U-Boot Wilhelm-Bauer - Geschichte (2025)

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How many U-boats are left? ›

Where to see the final four “iron coffins.” The German Unterseeboot, or U-boat, was a submarine that appeared seemingly out of nowhere to destroy both military and commercial ships. Despite their prevalence during World War I and World War II, only four U-boats remain intact today.

Of the 632 U-boats sunk at sea, Allied surface ships and shore-based aircraft accounted for the great majority (246 and 245 respectively). This article was most recently revised and updated by Michael Ray.

U-boat submariners had a 75% casualty rate, the highest of all German forces during the war. The U-505 had two bathrooms, one of which was used to store food for the first part of the voyage. For the entire two months at sea, the crew never bathed and instead cleaned themselves by swabbing with alcohol.

Since torpedoes of this period could be unreliable, surface attacks were quite common; this tactic also allowed U-boat crews to seize supplies and valuables from merchant ships before they sunk. Furthermore, some U-boats were equipped to transport and deploy naval mines.

It is said by some that the factor of over- confidence on the part of the Germans made tonnage losses light and submarine sinkings heavy in the first few months of the war. Many cocksure U-boat commanders were lost just because they believed implicitly in the stupidity of the British.

About 9000 German u-boat crew members survived the war. The Kriegsmarine lost 793 submarines, with about 28,000 crew members lost. 75% of u-boat crew members did not survive the war. They had the highest casualty rate of any branch of the German military.

These submarines were developed by the Germans to fight the British during the world wars. Generally, a U-Boat was over 200 feet long, could remain underwater for nearly 2 hours, and hold more than 10 torpedoes and over 30 men.

World War II submarines typically had maximum operational depths in the range of 200 to 300 meters (about 660 to 980 feet). For example, the German Type VII U-boats, which were the most widely used submarines during the war, had a test depth of around 230 meters (750 feet).

National Museum of the U.S. Navy

The effective date of surrender was May 8 and 156 U-boats surrendered to Allied forces in the following weeks. Operation Deadlight was an operation where Allied forces scuttled 116 of these boats following the war.

Captain Frederic John Walker CB, DSO and three Bars, was a Royal Navy officer noted for his exploits during the Second World War and was the most successful anti-submarine warfare commander who sank 20 German U-boats under his command, which is more than any other British or Allied Commander during the Battle of the ...

What was the life expectancy of the U-boat crew? ›

Towards the end of the war the average life expectancy of a U-boat crewman was only 60 days; on V day there were 28,000 dead and 5,000 captured and Doenitz was forced to make the order for all U-boat captains to surface and surrender.

A U-boat of this type, listed for decades as being sunk off Gibraltar, was found on the sea bottom about 60 miles off the coast of New Jersey in 1991. According to the definitive website Uboat.org, a total of 50 German U-boats remained unaccounted for after the end of World War II.

Converted mercantile class remain out about 3 to 4 months; "U" boats from 20 to 30 days, say 25 days; "U" mine layers generally less; later "U. B." boats from 14 to 24 days; "U. B." coastal class from 7 to 14 days; "U. C." boats operating in the North Sea and Atlantic, from 10 to 20 days, and in the Channel, working ...

By the start of World War I in 1914, however, Germany had caught the competition. Its 20 combat-ready U-boats were more sophisticated that other countries' submarines and could travel 5,000 miles without refueling, allowing them to operate along the entire British coast.

German submarines during World War I and World War II . U-boat is a translation of the German U-boot , which is short for Unterseeboot , or “undersea boat.”

On Feb. 12, 1946, U-3514 was sunk off the coast of Northern Ireland in Operation Deadlight, meant to ensure elimination of the German submarine fleet after the war. The sub was sunk at 10:04 a.m. by ship guns and depth charges, the last of 116 scuttled by the Royal Navy.

In September 1954, U-505 was dedicated as a war memorial and became a permanent exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, Illinois. In 1989, the U-boat was also designated as a National Historic Landmark. U-505 is the only Type IX-C U-boat in existence today.

SM U-1, 1 of the the last surviving WW1 warships of the Imperial Germán Navy and the last WW1 submarine in the world, here in the Deutsches Museum.