German submarine U-534 is a Type IXC/40 U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine built for service during World War II.

A Royal Air Force bomber sank her on 5 May 1945 in the Kattegat 20 kilometres northeast of the Danish island of Anholt.

The submarine was powered by two MAN M 9 V 40/46 supercharged four-stroke, nine-cylinder diesel engines producing a total of 4,400 metric horsepower (3,240 kW; 4,340 shp) for use while surfaced - two Siemens-Schuckert 2 GU 345/34 double-acting electric motors producing a total of 1,000 shaft horsepower (1,010 PS; 750 kW) for use while submerged.

The weapon, which had an effective range of 5,700 metres (6,200 yd) at a speed of 24 knots (44 km/h; 28 mph), was an improved version of the acoustic G7e torpedo.

This made a false target for the enemy's sonar by creating a screen of bubbles from the chemical reaction of calcium hydride with sea water.

After commissioning, U-534 was assigned to the 4th U-boat Flotilla, based in Stettin, for training purposes and weapons testing until February 1943.

On the second patrol, from 25 August 1944 to 24 October, the boat had to escape the Allied blockade of Lorient in France and get back to a friendly port.

On 28 October, she arrived in Kiel where she was transferred to the 33rd U-boat Flotilla and underwent an extensive refit in Stettin, which put her out of action until 1 May 1945.

In the early hours of 5 May 1945, a partial surrender ordered by Admiral Dönitz of German forces in Denmark, Germany and other areas came into effect.

[6][7] On 5 May 1945, U-534 was 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) north of the 56th parallel, and Nollau decided to form a convoy with two Type XXI U-boats, U-3523 and U-3503, and continue sailing north on the surface of the Kattegat sea in an area too shallow for crash diving, when two British RAF Liberator aircraft attacked (G/86 'George' from Tain and E/547 'Edward' from Leuchars).

U-534 began to take on water as a result of the damage to her aft section by the engine rooms, and sank north-east of Anholt.

They planned their escape the way that they had been trained, exiting through the forward torpedo hatch once the U-boat had settled on the seabed and swimming to the surface from a depth of 67 metres (220 ft).

[6][7] U-534 lay on the sea bed for nearly 41 years, until she was discovered at a depth of 67 metres in 1986 by a Danish wreck hunter, Aage Jensen.

On 27 June 2007, the Merseytravel transit authority announced that it had acquired the submarine to display at the Woodside Ferry Terminal.

[10] For technical reasons and to facilitate economical transportation to its new site, the vessel was cut into five sections, two of which were subsequently re-joined.