Where can one see restored WWII uboats?

[kanolsen]

Sorry for posting here, but couldn't find a suitable forum. :oops:

I wonder where I can see real uboats (both German and American or others) from WWII and newer?

I would hate to know after I come home from a holiday just to find out there was a submarine museum or something nearby. :damn:

Kanolsen

[D.E]

No clue on how accurate this list is as of today but here you go;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_submarine_museums

I've only paid visit to U-995 in Laboe and it was a nice tour. There's also a Marine Memorial in Laboe well worth a visit.

Unfortunately I had no time for U-2540 in Bremerhaven but I'll be sure not to miss it next time.

And if i ever visit the U.S I sure won't miss a tour on a Gato or Balao.

[Torplexed]

Are you anywhere near Chicago? There's the U-505.

http://www.msichicago.org/whats-here/exhibits/u-505/

[Wolfgang42]

The U-505 Exhibit in Chicago is amazing! Fully restored and sitting in a bunker along with all kinds of displays. It's awesome. You have to go on a guided tour to see the interior. You can't roam around at will, and like many subs the conning tower is off limits. The guides are fairly knowledgeable, but I was surprised that ours did not know about one of the earlier commanders of U-505 who shot himself during a depth charge attack and then was smothered with pillows by crew members to shut him up...and died in his captain's cabin. I guess they leave out those little morbid details for the tour...:hmmm:

U-995 is a Type VII in Germany near Laboe


And then there is the one in Britain that some idiots decided to cut up into sections. U-534 I think

[frau kaleun]

Ya, the U-505 is way cool. I was there a few years back, before I even got interested in *cough* obsessed with *cough* that aspect of WWII warfare, but it still was the first "must see" exhibit on my list once I knew it was there. And I was utterly fascinated by it.

The thing that struck me the hardest when going through the boat was how unbelievably small the interior was. I remember getting to the end of the tour and thinking, "okay, so where's the rest of the boat?" and then looking around and realizing - there IS no "rest of the boat." And then wondering how anybody withstood living like that, with a full crew, for weeks on end - not even figuring in the potential hazards of enemy contact.

Basically about all I remember about that day is the u-boat and the NASA exhibit, because I'm a hopeless geek. I did not know that story about one of her captains shooting himself though. Yikes.

[tonschk]

And then there is the one in Britain that some idiots decided to cut up into sections. U-534 I think

Really sad ,:down: cutted into four or five sections :nope:

[gimpy117]

yea but it was either scrap u534 or cut it up for display. lesser of two evils i suppose :shifty:

[snakeyez]

I think there are only 5 WWII era German U-boats remaining in the world (on display for the public). One of those 5 is the U-505 in Chicago. That's the only one I know of in the US.

[CaptainNemo12]

The thing that struck me the hardest when going through the boat was how unbelievably small the interior was. I remember getting to the end of the tour and thinking, "okay, so where's the rest of the boat?" and then looking around and realizing - there IS no "rest of the boat." And then wondering how anybody withstood living like that, with a full crew, for weeks on end - not even figuring in the potential hazards of enemy contact.


U-505 was a Type IX... now imagine living through a patrol in a Type VII...

[Sgtmonkeynads]

" They are small inside"
That's what i thought about the B-24 and B-17 I got to crawl around in a few years ago. They always looked so massive from the outside,
and definitely look bigger in the movies. Being 6', there was no way for me to fit in the ball turrets.

I was in the sub near the Baltimore aquarium once, same story, small. I lost way to many brain cells from all the hits I took that day,
from low pipes. Unfortunatly none of the pics turned out.

[Schroeder]

I think there are only 5 WWII era German U-boats remaining in the world
There are a few more if you count the midget subs as well. But I believe there are only four Atlantic subs left.
Two Type IX: U 505 and the one in the UK (though I believe that one is still in the condition it was when they raised it from the bottom of the sea.)

One Type VII: U 995 in Laboe

and one Type XXI: U 2540 in Bremerhaven

There is also a Type II somewhere in Finland.

[Jimbuna]

There is also a Type II somewhere in Finland.

http://www.vesikko.fi/the_museum/

[danasan]

Hello Sirs,

I' m new here. From Germany just stumbling in...

So sorry if my English is too bad.

For a quick view on U 995, just go here into virtual museum.

http://www.deutscher-marinebund.de/u995_geschichte.htm

There is an English version as well.

Moin moin, meine Herren!

danasan

[Schroeder]

Danke.:salute:

[frau kaleun]

Welcome, danasan!

Moin moin

Please tell me this is what they're saying in "Das Boot" that seems (to me) to be a shortened version of "Good morning" - like when Hinrich yells for the 2WO that he has new signal to decode and the Lt. drops out of his bunk with a serious case of bedhead and then starts to decode what turns out to be their kommandant's-eyes-only orders for the Gibraltar breakthrough. He and the Kaleun exchange (presumably) some kind of "good morning" greeting before they get down to business.

I hear what sounds like this several times in the movie, all in the same context, and it's obviously not "Morgen" and sounds more like they're saying "Mornin'" which is what an English speaker might be saying and, me being an English speaker, that's what my ears want to hear - but I'm sure they're not greeting each other every morning in English, lol.

Oh and a slightly early/right on time/somewhat belated HAPPY NEW YEAR :woot: to everybody, depending on your time zones of course.

[frau kaleun]

U-505 was a Type IX... now imagine living through a patrol in a Type VII...

Lol, I know, that was one of the first things I looked up after I saw "Das Boot" - kind of like, hey, was that boat just like the one I saw in Chicago?

Realizing the one I went through in Chicago was BIGGER - wow.

I think I would go crazy in a situation like that. I need too much "time off" from constant "in your face" contact with other people, otherwise I get a bad case of social burnout... and that kind of down time must've been nonexistent for those guys.

[danasan]

Well, Moin Moin or just Moin belongs to the dialect spoken in Northern Germany. It means in general "Good Morning" BUT:

In the North of Northern Germany, let's say, between the border to Denmark and the Kaiser Wilhelm Channel (just jokin), Moin Moin is said the hole day long. AND:

If two people meet each other, one says Moin Moin and the other says just Moin. That makes three times Moin. Like an unwritten law. Silly thing...

Hope that helps

Best wishes for the next year

danasan

[frau kaleun]

Danke, danasan!

I love finding out these little tidbits about how a language is used on an everyday basis by native speakers. And it's one of those things from the movie that would drive me crazy because I was sure I understood what was meant by what they were saying, but I knew the actual exchange of words was probably some colloquialism that I'd never figure out from just a German-English dictionary.

[MoN]

Actually "Moin" is the call and "Moin Moin" is the answer.
It´s Plattdeutsch (translates to low(er) German i think allthought flat is a better translation of platt), which is not really spoken anymore.

Moin directly translates to good, and is pronounced pretty much like moan with an i instead of the a. Native English speakers shouldn´t really have any trouble pronouncing it as English and lower German are pretty close.

The second Moin in the answer is often overgone.

[frau kaleun]

Danke to you also, MoN.

Another oddball question: if "lower German" is more rightly translated "flat German" and spoken (as danasan indicated) in the more northerly regions, does lower/flat refer to the topography of that region as opposed to the more mountainous south? Assuming I've got my topography correct, lol.

Never too late in the year to learn something new. :D

[danasan]

@ Frau Kaleun,

"Another oddball question: if "lower German" is more rightly translated "flat German" and spoken (as danasan indicated) in the more northerly regions, does lower/flat refer to the topography of that region as opposed to the more mountainous south?"

Don't translate "flat" as "low" in topographical sense, please. There are uncountable different dialects in Germany, like in other countries as well. I won' t understand a person from TEXAS, from EDINBURGH or even from MUNICH.

I think there is no sensefull translation for "Plattdeutsch". Perhaps, as an example, there is "Oxford English" as the reference, and the "High German Language" as the reference. Everything else is kind of dialect, like "Plattdeutsch", "Hessisch" around Frankfurt f.x. and so on. It's just a name.

What I can't agree with, is

quote

It´s Plattdeutsch (translates to low(er) German i think allthought flat is a better translation of platt), which is not really spoken anymore.

/ quote

Leaving just my hometown, 5 minutes around, in each and every village, "Plattdeutsch" still is spoken. Some schools there fortunatilly still teach it. Not talking about the islands in the North Sea. I used to life there for a while...

Well, I did not mention what I caused with my "Moin Moin thing", but on the other hand, as you said, "Never too late in the year to learn something new"

Greetings

[frau kaleun]

Don't translate "flat" as "low" in topographical sense, please. There are uncountable different dialects in Germany, like in other countries as well.
Greetings

Okay, just wondering if the "low" in "Low(er) German" derived somehow from the region it was/is more commonly spoken in, if indeed that's the presumably flatter/lower (less mountainous) north. Because it's not uncommon in English to refer to a region as "low" in a topographical sense, like the Low Countries or the Scottish Lowlands as opposed to the Highlands. Didn't know if it was the same in German.

[danasan]

Well, we STILL have mountains up to about 490 ft!:rotfl2:

But back to topic... U 2540 (Type 21) was scuttled just a few steps away from my home in 1945 like many others, resting there for 12 years. Then, in 1957 brought to KIEL, Germany, and relaunched in 1960 as "Wilhelm Bauer" until 1982. Now as a Museum's item in Bremerhaven, but there is no good online - museum available at this time.

U-3004 (http://www.uboat.net/boats/u3004.htm) and U-2505 (http://www.uboat.net/boats/u2505.htm) have been visible until the late 1980 in Hamburg. Interested in that?

I have been there: http://www.uboat.net/gallery/index.html?gallery=Elbe-1945&img=1

[DaveU186]

Just a couple of those XXIs that never came out to play. :down:

[MikeVictor]

I can confirm that the Tench class Torsk is docked in Baltimore Harbor along with a Frigate that was at Pearl Harbor during the attack there. I've gone inside the Torsk and looked it over one end to the other. Very interesting.
There is a web site for it as well.

Mike

[BigBANGtheory]

http://www.vesikko.fi/the_museum/

I visited that sub this year, its on a World Heratige site/island 15mins off the coast of Helsinki called Suomenlina. As well as the Uboat they have dry docks and many fortifications and barracks etc...

Visting the sub itself suprised me quite how small it was inside, but it was in very good condition.

[Jimbuna]

I visited that sub this year, its on a World Heratige site/island 15mins off the coast of Helsinki called Suomenlina. As well as the Uboat they have dry docks and many fortifications and barracks etc...

Visting the sub itself suprised me quite how small it was inside, but it was in very good condition.

I've never been personally but from all the photos I've seen I must admit to getting that same 'cramped' feeling.

[kbak303]

The USS Batfish (SS-310) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Batfish_(SS-310)), was a Balao-class submarine, is in Muskogee Oklahoma in drydock and has tours...

the book on the sub is very interesting, mixes it's combat patrols and the efforts of the Oklahoma Maritime Board to bring the sub to Oklahoma. I found it at Half Price Books for something like $3.00.

I've been to it, but I'm really itching to hit Chicago and see the U-505 and be able to compare the two personally.

KB

[Woof1701]

While you're discussing "Das Boot" you might want to add the studio model the movie was filmed in to the collection. It still exists, is in very good condtion and can be found at "Bavaria Film Studios" in Munich, Germany. (www.filmstadt.de)
See pictures in the gallery of www.uboat.net "U-96 - Das Boot Museum at Bavaria Studios"

Although it is not a real uboat per se, it easily conveys the cramped feeling of the real thing since it could NOT be opened and everything had to be filmed inside this tube. It is a complete 1:1 scale replica featuring many original parts from real uboats (the diesel engines for example were found on a scrap yard and restored and are supposed to be still in working order). Inside you can also smell grease, and - if it's a hot day - sweat as well ;)

[Platapus]

For the land-locked Americans there is always

USS Marlin SST-2 which is a T-1 Training sub (1953-1973) on display in Omaha Nebraska, along with the USS Hazard the only Admirable class minesweeper left in the United States as well as the largest warship floated naturally that far inland in the country. Freedom park was built around the USS Hazard because that was as far up river as it could have gone. :D

[Red Heat]

Hello Sirs,

I' m new here. From Germany just stumbling in...

So sorry if my English is too bad.

For a quick view on U 995, just go here into virtual museum.

http://www.deutscher-marinebund.de/u995_geschichte.htm

There is an English version as well.

Moin moin, meine Herren!

danasan


Outstanding!
Danke, Herr Kaleu! :salute:

[Andrew82]

Here you can find an oversight of submarines museums in the US

http://www.submarinemuseums.org/map.html

[clive bradbury]

The UK, as the home of the U-boat war, does have plenty of things to view.

The RN Sub museum in Gosport has X-craft ( and you thought a Type IX was small?). Not WW2, but the Holland I was a highlight of the visit for me.

U-534, now tragically cut into three or four bits, is on Merseyside. I was lucky enough to visit it whilst it was till intact (crawling in via the aft torpedo loading hatch!). Very good museum on the docklands devoted to the war at sea.

A must see, though, is in Liverpool itself. The Atlantic War Rooms are fully restored, and the atmosphere in there, where ALL the convoys and anti-U-boat defence was coordinated, is incredible.

Another 'must see', is Bletchley Park, of course.

[ParaB]

Visitied U-995 in Laboe and the Pampanito in San Francisco. They also had a Liberty ship next to it, very nice.

:up: