Type 206 submarine

U15 at Kiel Week 2007.
Class overview
Builders:	Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft Nordseewerke
Operators:	German Navy  Colombian National Navy
Preceded by:	Type 205 submarine
Succeeded by:	Type 212 submarine
Subclasses:	Gal-class submarine
Built:	1968–1975
In commission:	1971 – present
Building:	18
Completed:	18
Active:	2
Retired:	16
General characteristics
Type:	Type 206A submarine
Displacement:	456 tonnes (449 long tons), surfaced; 500 tonnes (490 long tons), submerged
Length:	48.49 metres (159 ft 1 in)
Beam:	4.58 metres (15 ft 0 in)
Draft:	4.30 metres (14 ft 1 in)
Installed power:	440 kilowatts (590 hp) (diesel) 1,100 kilowatts (1,500 hp) (electric)
Propulsion:	2 MTU 12V 493, 4-stroke diesel engines, each coupled with an Asea Brown Boveri-generator 1 Siemens-Schuckert-Werke electric motor driving single five (Type 206) or seven (Type 206A) blade propeller
Speed:	10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph), surfaced; 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph), submerged
Range:	4,500 nautical miles (8,300 km; 5,200 mi) at 6 knots (11 km/h; 6.9 mph), surfaced 228 nautical miles (422 km; 262 mi) at 4 knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph), submerged
Test depth:	more than 200 m
Complement:	22
Sensors and processing systems:	STN Atlas DBQS-21 (CSU83) submarine sonar Thomson-CSF DUUX 2 passive rangefinder sonar Safare VELOX sonar intercept EDO-900 active mine avoidance sonar Thomson-CSF Calypso II surveillance and navigation radar
Electronic warfare & decoys:	Thomson-CSF DR-2000U ESM system Thorn-EMI SARIE
Armament:	8 × 533 mm torpedo tubes, 8 DM2A1 Seeaal (206) or DM2A3 Seehecht (206A) torpedoes; 24 mines can be carried externally

The Type 206 is a class of diesel-electric submarines (Uboats) developed by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (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 in the event of military confrontation. 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. The low emission profile allowed the submarines in exercises to intrude even into well-protected opposing forces such as carrier formations with their screen.

Ten Type 205 submarines were constructed between 1962 and 1968 with hulls constructed of a new non-magnetic steel. The early boats, however, suffered from cracking due to stress corrosion and an urgent programme was initiated to develop a new steel which overcame these problems, which received much publicity at the time. The new high-strength, non-magnetic, austenitic steel has greater elasticity and good dynamic strength, and has proved very satisfactory in service, thoroughly overcoming the doubts that were raised by those early problems, although it has never been selected by IKL's many export customers and thus remains unique to German Navy submarines. Subsequently, the Type 206 was designed by Ingenieur Kontor Lübeck (IKL) in 1964–65 and a production order was placed on 7 June 1969 for eight from HDW in Kiel and ten from Nordseewerke in Emden.

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. In June 2010 the Ministry of Defence announced that all six remaining vessels were to be retired from active service immediately and to be decommissioned by the end of 2010 to cut costs. There are no type 206 submarines left in active service with the German Navy.

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Wikipedia