Because of the boats small size, armament was limited to 3 x 533mm (21") bow-facing torpedo tubes with six reloads available. Naval mines could also be carried as well but this in place of the torpedo load. For surface work, the boat was originally equipped with 1 x 20mm Anti-Aircraft (AA) gun and this later gave way to as many as four such weapons as the war drew on.
Such was the speed at which the German Navy grew that the Type II was put into series production almost as soon as it was available. However, the coastal-minded design of the Type II ended up restricting its tactical value once the war had moved from sea to ocean. This left the Type IIs with little offensive role to play in the evolving war and many of the lot were held back for training duties or to be used in testing out new submarine-oriented components being trialed by the Germans.
Type IIA boats ran from U-1 to U-6. Type IIB boats followed form U-7 to U-24 and U-120 and U-121. The Type IIC boats were U-56 through U-63. Type IID boats were U-137 to U-152.
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