U-995 was laid down as a type VIIc/41 U-boat on 25th November 1942 at Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg, Germany, and was launched on July, 22nd. Despite damage inflicted by an allied bomb raid, the boat was commissioned on September 16th, 1943 with Oberleutnant (Lieutenant Junior Grade) Walter Köhntopp in command.

The submarine operated with the following Wolfpacks during its career: - Dachs (1 Sep 1944 - 5 Sep 1944) - Zorn (26 Sep 1944 - 1 Oct 1944) - Panther (16 Oct 1944 - 10 Nov 1944) - Stier (11 Dec 1944 - 6 Jan 1945) - Hagen (17 Mar 1945 - 21 Mar 1945)

The 1x 3,7cm (1,45 in) and 2x 2x2cm (.78 in) AA-guns helped the submarine to dive into safety as a B-24 Liberator located U-995 on radar while on A/S patrol in july 1944. The aircraft was forced to take evasive action by intense and very accurate flak while the nose, beam and tail gunners returned fire. The U-boat dived as the Liberator turned away to a distance of approx. one mile (1.6 km).