100 years of German u-boat force

[Dan D]

The first German submarine, U1, was put into commission on 14th December 1906, just 9 years before World War 1.
On 22nd September 1914 U 9 with Kaleu Otto Weddigen, ex-watch officer on U1, sank the 3 British cruisers „Cressy“, „Hogue“ and „Aboukir“ (1.400 hands lost) and thus proved the lethality of submarines.

After 1945 Germany began to build up a u-boat fleet for the third time after 1906 and 1935. The third u-boat named “U 1” was put into commission in 1962. Latest u-boat is U 33.

In 2007 there will be some exhibitions on u-boat history in Germany;
some u-boat pics here:
http://www.faz.net/s/RubFC06D389EE76479E9E76425072B196C3/Doc~E4BEFBE1AAC224B2FB0968E3F28F13794~ATpl~Ecommon ~Sspezial.html

http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/8976/kaleuferkelhd0.jpg
Kaleu Ferkel salutes you.

http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/9936/nikolausjn3.jpg
"Show me the papers, redcoat!"

[CCIP]

Happy birthday to the most notorious sub fleet ever!

Here's to a more peaceful 100, however :up:

[bookworm_020]

Congrats on suviving 100 years! May the next 100 be more peacful!

[Linton]

There was a very early u-boat in the Deutsche Technical Museum in Munich many years ago.It was tiny and fitted into a corner of one room

[Dan D]

There was a very early u-boat in the Deutsche Technical Museum in Munich many years ago.It was tiny and fitted into a corner of one room

Well, you can actually take a look at the U 1 from 1906 in the technical museum in Munich. U 1 has a size of 42 metres, weighs 150 tons and has its own show room which was built around the exhibit. Could be, that you took a look at the other exhibit, the "Biber" midget sub instead or possibly you had no interest in submarines back then.
Shame on you :-).

[Onkel Neal]

Salute! :up:

[Sulikate]

Congrats to U-boot force!

[August]

...or possibly you had no interest in submarines back then.
Shame on you :-).
I can sympathise with him.

I'm embarrassed to say that when I was 19 I actually marched across Nijnmegen bridge without knowing it's WW2 history (and me a US Army Paratrooper :nope:) until years afterwards.

I had always been interested in the history of warfare, but with so many dates and events in far off foreign sounding places to remember, and being 19 with other things on my mind, I discovered it was all too easy to miss the historical significance of anything, expecially when one runs into it unexpectedly. All I knew was we were going to Holland to march in some kind of 100 mile parade. Imagine my horror when I re-read "A Bridge too far" later on and realize that I had all that history at my fingertips and instead of taking advantage of it blindly spent the time drinking and partying in my off hours.

I will say however that when you know the history of a place or a thing it makes the experience of being there or seeing it a lot more rewarding, or like the time I visited the Nurenburg stadium and stood where hitler actually gave his rally speeches, freaking creepy.

One of my life goals is to go back to Europe someday and make what I call the battlefield tour of places I have read about over the years. It'll cost me an arm and a leg i'm sure and that sting certainly won't be lessened by the fact that 30 years ago I could have visited most of them on day trips.

[Linton]

I was interested then but the last time I visited Munich was 16 years ago!I think it was probably U-1 I saw but it is a very large interesting museum and I think I may have sampled a few Bavarian beers on my way there!!