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 (German Cross in Gold)
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 off Nazaré, Portugal, in position 39.36N, 09.05W. 48 survivors (no casualties).

Final location

View the 10 war patrols

The crew was handed over to British authorities after landing in Portugal and taken to the UK as prisoners of war.

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 (53 Sqn RAF/T) was shot down.

26 Mar 1944
While at sea off Brest, France the boat was attacked by an unidentified Allied aircraft, leaving nine 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
An attack by a British B-24 Liberator bomber (53 Sqn RAF, pilot John William Carmichael) damaged the boat so severely she was forced to return to France less then 24 hours after starting the patrol. (Sources: Blair, vol 2, page 582)

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

21 Aug 1944
A man was lost overboard during a crash dive at night (0017hrs) in the Bay of Biscay. [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 the boat

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

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

Related: For more info on such losses see - Men lost from U-boats -