Type VII U-boats were the most common type of German World War II U-boat. 703 boats were built by the end of the war. The lone surviving example, U-995, is on display at the Laboe Naval Memorial located in Laboe, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.
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 dummy 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 anglicised 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.
Type XXI submarines were a class of German diesel–electric Elektroboot submarines designed during the Second World War. One hundred and eighteen were completed, with four being combat-ready. During the war only two were put into active service and went on patrols, but these were not used in combat.
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 UB II type submarine was a class of U-boat built during World War I by the German Imperial Navy. They were enlarged from the preceding type UB I and were more effective vessels. The boats were a single hull design with a 50-metre maximum diving depth and a 30-45 second diving time. In 1915 and 1916, 30 were built at two different shipyards.
German submarine U-1 was the first U-boat built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine following Adolf Hitler's abrogation of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles in 1935, which banned Germany possessing a submarine force.
German submarine U-3519 was a Type XXI U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. The Elektroboote submarine was laid down on 19 September 1944 at the Schichau-Werke yard at Danzig, launched on 23 November 1944, and commissioned on 6 January 1945 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Richard von Harpe.
Seehund, also known as Type XXVII, was a midget submarine built by Nazi Germany during World War II. Designed in 1944 and operated by two-man crews, it was used by the Kriegsmarine during the closing months of the war, sinking nine merchant vessels and damaging an additional three, while losing 35 boats, mostly attributed to bad weather. The French Navy used four captured boats after the war until 1953.
German submarine U-1105, a Type VII-C/41 U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine, was built at the Nordseewerke Shipyard, Emden, Germany, and commissioned on 3 June 1944. Oberleutnant zur See Hans-Joachim Schwarz was given command. He would command U-1105 for the remainder of the war.
During World War II, Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine considered various submarine designs for specialized operations or improving U-boat performance. Many of these designs did not come to fruition for various reasons. Some were abandoned due to practical considerations. Others towards the end had to be abandoned as the yards were overrun by allied forces.
Kaiserliche Werft Danzig was a German shipbuilding company founded in 1852 as Königliche Werft Danzig and renamed Kaiserliche Werft after the proclamation of the German Empire in 1871. Together with Kaiserliche Werft Kiel and Kaiserliche Werft Wilhelmshaven it was one of three shipyards responsible for maintenance, repair and construction of warships for the Imperial German Navy. Kaiserliche Werft Danzig closed in 1918 after the end of World War I, but soon opened when Danziger Werft was founded on its site in 1919.
The Schichau-Werke was a German engineering works and shipyard based in Elbing, Germany on the Frisches Haff of then-East Prussia. It also had a subsidiary shipyard in nearby Danzig. Due to the Soviet conquest of eastern Germany, Schichau moved to Bremerhaven in March 1945, and its successors continued in business until 2009.
SM U-115 was a German Type U 115 U-boat of the Imperial German Navy built at Schichau-Werke, Elbing. As her sister ship SM U-116, she was never completed and ultimately broken up in Danzig after the armistice. Her main engines were used in M/S Adolf Sommerfeld ex SMS Gefion. Both boats had been offered to the IGN free of charge by Schichau in an attempt to gain experience in building submarines. When construction of the two boats began to lag behind due to shortages in raw materials and lack of experience in submarine construction, they were declared "war boats" (Kriegsboote), formally ordered by the Reichsmarineamt and given their respective designation. On 20 October 1918, Schichau-Werke reported U 115 would not be ready for delivery until the spring of 1919. Nevertheless, 14 more boats of the class were ordered on 29 June 1918 for delivery in 1919.
German submarine U-3524 was a Type XXI U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. The Elektroboote submarine was laid down on 8 October 1944 at the Schichau-Werke yard at Danzig, launched on 14 December 1944, and commissioned on 26 January 1945 under the command of Korvettenkapitän Hans-Ludwig Witt.
German submarine U-3509 was a Type XXI U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. The Elektroboote submarine was laid down on 29 July 1944 at the Schichau-Werke yard at Danzig, launched on 27 September 1944, and commissioned on 29 January 1945 under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Karl-Heinz Voswinkel.
German submarine U-1201 was a Type VIIC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II.
German submarine U-3530 was a Type XXI U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine, built for service in World War II. It was ordered on 6 November 1943, and was laid down on 3 November 1944 at F Schichau GmbH, Danzig, as yard number 1675. It was launched on 26 January 1945, and commissioned under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Wilhelm Brauel on 22 March 1945.
The Ingenieurbüro Glückauf was a department of the Reich Ministry of Armaments and War Production, which during the Second World War was the design office of the Hauptausschuß Schiffbau. It completed construction and production plans for U-Boats of the Kriegsmarine. This affected both submarine types that were designed for the U-boat war, as well as midget submarines which were used by the small combat units of the Kriegsmarine.
Kriegsmarine (planned)