Design of these very small submarines started in 1957 by Ingenieurkontor Lübeck (IKL).

They were one of the few military U-boats not bearing "U-numbers", probably since they were never intended for combat use.

Instead they were named after important German engineers in submarine constructions (like Wilhelm Bauer).

Hans Techel was built with traditional propeller and rudders (similar to the Type 205 submarines), but Friedrich Schürer had a rotatable Kort nozzle instead.

This article about a specific naval submarine of Germany is a stub.