U-Boat The first submarine built in Germany, the three-man Brandtaucher, sank to the bottom of Kiel harbor on 1 February 1851 during a test dive.[2][3] The inventor and engineer Wilhelm Bauer had designed this vessel in 1850, and Schweffel & Howaldt constructed it in Kiel. Dredging operations in 1887 rediscovered Brandtaucher; it was raised and put on display in Germany. There followed in 1890 the boats WW1 and WW2, built to a Nordenfelt design. In 1903 the Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft dockyard