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The German wiki page summs it up all right. Here is the rough translation:

"The type 211 was a planned but never built class of German submarines. It was to be designed for the German navy in the mid-1980s to replace the type 205 and type 206 U-boats. The German Navy wanted both to contribute to NATO see strategy and to secure the survival of the German U-boat industry. Early in 1986 the TR 1600 design from Emden based Nordseewerke was short-listed as preferred design.

However in spring of 1987, the project was terminated due to financial difficulties. It turned out to be impossible to procure both the U211 and the F123 projects at the same time. The already developed elements of the design went into the next U-boat project, the type 212 class."

From my own memory: The type 211 is not the German version of the Norwegian Ula class. There was a co-operation project with the RNoN to jointly design and build new submarines for both navies before the U211. In Germany this project was called the type 210 class (that's why this designation still sticks to the Ula class as well). Germany was to design and construct the submarines and Norway was to deliver the newly designed electronics suit. This later part of the co-operation was than transferred to the U211 as well, since it was much more feasible to buy this new electronics suit from Norway than to develop it nationally. The joint U210 program was cancelled because Germany wanted a larger submarine than the Norwegian Navy.

Best regards.