Tuesday, November 10, 2009

U-15 at Kiel Week 2007


The Type 206 is a class of diesel-electric submarines (U-boats) developed by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche-Werft AG (HDW). Its design is based on the preceding Type 205 submarine class. These small and agile submarines were built during the Cold War to operate in the shallow Baltic Sea and attack Warsaw Pact shipping if the war turned hot. The pressure hulls were built out of non-magnetic steel to counter the threat of magnetic naval mines and make detection with MAD sensors more difficult.

Of the 18 submarines built for the Bundesmarine (West German Navy), 12 were modernized in the early 1990s and were re-designated as Type 206A; the others have been decommissioned. The current German Navy is starting to decommission some 206A vessels, with more of the new Type 212 submarines being commissioned.

A slightly modified variant of the Type 206 (which includes the distinctive dome, or bulge, in the front of the boat), the Gal class submarine for the Israeli Navy was built to Israeli specifications as the Vickers Type 540 in the UK rather than Germany for political reasons. Three such boats were built, the first one being commissioned in 1976. When the Israeli navy received its new Dolphin class submarines (also built by HDW), the Gals were retired. As of 2006, one had been scrapped and two had been sent to HDW in an attempt to find a buyer for them. When no buyer was found, one of the submarines was returned to Israel for display in the Haifa naval museum.

General characteristics
Type: Type 206A submarine
Displacement: 450 t, surfaced;
498 t, submerged
Length: 48.6 m
Beam: 4.6 m
Draft: 4.5 m
Propulsion: 2 MTU 12V 493, 4-stroke 600 hp (441 kW) diesel engines, each coupled with an Asea Brown Boveri-generator
1 Siemens-Schluckert-Werke 1100 kW electric motor driving single five (Type 206) or seven (Type 206A) blade propeller
Speed: 10 knots (19 km/h), surfaced;
17 knots (31 km/h), submerged
Range: 4,500 nmi at 5 knots, surfaced;
(8,300 km at 9 km/h)
228 nmi at 4 knots, submerged
(420 km at 7 km/h)
Test depth: >200 m
Complement: 23
Armament: 8 × 533 mm torpedo tubes,
8 DM2A1 Seeaal (206) or DM2A3 Seehecht (206A) torpedoes;
24 mines can be carried externally

Source: Bluefame














0 comments:

Post a Comment