HISTOREICH

In a previous article, I showed you the exterior of the German submarine U-995 at Laboe. This time, token in hand, I finally had the chance to step inside.

It had rained earlier that morning, and since it wasn't a weekend, I hadn't expected to see so many people. Yet there was already a steady stream of visitors making their way through the famous U-boat Type VII C/41. Most of them moved quickly from one compartment to the next, stopping for only a few seconds before moving on. Some seemed almost in a hurry. A few barely even looked at the periscope before continuing their visit.

I was in no hurry at all.

The moment I climbed aboard U-995 at Laboe, I felt that little surge of excitement you get when you finally enter somewhere you have seen so many times in photographs. For a few seconds, it was impossible not to think of "Das Boot". The narrow passageways, the pipes, the instruments and the incredibly cramped compartments immediately brought the famous film to mind.

So while the visitors around me continued towards the next compartment, I slowed down. I wanted to look at everything. Every instrument, every hatch, every piece of equipment seemed to deserve a closer look. Even the smallest details caught my attention.

The deeper I went into the submarine, the more impressive the experience became. U-995 is not particularly large from the outside, but once inside, you quickly realise just how little space the crew actually had. Every available area seems to have been occupied by equipment, pipes, machinery, bunks or storage.

It is easy to walk through a museum and simply look at objects behind glass. U-995 is different. You walk through the actual spaces where men lived, worked, ate and slept during their patrols. And that is what makes a visit to the U-995 at Laboe so fascinating for me. Standing inside this preserved World War II submarine, surrounded by its original equipment, you can begin to imagine what life aboard a German U-boat must have been like.

The history of U-995: The German Type VII C/41 U-Boat

The submarine U-995 Type VII C/41 in Laboe

The detailed history of U-995 can be found here, so I will not go into every detail here. Instead, I will simply give a brief overview of the submarine's wartime career and what happened to her after the war.

Built at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg, U-995 entered service under the command of Kapitänleutnant Walter Köhntopp. After completing her training in Kiel, the submarine was sent to Norway in 1944, from where she began her operational patrols.

Köhntopp's time in command was not particularly successful. Despite several patrols, U-995 did not manage to attack an Allied convoy or sink an enemy vessel. He was eventually relieved of his command and replaced by a much younger officer, Oberleutnant zur See Georg Hess.

Under Hess, the story of U-995 changed. Operating in the cold waters of the Arctic, the submarine took part in attacks against Soviet shipping and warships and recorded several successes during the final months of the war.

But by then, the war was rapidly approaching its end. Germany's surrender in May 1945 brought U-995's operational career to a close. The submarine was still at Trondheim in Norway when the war ended. Her crew survived the conflict, only to become prisoners of war.

Yet this was not the end of U-995's story.

Unlike so many German U-boats that were eventually scrapped, U-995 was given a second life. After the war, she was transferred to the Royal Norwegian Navy and entered service under the name "Kaura". For several years, the former German U-boat continued to serve at sea, now under a completely different flag and in very different circumstances.

Her naval career finally came to an end in the early 1960s. Following negotiations between Norway and the Federal Republic of Germany, the submarine was returned to German ownership.

U-995 then made her final journey, this time not as a warship but as a piece of history. She was brought to Laboe and installed beside the Naval Memorial, where she became a museum ship.

The Interior of U-995 at Laboe

We take the footbridge and enter through the rear of the U-995

Like many preserved submarines, such as "Espadon" in Saint-Nazaire and "Le Redoutable" in Cherbourg, the visit to U-995 begins at the stern before gradually working its way forward through the boat.

After inserting my token into the turnstile, I push open the gate and join the small queue waiting to enter. My daughter is with me, camera in hand, ready to take photographs for the blog—a job she particularly enjoys and has happily taken on during our visits.

Once inside, there is so much to see that it would be impossible to cover everything properly in a single article without turning it into a small book. I have therefore decided to divide the visit to U-995 into two parts.

In this first part, we will explore the after section of the submarine, beginning with the diesel engine room and continuing through the electric motor compartment, the galley and finally the petty officers' mess.

I have also tried to make the tour as easy to follow as possible. Alongside the photographs taken during my visit, I have included a few carefully selected images from "Das Boot", a cutaway diagram showing the position of each compartment, and detailed 3D reconstructions.

So, let's start at the stern and work our way forward.

The Rear Torpedo Room and Electric Motors of U-995

Stern section of the U-995, showing the torpedo tube

As soon as we step through the watertight door, we find ourselves in the electric motor compartment. This section of the submarine also contains a stern torpedo tube measuring 533 mm in diameter, designed to launch the famous G7e "eel" torpedo.

No sooner have I entered than I strike my head against one of the countless pipes and handwheels that crowd the compartment. I had been warned, but experiencing the cramped conditions firsthand is quite another matter.

Before each patrol, the submarine's torpedoes had to be loaded aboard. These long weapons, which required regular greasing and maintenance, were transported from the forward torpedo room to the stern compartment. Moving them through the narrow passageways of the boat was a difficult and time-consuming task, made even more challenging when several torpedoes—sometimes as many as three—had to be transferred aft.

The single aft torpedo tube. Watch your head – in a submarine, there are pipes and cranks everywhere.

The dials, at the top left of the tube, indicate the position of the rudder

The photo shows the stern of U 995; on the left is the torpedo tube

Let’s take a look up at the ceiling at this chain, which was used to handle the torpedo

The electric motors of U-995

The compartment is dominated by two large electric motors, one driving each propeller shaft. When operating on battery power while submerged, these motors propelled the U-boat silently through the depths.

Life in this compartment was undoubtedly more tolerable than in the diesel engine room. The deafening noise and exhaust fumes of the combustion engines were absent, but the space remained warm and cramped. The heat generated by the electrical equipment, combined with the lack of ventilation, created an atmosphere that was often uncomfortable. To make use of this warmth, crewmen frequently strung laundry lines across the compartment, allowing their clothes to dry during patrols.

Beneath the deck plates lay one of the submarine's most vital components: its battery banks. The 124 cells that powered the electric motors were distributed throughout the boat to maintain proper balance and trim. Some were installed beneath the petty officers' quarters and the galley, while the remainder were located under the officers' quarters further forward.

On the right, with his mouth full, Chief Engineer Ernst Herweg

Eight people were responsible for the engines. E-Obermaschinist Ernst Herweg was in charge of the entire engine room. He had two subordinates under him who were responsible for the port and starboard engines, who in turn had five men under them.

The electrical room is the one that least resembles the one in the film "Das Boot" or even in German news reports. There were three types of electric motors, AEG, Siemens and BBC, which meant there were various types of installation, which explains this.

The 3D view of the electrical compartment gives us an insight into the layout of the U-995. On the left, we can see the aft ballast tank and the torpedo tube. On the right, the door to the diesel engine room is open.

One of the electric motors on the U-995 is located directly beneath the control panels and is partially concealed, as the main section is not visible. It is, so to speak, the tip of the iceberg.

The port engine control panel

The control panel for the starboard engine; we can see the electric motor underneath

Various pressure gauges – don’t ask me what they’re for

The variable speed drive

V stands for volt, A stands for ampere

The maschinentelegraph switch is in the ‘stop’ position. Note the E-Maschinen – an ‘E’ that's very much in vogue among our car manufacturers. Red on one side and green on the other, including the bulb.

The diesel engine room

The diesel engine room is located between the electric engine compartment and the galley. There is a watertight door at each end of the room.

An engineer officer, an Oberleutnant, supervises nine people. Four to five engineers are permanently stationed in the very noisy room, where it is impossible to hear each other and which smells of a mixture of oil and diesel. It is also very hot there. It is the worst place in a U-boat, a horror.

Engine stop lever

On the port-side diesel engine, we can see the valve spring; mechanical access is fairly straightforward

The maschinentelegraph for the starboard engine is green and was manufactured by Hagenuk of Kiel, a company that still exists today.

The starboard diesel engine

The diesel fuel supply for one of the two engines.

Various gauges for monitoring the engine’s condition, oil levels, etc. This panel is located high up, just inside the electrical room.

The Smut kitchen

The tiny kitchen adjoins the noisy diesel engine room. There is only one cook for the entire U-boat, nicknamed the ‘Smutje’ or “Smut”, the equivalent of our "cook". Peter Feigenbutz had his work cut out for him, as he had to feed 45 men working around the clock. Crew members helped him with chores such as peeling potatoes and washing dishes.

A 3D view of the kitchen layout. Under the floor, some of the 62 sets of taps.

The small kitchen does at least have an extractor hood. On the right is the U-995’s cook, Peter Feigenbutz

Three plates resembling billigs; the welded bar prevents the utensils from tipping over in the event of rolling or a sudden dive

Taken from a Die Deutsche Wochenschau newsreel, ‘Mutje’ is preparing a meal on the worktop. Against the wall, we can see four water taps.

The worktop and the four taps, which have seen better days. There is heated seawater, filtered fresh water and water for washing up.

There was also a toilet in the galley. The U-boat had two toilets for a crew of 45...

... but often, the second toilet visit was sacrificed in favour of mealtimes, at least during the first few weeks.

At the start of the mission, there are fresh foods that must be consumed first because of the heat and high humidity inside the boat; fruit and vegetables rot quickly in these conditions. When everything is mouldy but often eaten in time, there are still tinned foods, fruit in syrup, vegetables and meat.

The Petty Officers' Quarters

We leave the kitchen and find ourselves in the non-commissioned officers' quarters, where there is a smell of... cooking, of course. There are eight bunks, which are occupied in shifts; the men work six hours at a time.

The non-commissioned officers had their own quarters, where they slept and ate. On the left, the galley

The submarine has 10 Unteroffiziere (Obermaate and Maate). In the photo below, from left to right:

The non-commissioned officers of the U-995, cigarettes in hand, strike a pose in Kiel

Maat Helmut Lohde, Rudolf Müssener on electrical systems, Maat Josef Urbas on diesel engines, Maat Erich Sachse, Maat Hermann Zumsteg from the central control room, Oberbootsmann Bernhard Knop, Johannes Bittner on torpedoes, Wachmeister Helmut Behnke, Maat Eduard Malik on diesel engines, with his Iron Cross and U-Boote combat badge, and Joachim Gürke on communications (radio, telegraph).

The upper berths can be folded up, the tables unfolded, and then it’s time for lunch. The Zentral, the control room, is right next door.

A swivel bar protects the sailor from falling overboard in the event of heavy rolling. The numerous cupboards can be locked.

On the other side, the layout is different and, curiously, has less storage space. There are no curtains.

Some of the batteries are located under the galley and also under the saloon; there are 62 of them. They can be accessed via the floor of the diesel engine room.

Coming next !

In the next part of my U-995 interior tour, we will explore the control room, crew bunks, forward torpedo room and toilets.

Access to the control room is through this hatch, which is difficult to negotiate feet first, as they did at the time. Otherwise, there is always the option of going through head over heels, but I’m too old for that.

And a second little souvenir from my visit...

A small souvenir from the visit to the U-995 submarine

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samedi 26 septembre 2026

I visit the interior of the U-995 submarine in Laboe