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German Submarine UD 3 / UD 4 / UD 5 (Captured Dutch O 21 Class)
Scale: 1/400
Skill Level: medium
Length: 194 mm (7.64 inch)
A compact submarine kit with a fascinating history: Featuring included laser-cut frames, this kit allows you to build one of three captured Dutch O 21-class submarines operated by the Kriegsmarine - UD 3, UD 4, or UD 5.
With this kit, JSC delivers an approachable and historically intriguing subject for naval card modelers. The kit includes precision laser-cut hull frames, ensuring structural rigidity, crisp alignment, and straightforward assembly for the slender hull.
The kit provides the option to build any one of three distinct boats: UD 3, UD 4, or UD 5. Markings and conning tower designations for all three vessels are fully provided. Despite its compact footprint in 1:400 scale, the kit captures fine details across the deck casing, conning tower, and stern diving planes—making it a perfect weekend project or a companion to larger naval and harbor displays.
| Product type | Papermodel |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | JSC |
| Scale | 1/400 |
| Designer | Bartosz Colczynski |
| Difficulty | medium |
| Sheet size | 7,5 x 21 cm |
| Sheets | 2 |
| Parts | 48 |
| Length | 194 mm (7.64 inch) |
| Bauanleitung | English, Polish, Pictures |
Technical data:
- Type: Ocean-going Patrol Submarine (former Royal Netherlands Navy O 21 class)
- Shipyards: Wilton-Fijenoord / Rotterdamsche Droogdok (completed under German administration)
- Launched: May to November 1940
- Commissioned (Kriegsmarine): 1941 (UD 3, UD 4) / 1942 (UD 5)
- Displacement: approx. 990 tonnes (surfaced) / approx. 1,200 tonnes (submerged)
- Length overall: 77.7 m (254 ft 11 in)
- Beam: 6.80 m (22 ft 4 in)
- Draught: 3.95 m (13 ft)
- Propulsion: 2 diesel engines (Sulzer / MAN) producing approx. 5,000 bhp surfaced; 2 electric motors (1,000 shp) submerged; 2 shafts
- Top speed: approx. 19.5 knots (surfaced) / approx. 9.0 knots (submerged)
- Complement: approx. 45–50 officers and crew
- Armament (Kriegsmarine configuration):
- 8 x 533 mm (21-inch) torpedo tubes (4 bow, 2 stern, 2 traversing external deck tubes)
- 1 x 88 mm or 105 mm deck gun (varying by boat and refit)
- Light anti-aircraft armament (20 mm or 40 mm AA mounts on conning tower)
The designations UD 3, UD 4, and UD 5 denote captured submarines of the modern Dutch O 21 class (originally laid down as O 25, O 26, and O 27). When German forces invaded the Netherlands in May 1940, these three boats lay incomplete on slipways in Rotterdam and Vlissingen. While four sister boats successfully escaped to Great Britain, these three hulls were seized, completed by German shipyards, and commissioned into the Kriegsmarine under the prefix "UD" (Unterseeboot Niederländisch).
These vessels were among the most modern conventional submarine designs of their time. Both UD 3 and UD 5 saw operational combat patrols in the Atlantic, with UD 3 sinking an Allied freighter off West Africa in late 1942. UD 4 operated primarily as a training and trials submarine in the Baltic Sea, where she was notably used to pioneer underwater fuel transfer techniques. UD 3 and UD 4 were scuttled in Kiel in May 1945, while UD 5 survived the war, was returned to the Royal Netherlands Navy, and served until 1959 under her original name O 27.