museum boat Birkenhead ferry 2020

U-995 Type VIIC/41 U-Boat (1943-1945) LOA 220′ / 67 m TDISP 760 tons, 860 tons submerged. During war patrols U-995 sank several merchant and warships. After surrender at Trondheim, was acquired by Norway, served in the Norwegian Navy as the Kaura (1952-1965). Museum boat at Laboe Naval Memorial.

U_995_Laboe
U-995 from the base of the nearby Laboe memorial tower, 2012. Credit: Wiki05, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

U-995 museum boat Laboe Naval Memorial 2016

Replica U-boat used in filming. Full scale but only consists of the surfaced hull sections. Likely modelled on the Type VIIC class. Added for novelty’s sake! U-boat replica malta 2013

UB-III class coastal submarines (1918-1919) LOA ca. 185′ / 56.4m TDISP 640 tons submerged. Surrendered at Harwich March 1919, partially scrapped 1939-1945. Three similar boats, UB-144, UB-145, UB-150 were reportedly partially scrapped in this location, 8 km West of Sheerness on the Medway estuary mud flats. The most intact submarine is often believed to be UB-122.

SM_UB_88_submarine_surrendered_in_the_US_c1920
SM-UB-88, sister boat of type UB-III class, on a postwar tour of the United States. Thisboat surrendered to USN units after the Armistice, and was later sunk as target by the USS Wilkes, 1921. Credit: Lieutenant Thomas Marshall Colston, U.S. Navy, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

UB-class FWW subs Medway 2018UB-class FWW subs Medway 1940s

Continue to Corvettes and Patrol Ships

%d bloggers like this: