German submarine U-96

Type

Submarine

Period

20th Century

Nation

Germany

Overview: U-96 was a German Type VIIC U-boat of the Kriegsmarine, built by Germaniawerft in Kiel and commissioned in September 1940. She is by far the most famous U-boat of World War II, having been the vessel on which war correspondent Lothar-Günther Buchheim sailed in 1941, an experience that became the basis for his bestselling novel and the 1981 film Das Boot. Specifications: As a Type VIIC boat, U-96 displaced about 769 tonnes surfaced and 871 tonnes submerged, with an overall length of 67.10 m, a beam of 6.20 m, and a draught of 4.74 m. She was powered by two diesel engines for surface running and two electric motors submerged, giving roughly 17.7 knots surfaced and 7.6 knots submerged, and she carried the standard Type VIIC torpedo tube and deck gun armament typical of the class, making her one of the most heavily kitted and modeled U-boat types in scale modeling. Service History: Operating with the 7th U-boat Flotilla out of Saint-Nazaire on the French Atlantic coast, U-96 completed eleven war patrols, participating in eleven wolfpack operations. She is credited with sinking 27 Allied merchant ships totaling over 180,000 gross register tons and damaging several others, remarkably without losing a single crewman in her entire career. Notable Facts: U-96 carried the emblem of a green laughing sawfish on her conning tower, which later became the badge of the 9th U-boat Flotilla. She was sunk at her moorings in the submarine pens at Wilhelmshaven on 30 March 1945 during a US bombing raid; a seaworthy full-scale mockup based on U-96, numbered "U-26," was built for the film Das Boot and also appeared in Raiders of the Lost Ark.