205-class profile
Type 205 submarine U-1 (S180)
Type 205 submarine U-1 (S180)
Class overview
Builders
Operators
Preceded byType 201 submarine
Succeeded byType 206 submarine
SubclassesKobben-class submarine
In commission1962–2005
Completed13
Retired13
Preserved3
General characteristics
TypeSubmarine
Displacement
  • 419 tonnes (412 long tons) surfaced
  • 455 t (448 long tons) submerged
Length44.30 m (145.3 ft)
Beam4.59 m (15 ft 1 in)
Draft3.80 m (12 ft 6 in)
Propulsion
Speed
  • 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) surfaced
  • 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph) submerged
Range
  • 3,950 nmi (7,320 km; 4,550 mi) at 4 knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph) surfaced
  • 228 nmi (422 km; 262 mi) at 4 knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph) submerged
Test depth100 m (330 ft)
Complement4 officers, 18 enlisted
Armament

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.

Plans of the 205 submarine
German submarine U-9 in Speyer

The Type 205 was in service with the Royal Danish Navy until 2004, in which it was known as Narhvalen class. The Danish boats differed slightly from the German ones to meet special Danish demands. Responsible for the design and construction was the Ingenieurkontor Lübeck (IKL) headed by Ulrich Gabler.

List of boats

Submarines built for the Bundesmarine:
Pennant
number		 Name Call
sign		 Launched Com-
missioned		 Decom-
missioned		 Fate
S180U-1 17 February 1967 26 June 1967 29 November 1991 scrapped
S181U-2 15 July 1967 11 October 1966 19 March 1993 scrapped
S183U-4 25 August 1962 19 November 1962 1 August 1974 scrapped
S184U-5 20 November 1962 4 July 1963 17 May 1974 scrapped
S185U-6 30 January 1963 24 July 1963 22 August 1974 scrapped
S186U-7 10 April 1963 16 March 1964 12 July 1974 scrapped
S187U-8 19 June 1963 22 July 1964 9 October 1974 scrapped
S188U-9 20 October 1966 11 April 1967 3 June 1993 Museum ship, Technikmuseum Speyer
S189U-10 5 June 1967 28 November 1967 16 February 1993 Museum ship, Wilhelmshaven
S190U-11 9 February 1968 21 June 1968 30 October 2003 Museum ship, Burgstaaken, Fehmarn
S191U-12 10 September 1968 14 January 1969 21 June 2005 scrapped
Submarines built for the Royal Danish Navy:
S320Narhvalen 10 September 1968 27 February 1970 16 October 2003 scrapped
S321Nordkaperen 18 December 1969 22 December 1970 2 February 2004 scrapped

These last two boats were built by the Howaldtswerke, in Denmark at The Naval Dockyard, Copenhagen.

Notes:

  • U-1 was given back to Nordseewerke and was used to test an experimental closed-cycle diesel air-independent propulsion system before being scrapped
  • U-11 was transformed to a Type 205A double-hulled boat (the outer hull filled with polystyrene foam to make it unsinkable) and used as torpedo target
  • U-12 was used for sonar trials as Type 205B

References

  • Karr, Hans (2014). Deutsche Uboote seit 1956 (in German). Stuttgart: Motorbuch. ISBN 9783613037083.
  • Rössler Eberhard & Hans-Jochen Emsmann (1996). Vom Original zum Modell, Ubootklasse 205. (Bernard & Graefe Verlag GmbH & Co). ISBN 978-3-7637-6011-4.

See also

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