Type 205 submarine

205-class profile
Type 205 submarine U-1 (S180)
Class overview
Builders	Howaldtswerke, Kiel Copenhagen Naval Dockyard
Operators	German Navy  Royal Danish Navy
Preceded by	Type 201 submarine
Succeeded by	Type 206 submarine
Subclasses	Kobben-class submarine
In commission	1962–2005
Completed	13
Retired	13
Preserved	3
General characteristics
Type	Submarine
Displacement	419 tonnes (412 long tons) surfaced 455 t (448 long tons) submerged
Length	44.30 m (145.3 ft)
Beam	4.59 m (15 ft 1 in)
Draft	3.80 m (12 ft 6 in)
Propulsion	2 × 440 kW (590 hp) Mercedes-Benz 4-stroke V12 diesel engines each coupled to a BBC generator 1 × 1,100 kW (1,500 hp) SSW electric motor
Speed	10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) surfaced 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph) submerged
Range	3,950 nmi (7,320 km; 4,550 mi) at 4 knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph) surfaced 228 nmi (422 km; 262 mi) at 4 knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph) submerged
Test depth	100 m (330 ft)
Complement	4 officers, 18 enlisted
Armament	8 × 533 mm (21 in) torpedo tubes Torpedoes and naval mines

The Type 205 was a class of German diesel-electric submarines. They were single-hull vessels optimized for the use in the shallow Baltic Sea. The Type 205 is a direct evolution of the Type 201 class with lengthened hull, new machinery and sensors. The biggest difference though is that ST-52 steel is used for the pressure hull since the Type 201's non-magnetic steel proved to be problematic. Type 206, the follow-on class, finally succeeded with non-magnetic steel hulls.

The Type 205 was in service with the Royal Danish Navy until 2004, in which it was known as Narhvalen class. The Danish boats differed slightly from the German ones to meet special Danish demands. Responsible for the design and construction was the Ingenieurkontor Lübeck (IKL) headed by Ulrich Gabler.