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 (front boat)
1 Nov, 1944 - 8 May, 1945  11. Flottille (front boat)

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).

View the 10 war patrols

Wolfpack operations

U-963 operated with the following Wolfpacks during its career:
Leuthen (4 Sep, 1943 - 18 Sep, 1943)

Attacks on this boat

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 unknown allied aircraft and 9 of its crew were wounded - two of them badly. The boat returned to port 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.