U-963

Type

VIIC

Ordered

5 Jun 1941

Laid down

20 Apr 1942

Blohm & Voss, Hamburg (werk 163)

Launched

30 Dec 1942

Commissioned

17 Feb 1943

Ltnt. Karl Boddenberg

Commanders

17 Feb 1943	-	Dec, 1944	Oblt. Karl Boddenberg
13 Aug 1944	-	21 Aug 1944	Oblt. Werner Müller
Dec, 1944	-	20 May 1945	Oblt. Rolf-Werner Wentz

Career
10 patrols

17 Feb 1943	-	31 Jul 1943	5. Flottille (training)
1 Aug 1943	-	31 Oct 1944	1. Flottille (active service)
1 Nov 1944	-	8 May 1945	11. Flottille (active service)

Successes

No ships sunk or damaged

Fate

Scuttled at 1000hrs on 20 May, 1945 on the Portuguese west coast near Nazaire in position 39.36N, 09.05W. The entire crew was interned. 48 survivors (no casualties).

Final location

View the 10 war patrols

Wolfpack operations

U-963 operated with the following Wolfpacks during its career:
   Siegfried (22 Oct 1943 - 27 Oct 1943)
   Siegfried 2 (27 Oct 1943 - 30 Oct 1943)
   Körner (30 Oct 1943 - 2 Nov 1943)
   Tirpitz 2 (2 Nov 1943 - 8 Nov 1943)
   Eisenhart 5 (9 Nov 1943 - 15 Nov 1943)
   Igel 2 (3 Feb 1944 - 17 Feb 1944)
   Hai 2 (17 Feb 1944 - 22 Feb 1944)
   Preussen (22 Feb 1944 - 14 Mar 1944)

Attacks on this boat and other events

5 Feb 1944

A British B-24 Liberator (Sqdn 53/T) was shot down.

26 Mar 1944
While out off Brest, France the boat was attacked by an unidentified Allied aircraft, leaving 9 men wounded - two of them badly. The boat docked at Brest (not her base) the next day. (Sources: Blair, vol 2, page 508)

7 Jun 1944
A British B-24 Liberator bomber (Sqdn 53, pilot John William Carmichael) hit and damaged the boat forcing it to abort to France less then 24 hours after departing for its patrol. (Sources: Blair, vol 2, page 582)

12 Aug 1944
One man was killed during an air attack on the base at Brest, France and another man was so severely wounded that he died a day later. [Bootsmaat Albrecht Sekula, Maschinenobergefreiter Helmut Laskosky]

21 Aug 1944
During a crash dive at night (0017hrs) in the Bay of Biscay a man was lost overboard. [Bootsmaat Hans Reiter]

5 recorded attacks on this boat.

Schnorchel-fitted U-boat
This boat was fitted with a Schnorchel underwater-breathing apparatus in July 1944. Read more about the Schnorchel and see list of fitted boats.

Men lost from U-boats

Unlike many other U-boats, which during their service lost men due to accidents and various other causes, U-963 did not suffer any casualties (we know of) until the time of her loss.