German submarine U-997

Type VIIC/41 submarine

Service

Kriegsmarine as U-99723 September 1943 — 9 May 1945594 days of the war

Type VIIC/41 submarine Particulars

Name: U-997
Builder: Blohm & Voss AG, Hamburg
Ordered: 14 October 1941
Laid down: 7 December 1942
Launched: 18 August 1943
Commissioned: 23 September 1943
Fate: Surrendered on 9 May 1945 at Narvik, Norway
Sunk on 13 December 1945 during Operation Deadlight (1945)
Status: Wreck

Specifications

Displacement, surfaced: 747 long tons (759 t)
Displacement, submerged: 846 long tons (860 t)
Length: 67.23 m (220.6 ft) OA
Beam: 6.2 m (20.3 ft)
Draught: 4.74 m (15.6 ft)
Speed: 17.7 knots (32.8 km/h, 20.4 mph)
Range: 8,500 nmi (15,742 km)
Complement: 44
Main gun: 88 mm (3.5 in)

U-997 was a Type VIIC/41 submarine of the Kriegsmarine. Blohm & Voss AG, Hamburg laid her keel on 7 December 1942. Launched on 18 August 1943, she entered service on 23 September 1943.

612 ships of the class were built. The class followed the Type UB III, Vetehinen class and was succeeded by the Type XXI (Late-war replacement).

The boat displaced 747 long tons surfaced and 846 long tons submerged. She measured 67.2 m (221 ft) long with a beam of 6.2 m (20 ft). Her designed speed was 17.7 knots, and she carried a complement of 44.

Her main battery was one 88 mm (3.5 in) guns.

She was in commission for 594 days of the Second World War.

She was sunk on 9 May 1945, at 55°50′N 10°05′W. The wreck survives.

Written from the harvested record. Every figure above is sourced; the wording is this site's own.

Armament and machinery

Propulsion: 2 shafts
2 × diesel engines
2 × electric motors
Power: 2800 - 3200 PS (diesels)
750 PS (electric)
Armament: 5 × 53.3 cm torpedo tubes (4 bow, 1 stern)
14 × torpedoes
1 × 8.8 cm deck gun (220 rounds)
1 × 3.7 cm Flak M42 AA gun
2 × 2 cm C/30 AA guns

Sister ships

587 more in the class

Sources

Facts harvested from German submarine U-997 on Wikipedia. Figures only — no wording is taken from it.
Photograph: Darkone — CC BY-SA 2.0 — Wikimedia Commons