Scott Sorenson

Thanks for the information,

I remember that we - my parents, my siblings and I - years, many years ago, in the summer of 1973 - when I was 14 years old - on holiday in Germany, visited Kiel and Laboe and visited the U-995.

I remember that there were those aluminum ribbed plates everywhere - but those are the diamond plates - were the visitors walked over.
When I saw the radio and radar rooms - through the glass in the locked doors there was indeed linoleum on the floor.

I spoke German fairly well at the time and also understood it, there was a guide who said that a lot of wood was used in a u-boat because it dampened sound and also avoided magnetism.

One of my mother's brothers-in-law was then a professional soldier in the Belgian army and was stationed in Germany with his family, a result of certain regulations in post-war Germany where the American, British and, among others European countries, the Belgian army units had barracks in Germany.

My brother did his mandatory military service in Germany with the Belgian army in the 1980s, so you only served for 8 months.
If you did your military service in Belgium, it was 10 months or 15 months if you went as an officer or were in a special unit, such as paratroopers, para commandos, air and naval forces or the special forces.
I did my 15 months mandatory military service in Belgium as a para commando.