N350021 GERMAN SUBMARINE TYPE 201

The Type 201 units were West German classic diesel-electric fighter submarines that were launched between 1961 and 1962. In total, 3 out of 12 planned ships of this class were built. A single unit of this type was 42.4 m long and 4.6 m wide, and the underwater displacement was about 430 tons. The maximum underwater speed was 17-18 knots. The armament consisted of eight 533 mm torpedo tubes. The Type 201 submarines were actually the first West German submarines to be designed and built from scratch in Germany after the end of World War II. From the very beginning, it was assumed that they would be used primarily in the Baltic Sea, the Danish straits and the North Sea, and that their main opponent was to be the Warsaw Pact surface vessels. The Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft shipyard in Kiel was responsible for their construction. The ships, despite their good design, had one very important drawback - their hulls were made of non-magnetic steel, which turned out to be extremely susceptible to breakage and corrodes very quickly. For this reason, the construction of more ships of this type was quickly discontinued, and the Type 201 units, which were built between 1961 and 1962, were withdrawn from the line. Two of them were converted to Type 205 units in 1967, and one was lost in trials in 1971.