German U 17 on its final voyage

[Ostfriese]

U 17 (Type 206A) has begun its final voyage from Kiel to Sinsheim, in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany.





In the Kiel Bay, on the way to the Kiel Canal locks





On the Kiel Canal


U 17 was laid down as a Type 206 submarine on Oct 1st, 1970, launched on Oct 10th, 1972 and commissioned into the Bundesmarine (West German Navy) on November 28th, 1973 and became part of the 3. Ubootgeschwader.
Modernized to a Type 206A from 1989 to 1991, U 17 was the first German submarine to cross the Atlantic (in 1997) after World War II. She participated in SUBEX 97 and took part in Fleet Week 1997 in New York.
U 17 was decomissioned in Eckernförde on Dec 14th, 2010. On June 30th, 2021, U 17 was transferred to Kiel, where her weapons and batteries were removed.





On its final voyage U 17 is towed (on a pontoon) first to Rotterdam and then up the Waal and Rhine rivers to Speyer, from where the 500 ton vessel will be transported over land to Sinsheim, where it's scheduled to arrive on May 21st. There it will be part of the Technik Museum Sinsheimwhich already exhibits a vast amount of cars, motorcycles, locomotives, aircraft (including aircraft from both world wars and the early jet age), tractors, steam engines, tank and other military equipment.

[August]

Nice!

[Jimbuna]

A fitting end

[Ostfriese]

Surprisingly enough this will be the SECOND U-Boat at the Technik Musem. The Speyer branch of that Museum already houses U9, a Type 205 submarine decomissioned in 1993.
This boat made trip in the summer of 1993.





U 17 will stay at Speyer for a year before being moved 40km (~25 miles) eastwards to Sinsheim.

[Ostfriese]

U 17 has reached Dordrecht in the Netherlands (close to Rotterdam). The journey will continue on May 11th

[Jimbuna]

I used to live in Dordrecht and that would have been something worth seeing.

[Skybird]

A film from 1975 on the then planned 18 boats of the 206 class. I would sooner or later panic if needing to live on these tiny things (I have a certain vulnerability for claustrophobia anyway).






And a newer film, 2 years old, on the last patrol of a 206.

[Ostfriese]

U17 has continued its final journey and has arrived at Duisburg in Northrhine-Westfalia.






Tomorrow it will be moved to Cologne. On the way it will pass the capital of Northrhine-Westfalia, Düsseldorf.

[Ostfriese]

U17 passes Düsseldorf (go straight to 1:02, the man speaking German in the intro doesn't say anything of importance)

[Ostfriese]

I won't post another video of the U-Boat being carried along the Rhine.



Only this: the transport goes as planned, today the U17 will reach Mannheim. Tomorrow she will arrive at Speyer, where she will be loaded onto a special transport, which will transport the submarine over land to the Speyer branch of the museum on the 21st.


Don't plan your visit too early, though, the museum says that the Sinsheim branch will not be ready to open U17 for the public before 2025.

[Ostfriese]

The final step (for the moment) is done:


U17 has been moved on land to Speyer. The submarine being moved through a forest or being pulled around a village corner aren't sights you'll see very often: