Walking along the beach road I could see U995 in the distance, my first close up view being the stern. My eyes couldn't believe it; I have read many books about the U-Boat war, seen many pictures, even played simulations, and here I was seeing a real life Type VIII boat. These boats were responsible for the sinkings of hundreds of ships, but for those those who served on them, suffered the highest casualty rate of the services, with about 75% mortality over the course of the war.

Here is the business end of U-995. To me, I have a fascination with the U-Boat war because to serve takes a special kind of person. The submariners were young, the commanders were on average 28 years old, with the youngest being in their early 20s, two of the youngest being just 20. Can you imagine being so young with such responsibility?

Sleek, with beautiful lines, the Type VII looks like it can slice through the water, but even on the surface it is relatively slow, managing a maximum of 17 knots / 20 mph / 31 kph. Submerged, speed is a pedestrian 7.6 knots / 9 mph / 14 kph. However, a U-Boat captain could not afford to charge about at full speed all the time and in order to save fuel cruising speed was 8 knots / 9 mph / 15 kph.

Getting closed to going in; here we can see the conning tower and flak guns. A ladder can be seen near the front of the boat. This is the exit from the aft torpedo room. The entrance is at the aft torpedo room. These doorways have been cut into the hull for visitors. Normally the only way in and out of the boat was through the deck hatches or conning tower.

The fencing takes you to the entrance to the rear torpedo room. Conning tower designs changed over the course of the war. Early conning towers had a single AA gun but as the war went on, bigger platforms and bigger and more AA guns were fitted. All those flak guns would badly increase drag underwater and reduce the already slow underwater speed.

As more aircraft were employed by the Allies to counter the U-Boat menace, the ability to position itself ahead of a convoy and to wait for ships to approach became impossible. Advances in radar allowed it to be fitted to aircraft meaning that U-Boats could be detected in all weather, night or day. Early in the war, submarines would often follow ships during the day and then close into attack at night on the surface as their low profile made them very difficult to spot. If a U-Boat was detected by aircraft it would be attacked and even if the attack was unsuccessful, by forcing the U-Boat underwater it effectively removed the ability from the U-Boat to attack.

A single torpedo tube was located in the stern. The bow had 4 tubes.

Here we can see the memorial which was built in 1936 to commemorate the Kaiser's sailors who died in World War 1. After Word War 2, the dead from the Kriegsmarine were added to the memorial but eventually it was dedicated as a memorial to all dead sailors, irrespective of nationality.

A U-Boat was less submarine and boat that could go underwater. Most the time was spent on the surface using the diesel engines, and had be on the surface in order to keep the batteries charged, but when submerged it was powered by the electric motors that can be seen here, stationed between the aft torpedo room and diesel engine room. Here we can see the solitary torpedo tube. Endurance underwater was about 14 hours and this was due to carbon dioxide build up rather than battery levels.

The noisy engine room with aft torpedo tube visible beyond the doorway. A U-Boat spent most of its life on the surface, submerging only to attack or evade the enemy. Later in the war the danger of remaining on the surface became too great and a U-Boat at the surface charging its batteries was a vulnerable target. To mitigate this danger snorkels were fitted that allowed charging to take place at periscope depth and allowing these great engines to suck air through the snorkel. This wasn't pleasant as fumes would enter the boat and sometimes in rough weather the snorkel would momentarily block forcing the diesel engines to consume the air in the U-Boat,

The galley which cannot be seen is between the diesel engine room which can be seen, and these crew quarters. Bunks were cramped and storage space for personal belongings minimal.

Looking the other direction, to the bow, the control room can be seen in the next compartment.

This is the control rooms and I'm siting at the depth control station. One of the periscopes can be seen and its from here than many movies show the calm commander giving orders while he and the crew stare up as the sound of the enemy and depth charges being dropped in the water.

The depth control station in close up.

Whlle this is the aft crew quarters, it's main purpose was to house the after torpedoes. Here we can see just one torpedo blocking one of the bunks. Crew comfort was definitely secondary. Here we are positioned at the torpedo tubes and looking back up the boat.

Positioned at the entrance to the bow torpedo room and looking toward the 4 torpedo tube. The exit from the boat is on the right though this door been cut into the hull so that visitors can enter and exit in an orderly way.