The shipyard has also constructed ships for use by other navies, like the Kobben (Type 207) and Ula (Klasse 210) class submarines for the Royal Norwegian Navy, which were built to operate in shallow, coastal waters.
The submarine was laid down on 26 January 1940 at the Nordseewerke yard at Emden, launched on 20 December 1940, and commissioned on 31 March 1941 under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Freiherr Hans-Diedrich von Tiesenhausen.
Subsequently, the Type 206 was designed by IKL in 1964-65 and a production order was placed on 7 June 1969 for eight from HDW in Kiel and ten from Nordseewerke in Emden.