It was built by the German Submarine Consortium at the shipyards of Thyssen Nordseewerke of Emden and Howaldtswerke at Kiel. The ship was christened on December 4, 2003, and the submarine was ceremonially put into service along with its sister ship U-31 by German Minister of Defence Peter Struck in Eckernförde on October 19, 2005. U-32 is powered by one diesel engine and an electric motor driven by two fuel cells and features a cavitation-free screw, making it virtually undetectable. U-32 was the first non-nuclear submarine to stay submerged for two weeks.