This boat carried the Japanese naval attache Admiral Naokuni Nomura[9] from Berlin to Kure. The boat was given to Japan as RO-500; its German crew returned to Penang to provide replacement personnel for the main submarine base being established at a former British seaplane station on the west coast of the Malayan Peninsula.[10] A second base was established at Kobe; small repair bases were located at Singapore, Jakarta, and Surabaya.