September 16, 1943: The history of U 995 is a Type VII / C41 submarine of the former German Navy, the Kriegsmarine.

 September 16, 1943: The history of  U 995 is a Type VII / C41 submarine of the former German Navy, the Kriegsmarine. 

U 995 is a Type VII / C41 submarine of the former German Navy, the Kriegsmarine. 

The construction contract was given on October 14, 1941. Not quite two years later, on September 16, 1943, U 995 was put into service.

 This was followed by a run-in and test period until April 1944 with base in Kiel.

Via Kristiansand, Flekkefjord and Bergen it drove towards Trondheim, Norway. 

On May 21, 1944 U 995 was attacked and damaged by a Sunderland flying boat. Five crew members were wounded in the process.

 The submarine was repaired in Trondheim and moved further north to Narvik, Norway. From there it set off for patrols in the North Sea.

On July 21, 1944, U 995 was discovered and attacked by an Allied B24 Liberator bomber while searching for Allied convoy trains.

 The crew of the submarine fired at the bomber with the 3.7 cm flak and the two 2 cm double flak. When the B24 turned off, U 995 submerged. 

The Liberator turned back and dropped depth charges. This only caused slight damage to the submarine.

 After returning to Narvik, the submarine was repaired and moved to Hammerfest, northern Norway.

On October 9, 1944, the commander of U 995, Walter Köhntopp, was dismissed for cowardice in front of the enemy.

 His successor was Oberleutnant zur See (Lieutenant of the Navy) Hans-Georg Hess.

Back in Narvik, several patrols followed in the direction of Murmansk, where it sank the Soviet steamer Proletarij on December 5, 1944. On December 21, U 995 sank the Reshitel’nyi motorboat. 

On December 26th, 1944, the Russian fishing vessel RT-52 Som fell victim to U 995. 

The only survivor was captured. On December 29th, the Soviet minesweeper T-883 was sunk. 

On March 2, 1945, U 995 sank its last enemy with the submarine hunter BO-224 of the Soviet Navy.

At the end of the war on May 8, 1945, U 995 was in Trondheim, Norway and fell to Great Britain as spoils of war.

 In 1946 it was handed over to the Norwegian Navy. It was handed over to Germany in 1972 and has stood in front of the Naval Memorial in Laboe near Kiel, Germany, ever since. 

The submarine is now a museum and can be visited.The first photo shows U 995 in full view, photographed from the tower of the Navy Memorial.

 Photo 2 shows the deck weapons of U 995, on the left the 3.7cm flak and next to it the two 2cm double flak.

 The third photo shows one of two pressure bulkheads inside the U 995. The fourth photo shows the periscope in the headquarters. 

The last photo the view from the into the tower of U 995. All photos taken by me and in August 2021.