Kriegsmarine U-Boat U-96

Neverland Hobby, 1/144 scale

Reviewed by Brett Green

German submarine U-96 was a Type VIIC U-boat of the German Navy (Kriegsmarine) during World War II. It was made famous after the war in Lothar-Günther Buchheim's 1973 bestselling novel Das Boot and the 1981 Oscar-nominated film adaptation of the same name, both based on his experience on the submarine as a war correspondent in 1941.

The keel was laid down on 16 September 1939, by Germaniawerft, of Kiel as yard number 601. She was commissioned on 14 September 1940, with Kapitänleutnant Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock in command. Lehmann-Willenbrock was relieved in March 1942 by Oberleutnant zur See Hans-Jürgen Hellriegel, who was relieved in turn in March 1943 by Oblt.z.S. Wilhelm Peters. In February 1944, Oblt.z.S. Horst Willner took command, turning the boat over to Oblt.z.S. Robert Rix in June of that year. Rix commanded the boat until 15 February 1945.

Design

German Type VIIC submarines were preceded by the shorter Type VIIB submarines.

U-96 had a displacement of 769 tonnes (757 long tons) when at the surface and 871 tonnes (857 long tons) while submerged. She had a total length of 67.10 m (220 ft 2 in), a pressure hull length of 50.50 m (165 ft 8 in), a beam of 6.20 m (20 ft 4 in), a height of 9.60 m (31 ft 6 in), and a draught of 4.74 m (15 ft 7 in). The submarine was powered by two Germaniawerft F46 four-stroke, six-cylinder supercharged diesel engines producing a total of 2,800 to 3,200 metric horsepower (2,060 to 2,350 kW; 2,760 to 3,160 shp) for use while surfaced, two AEG GU 460/8–27 double-acting electric motors producing a total of 750 metric horsepower (550 kW; 740 shp) for use while submerged. She had two shafts and two 1.23 m (4 ft) propellers. The boat was capable of operating at depths of up to 230 metres (750 ft).

The submarine had a maximum surface speed of 17.7 knots (32.8 km/h; 20.4 mph) and a maximum submerged speed of 7.6 knots (14.1 km/h; 8.7 mph).[2] When submerged, the boat could operate for 80 nautical miles (150 km; 92 mi) at 4 knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph); when surfaced, she could travel 8,500 nautical miles (15,700 km; 9,800 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). U-96 was fitted with five 53.3 cm (21 in) torpedo tubes (four fitted at the bow and one at the stern), fourteen torpedoes, one 8.8 cm (3.46 in) SK C/35 naval gun, 220 rounds, and a 2 cm (0.79 in) C/30 anti-aircraft gun. The boat had a complement of between forty-four and sixty.

Service History

As part of the 7th U-boat Flotilla, stationed in Saint Nazaire, on the French Atlantic coast, U-96 conducted 11 patrols, sinking 27 ships totalling 181,206 gross register tons (GRT) and damaging four others totalling 33,043 GRT. She also caused one vessel of 8,888 GRT to be declared a total loss. The boat was a member of eleven wolfpacks.

On 30 March 1945, U-96 was sunk by US bombs while in the submarine pens in Wilhelmshaven. In her entire career, she suffered no casualties to her crew. The boat was also known for her emblem, a green laughing sawfish. It became the symbol of the 9th Flotilla after Lehmann-Willenbrock took command in March 1942.

After active service, she spent most of the rest of the war as a training vessel. She was decommissioned on 15 February 1945 in Wilhelmshaven.

When US Eighth Air Force attacked Wilhelmshaven on 30 March 1945, U-96 was sunk in Hipper basin. The remains of the U-boat were broken up after the war.

* Historical text courtesy of Wikipedia

Neverland Hobby is a new company based in China. Their debut kit release is the famous German Type VIIC U-Boat, U-96.

The kit comprises 18 parts in grey plastic, 37 parts in medium grey plastic, three parts in black plastic, three parts in painted gold plastic, two parts in clear, stickers for three marking options and a long fold-out instruction sheet.

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One of the unique aspects of this kit is that no glue is required. All parts are press-fit. This is achieved through small and large locating plugs, holes and pegs.

Surface textures are gorgeous.

I particularly like the intricately patterned main deck and the weld beads and rivets on the hull sides.

The parts are pre-coloured in light grey, medium grey, black and clear plastic. A number of individual parts on the plastic sprues have also been painted at the factory in silver and gold.

While this may seem to be of more appeal to the less experienced modeller, surface textures, the quality of the plastic parts and the level of detail make this new release worthy of consideration for modellers across all levels of expertise.

The outer hull is presented as two main halves with separate deck and parts for the front and rear.

The torpedo doors have separate parts that may be posed open or closed.

If the doors are built open, Neverland Hobby supplies a pre-painted silver torpedo with a wake of waves and bubbles represented by a clear part - quite clever really.

The hull parts are held together with seven pairs of square locating plugs.

The top of the hull is attached using ten pairs of plastic tabs moulded to the top of the hull sides.

The pressure hull is not a separate part, but there are recessed holes on the upper hull that suggest its presence.

The intricately patterned main deck uses finer tabs. The sides of the deck and the top of the upper hull are both beveled to ensure a gap-free join.

Upper and lower sail parts, sail decks, crew baskets, hand rails, deck guns and other details are also attached to the sprues. These are connected to the sprues via fine attachment points.

A black plastic sprue contains three parts for the display stand.

A second black sprue is included. This has been sprayed in a gold shade.

One of the parts represents the U-Boat badge while the other two are the screws (propellers).

Instructions are supplied on a multi-fold sheet.

Assembly is called out in nine simple steps.

Markings

Neverland Hobby has supplied a small sheet of self-adhesive stickers for the model.

The largest of these stickers is a name label for the plastic stand.

The six remaining stickers are the famous "laughing swordwish" emblems supplied in the choice of red, black and green. U-96 carried the green swordfish.

I would like to see waterslide decals offered as an option in future releases.

Neverland Hobby has emerged onto the model scene with this, their debut release, a a press-fit, no-glue-required 1/144 scale Type VIIC U-Boat U-96.

Glueless assembly does not imply that this is a toy. To the contrary, surface textures are excellent, moulding quality is perfect, the multi-coloured plastic will make finishing easier and detail is not bad for this scale.

This model is ideal for less experienced modellers thanks to its modest parts count but will also be a great platform for detailing and customised finishes. Some modellers will paint and weather the model, while others will want to add photo-etched detail or scratch built parts.

I can understand why Neverland Models has chosen to supply self-adhesive stickers for the markings, but I would like to see waterslide decals in future releases.

Congratulations to Neverland Hobby for their very nice frst kit release. I look forward to seeing what they have in store for us next.

Thanks to Neverland Hobby for the sample

Review Text Copyright © 2024 by Brett Green
Page Created 2 April, 2024
Last updated 3 April, 2024

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