Revell Type VIIC U-Boat

Build Notes

U-96 was a Type VIIC German U-boat that achieved legendary status both for its highly successful combat record during World War II and as the historical inspiration for the famous novel and movie Das Boot. Commissioned in September 1940 under the command of the aggressive and respected Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock, the submarine primarily operated out of Saint-Nazaire, France, as part of the 7th U-boat Flotilla.

Over the course of 11 combat patrols, U-96 sank 27 Allied merchant ships and damaged several others, cementing its place among the top-scoring submarines of the Battle of the Atlantic. During its seventh patrol in late 1941, war correspondent Lothar-Günther Buchheim was stationed aboard the vessel, meticulously documenting the claustrophobic tension, terrifying depth-charge attacks, and grueling conditions that he later adapted into his bestselling 1973 book. Instantly recognizable by its iconic “laughing sawtooth” emblem painted on the conning tower, the boat survived its frontline combat career only to be sunk by Allied bombers while tied up in port at Wilhelmshaven on March 30, 1945.