 History of U 995
U 995 was laid down as a type VIIc/41 U-boat on 25th November 1942 at Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg, Germany, and was launched on July,
22nd. Despite damage inflicted by an allied bomb raid, the boat was
commissioned on September 16th, 1943 with Oberleutnant (Lieutenant
Junior Grade) Walter Köhntopp in command.
From September 16th, 1943, to May 31st, 1944, U 995 belonged to the 5th
submarine flotilla (5. U-Boot-Flottille) in Kiel, Germany.
During this time the submarine and it's crew underwent extensive operational
training. On May 21st, 1944, U995 was attacked by a Canadian Sunderland
aircraft (Sqdn OTU 4/S) with 5 men of the crew being wounded.
After completion of training, U 995 was transferred on June 1st, 1944, as a front boat to the 13th submarine flotilla (13. U-Boot-Flottille) inTrondheim, Norway, to fight the allied convoys, that supplied the Soviet Union with arms, ammunition and other ordnance. On October 10th, 1944
Oberleutnant (Lieutenant Junior Grade) Hans-Georg Hess became new
commanding officer (CO) of U995, which was transferred on March 1st,
1945, to the 14th submarine flotilla (14. U-Boot-Flottille) in Narvik,
Norway. During her term of service, U995 conducted nine patrols, during
which the boat sunk a total of two merchant ships, one Soviet patrol
craft, one Soviet auxiliary mine sweeper and one Soviet motorboat.
At the time of the German capitulation on May, 8th, 1945, U995 was
moored at Trondheim, Norway, to be equipped with a snorkel. The boat was
not scuttled or destroyed by the crew, but surrendered to the British
and eventually transferred into Norwegian ownership in October 1948.
In December 1952 ex-U 995 was recommissioned by the Norwegian Royal Navy
under the new name “Kaura” (NATO-identification number S 309). In 1962
the submarine was finally decommissioned. Instead of being broken up, it
was decided by the Norwegian government to give back ex-U995 to the
Federal Republic of Germany (Western Germany) as a token of regained
friendship after the bitter experience of the German occupation from
1940 to 1945.
In 1965 the submarine was transferred to Kiel, where it was re-named
U995 and re-converted to it's war-time appearance and eventually became
a museum ship at Laboe in front of the German Naval Memorial in March 1972.
Technical data U995 German Type VIIc/41 submarine
Displacement:
769 long tons (781 t) surfaced, 871 long tons (885 t)
submerged
Length:
50.5 m (165 ft 8 in) pressure hull, 67.1 m (220 ft 2 in) over all
Beam:
4.7 m (15 ft 5 in) pressure hull, 6.2 m (20 ft 4 in) over all
Draft:
4.72 m (15 ft 6 in)
Propulsion:
2 × supercharged 6-cylinder diesel engines totalling 2,800–3,200 hp
(2,100–2,400 kW) surfaced 2 x BBC electric motors, totaling 750 hp (560 kW) with a maximum rpm of 296 submerged
Max. Speed:
17.7 knots (20.4 mph; 32.8 km/h) surfaced
7.6 knots (8.7 mph; 14.1 km/h) submerged
Max. Range:
8,190 nm (15,170 km) at 10 kn (19 km/h) surfaced
130 nm (230 km) at 2 kn (3.7 km/h) submerged
Max. operational depth:
200 m (610 ft )
Calculated crush depth:
250–295 m (820–970 ft )
Complement:
44-52 officers, NCO's and ratings
Armament:
5x 533 mm (21 in) torpedo tubes (4 bow, 1 stern)
12x torpedoes or 26 TMA or 39 TMB mines
1x 3,7cm (1,45 in) AA-gun
2x 2x2cm (.78 in) AA-guns
Infoservice
U-995 in our Imagefilm
Impressions of the German Navy
PR-Material U-995
 deutsch / german
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