Have now completed the U-boat Circuit

[HerrWilkus]

Though an American citizen I spend about six months out of the year living and traveling in Europe. (The rest are spent working my tail off during the short arctic construction season)

One of my plans for this winter was to see as many U-boats/U-boat related museums as possible.

Proud to announce I've now seen all WWII era U-boats currently on display in one form or another.

1. U-505, captured Type IXC (1991, on a family trip to the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry.) Even at this early age I was quite interested in all things submarine.

2. 'Vesikko', Finnish Type II prototype (2006, trip to Suomenlinna while working in Finland) Not 'really' a U-Boat, but close enough.

3. U-995, Type VII-C, surrendered to Norway, now on display near Kiel. (Feb 2014, visited on transit between Finland and UK, also saw the Naval/U-Boat memorials.) Amazingly well preserved, you really get the 'smell' inside.

4. U-534, Type IXC/40, sunk near Denmark, raised in the 90s, sectioned and on display in Liverpool. (April 2014, visited while in UK) Interesting in that it clearly displays the depth charge damage that sank it near the stern. Also an excellent museum containing the artifacts recovered from inside, well preserved under the fine silt.

5. U-2540, Type XXI, scuttled, raised in 50's, on display in Bremerhaven. (April 2014, visited on the return trip to Finland from UK) Excellent museum, friendly staff, though one must realize there were modifications made inside. Excellent view of the massive battery storage area that gave the Elektroboot its name.

So, unless more U-boats are pulled off the bottom of the ocean, or recovered from he old demolished pens, I think I've finally earned my 'U-boat tourist badge'.

I'm just annoyed that none of the XIV 'Milch Cows' survived the war now.

[jakethescot]

Nice. Post some pics if you can.

[Paulebaer1979]

I think I've finally earned my 'U-boat tourist badge'.
Roger that.:salute:

Show some pictures from every sub and perhaps Jim will give you a badge as avatar?

[Jimbuna]

Nice. Post some pics if you can.

Roger that.:salute:

Show some pictures from every sub and perhaps Jim will give you a badge as avatar?

Most definitely :sunny:

[HerrWilkus]

Should be able to swing that as soon as I get back to the States, got an early flight to catch tomorrow.

With the exception of the U-505 (which I saw when I was a kid years before the age of digital photography) I should be able to post pics of them all.

Even had taken a road trip to Hay-on-Wye to raid all their used book stores for interesting U-boat related reading material. Found a 1955 edition of "U-977", snapped it up. Picked up a copy of "Black May", quite a good read that focuses on the key turning-point convoy battles between March and May 1943.

Also found an early hardback copy of Dornberger's memoir "V-2", but they wanted quite a bit more than I was willing to pay for it, *shrug*.

[Jimbuna]

You've certainly made the most of your travels :cool:

[HerrWilkus]

Well, after getting stuck in New Jersey for 2 days due to a 3 hour mechanical delay in London, I finally made it back to Alaska. Thank you, United Airlines.

Here's some pictures, but I'm a bit new at posting pics on websites.

I reduced the sizes of them below 97KB, but I'm guessing I can only post pictures after I've uploaded them, which means only 2 pics will fit at a time!
Is it possible to get my maximum upload limit to about 5x what it is now?

So, to start, here's the Moltenort Memorial by night, and the U-2540 in Bremerhaven.