Germany to commission sixth Type 212A submarine U 36

The German Navy is set to commission its sixth Type 212A submarine U 36 during an October, 10 ceremony at the Eckernförde navy base.

According to the German Navy, the ceremony will be hosted by the current Deputy Inspector of the Navy, Vice Admiral Rainer Brinkmann.

With the acceptance of the last vessel of the U212 A class, the German Navy is completing its submarine fleet which was previously made up of Type 206 submarines, all of which are decommissioned.

Commander of the crew “Golf”, Corvette Captain Christoph Ploß, will take command of the submarine which will be homeported in Eckernförde as part of the 1st Submarine squadron.

While the U 36 is the sixth vessel in its class, it is also the second improved Type 212A submarine ordered by the German Navy in 2006. U 35 and U 36 are 1.2 meters longer than their sister ships in order to feature a new reconnaissance mast.

Apart from Germany, the AIP submarines are also being constructed by the Italian Navy which recently commissioned its third Type 212A submarine and started sea trials for the fourth and final vessel from the first batch. Unlike Germany’s, Italian Navy’s second batch of submarines will have the same configuration as the first one with the aim of reducing maintenance costs.

The submarines are referred to as Todaro-class in Italy.

Type 212A submarines are built by the German Submarine Consortium in German shipyards Thyssen Nordseewerke in Emden and HDW in Kiel. Fincantieri is responsible for the construction of Italian submarines.