She was built by AG Vulcan of Hamburg and following just under a year of construction, launched at Hamburg on 31 May 1918. UB-96 was commissioned later the same year under the command of Oblt.z.S. Walter Krastel. Like all Type UB III submarines, UB-96 carried 10 torpedoes and was armed with a 10.5 cm (4.13 in) deck gun. UB-96 would carry a crew of up to 3 officer and 31 men and had a cruising range of 7,120 nautical miles (13,190 km; 8,190 mi). UB-96 had a displacement of 510 t (500 long tons) while surfaced and 640 t (630 long tons) when submerged. Her engines enabled her to travel at 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph) when surfaced and 7.4 knots (13.7 km/h; 8.5 mph) when submerged.
References
Notes
^"SM" stands for "Seiner Majestät" (English: His Majesty's) and combined with the U for Unterseeboot would be translated as His Majesty's Submarine.
^Helgason, Guðmundur. "WWI U-boat commanders: Walter Krastel". German and Austrian U-boats of World War I - Kaiserliche Marine - Uboat.net. Retrieved 9 March 2015.