U-2511 and U-3008 were the only Type XXIs to go on wartime patrol, and both failed to sink any ships. U-2511 commanded by Korvettenkapitän Adalbert Schnee, evaded the heavy escort screen of the Royal Navy heavy cruiser HMS Norfolk and had the vessel in his sights; however the surrender signal had been received from Germany that day and Schnee dived under the cruiser before returning to Germany.

Most boats were scrapped or scuttled after the war, but eight were taken by Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire for evaluation and trials. The United States received U-2513 and U-3008, which were commissioned into the United States Navy. U-3017 was commissioned into the Royal Navy as HMS N41, and U-2518 became French submarine Roland Morillot, which served until 1967.

[edit] Soviet Union

Four Type XXI boats were assigned to the Soviet Union by the Potsdam Agreement; these were U-3515, U-2529, U-3035, and U-3041, which were commissioned into the Soviet Navy as B 27, B 28, B 29, and B 30 respectively. However, Western intelligence believed the Soviets had acquired several more Type XXI boats; a review by the US Joint Intelligence Committee for the Joint Chiefs of Staff in January 1948 estimated that at the time the Soviet Navy had 15 Type XXIs operational, could complete construction of 6 more within 2 months, and could build another 39 within a year and a half from prefabricated sections, since several factories producing Type XXI components and the assembly yard at Danzig had been captured by the Soviets at the end of WWII. Soviet records and statements indicate that the Type XXIs were scuttled or used for weapon testing after being used in trials and tests. The Type XXI formed the basis for the Project 614 submarine, which was basically a copy of the Type XXI, and many Type XXI characteristics were also incorporated into the Project 613 submarine (known in the West as the "Whiskey" class).^[2]

West Germany

A ninth XXI also saw service after the war: U-2540, which had been scuttled at the end of the war, was raised in 1957 to become the research vessel Wilhelm Bauer of the Bundesmarine. It is the only restored Type XXI and became a museum ship as part of the German Maritime Museum in Bremerhaven, Germany.

In 1985 it was discovered that the partially-scrapped remains of U-2505, U-3004, and U-3506 were still in the partially-demolished "Elbe II" U-boat bunker in Hamburg, Germany. The bunker has since been filled in with gravel for safety reasons and lies beneath a car park and the wrecks are completely inaccessible.^[3]

[edit] Influences

The Type XXI design directly influenced USS Nautilus, the world's first nuclear submarine, USS Albacore, the first submarine with a teardrop hull, the French Narval-class submarine, the British Porpoise-class submarine, and the Soviet submarine classes known by the NATO reporting names Zulu and Whiskey, although the Whiskey class was smaller and less sophisticated.