The Type II U-boat was designed by Nazi Germany as a coastal U-boat, modeled after the CV-707 submarine, which was designed by the Dutch front company NV Ingenieurskantoor voor Scheepsbouw Den Haag (I.v.S) and built in 1933 by the Finnish Crichton-Vulcan shipyard in Turku, Finland. It was too small to undertake sustained operations far away from the home support facilities. Its primary role was found to be in the training schools, preparing new German naval officers for command. It appeared in four sub-types.
U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. The term is an anglicized version of the German word U-Boot, a shortening of Unterseeboot, though the German term refers to any submarine. Austro-Hungarian Navy submarines were also known as U-boats.
German Type XXIII submarines were the first so-called elektroboote to become operational. They were small coastal submarines designed to operate in the shallow waters of the North Sea, Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea, where larger Type XXI electric boats were at risk in World War II. They were so small they could carry only two torpedoes, which had to be loaded externally. As with their far larger sisters—the Type XXI—they were able to remain submerged almost all of the time and were faster than conventional U-boats, due to the improved streamlining of their shape, batteries with larger capacity and the snorkel, which allowed the diesel engines to be used while submerged. The Type XXI and XXIII U-boats revolutionized post-war submarine design. Nearly a thousand Type XXIII boats were projected towards the close of World War II, but most of these were either cancelled, scrapped incomplete, or only projected.
The Type 212A is a class of diesel-electric attack submarine developed by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft AG (HDW) for the German Navy, and the Italian Navy where it is known as the Todaro class. It features diesel propulsion and an additional air-independent propulsion (AIP) system using Siemens proton-exchange membrane (PEM) compressed hydrogen fuel cells. The submarines can operate at high speed on diesel power or switch to the AIP system for silent slow cruising, staying submerged for up to three weeks with little exhaust heat. The system is also said to be vibration-free and virtually undetectable.
An attack submarine or hunter-killer submarine is a submarine specifically designed for the purpose of attacking and sinking other submarines, surface combatants and merchant vessels. In the Soviet and Russian navies they were and are called "multi-purpose submarines". They are also used to protect friendly surface combatants and missile submarines. Some attack subs are also armed with cruise missiles, increasing the scope of their potential missions to include land targets.
The Type 205 was a class of German diesel-electric submarines. They were single-hull vessels optimized for the use in the shallow Baltic Sea. The Type 205 is a direct evolution of the Type 201 class with lengthened hull, new machinery and sensors. The biggest difference though is that ST-52 steel is used for the pressure hull since the Type 201's non-magnetic steel proved to be problematic. Type 206, the follow-on class, finally succeeded with non-magnetic steel hulls.
German submarine U-977 was a World War II Type VIIC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine which escaped to Argentina after Germany's surrender. The submarine's voyage to Argentina led to legends, apocryphal stories and conspiracy theories that it and U-530 had transported escaping Nazi leaders and/or Nazi gold to South America, that it had made a secret voyage to Antarctica, and even that it sank the Brazilian cruiser Bahia as the last act of the Battle of the Atlantic.
HMS Meteorite was an experimental U-boat developed in Germany, scuttled at the end of World War II, subsequently raised and commissioned into the Royal Navy. The submarine was originally commissioned into the Kriegsmarine on 13 March 1945 as U-1407. She was built around a Walter engine fueled by high-test peroxide (HTP), the fuel known as T-Stoff in German service.
German submarine U-228 was a Type VIIC U-boat built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine for service during World War II.
German submarine U-656 was a German Type VIIC U-boat built for the Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine for service during World War II. She was ordered on 9 October 1939 and the keel laid on 4 September 1940. Construction on U-656 was carried out by Hamburg company Howaldtswerke as yard number 805. She was launched on 8 July 1941 and commissioned on 17 September 1941.
The Type 209 is a range of diesel-electric attack submarines developed exclusively for export by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft of Germany. Five class variants, including modifications thereof, have been successfully exported to 15 countries, with 68 submarines being built and commissioned to five different variants between 1971 and 2021. More boats have been built to modified designs.
German submarine U-301 was a Type VIIC U-boat built for the German Navy (Kriegsmarine) during World War II. The submarine was laid down on 12 February 1941 at the Flender Werke yard at Lübeck, launched on 25 March 1942, and commissioned on 9 May 1942. During her short career the U-boat sailed on three combat patrols, without sinking or damaging any ships, before she was sunk on 21 January 1943 by a British submarine in the Mediterranean Sea.
German submarine U-651 was a German Type VIIC U-boat built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine for service during World War II. She was ordered just after the war started in 1939, laid down on 16 January 1940, launched on 21 December that year and commissioned the following 21 February. She was commanded by Kapitänleutnant Peter Lohmeyer.
German submarine U-2518 was a Type XXI U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine at the end of World War II, which later served in the French Navy, where she was commissioned as Roland Morillot, in honour of Roland Morillot, a French submarine officer killed in 1915.
German submarine U-433 was a Type VIIC U-boat built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine for service during World War II. She was laid down on 4 January 1940 by Schichau-Werke, Danzig as yard number 1474, launched on 15 March 1941 and commissioned on 24 May 1941 under Oberleutnant zur See Hans Ey.
German submarine U-453 was a Type VIIC U-boat built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine for service during World War II. She was laid down on 4 July 1940 by Deutsche Werke in Kiel as yard number 284, launched on 30 April 1941 and commissioned on 26 June 1941 under Kapitänleutnant Egon-Reiner von Schlippenbach.
German submarine U-471 was a Type VIIC U-boat built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine for service during World War II. She was laid down on 25 October 1941 by Deutsche Werke, Kiel as yard number 302, launched on 6 March 1943 and commissioned on 5 May 1943 under Oberleutnant zur See Friedrich Kloevekorn.
German submarine U-326 was a Type VIIC/41 U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. While she carried out one patrol U-326 failed to sink or damage any ships. The boat was sunk on 30 April 1945 in the Bay of Biscay by an American aircraft.
German submarine U-467 was a Type VIIC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II.
German submarine U-1202 was a Type VIIC U-boat built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine for service during World War II. She was laid down on 28 April 1943 by Schichau-Werke, Danzig as yard number 1572, launched on 11 November 1943 and commissioned on 27 January 1944 under Kapitänleutnant Rolf Thomsen.
