Sunken Aquarium Ships - Can Anyone Identify These?

[AG124]

Here are a couple of sunken fish tank warships I saw on eBay a long time ago - can anyone identify these? Or are they just fictional decoration pieces? (they were just listed as a sub and destroyer).

Some ships for fish tanks are actually quite realistic - I have seen a model of the Bismarck (accurate, but the real sunken wreck was in worse condition than the model) and a U-Boat with one side destroyed by depth charges (Type VII, I think but I don't remember).

I also have an old plastic sailing ships from Hartz that I used to have in my old fish tank way back in the 1990s - I will post a picture later. I always wanted to know exactly what type of ship it is and maybe someone here knows.

Anyway, here are the pictures of those other two.





Does anyone here know what they could be?

[AG124]

And here's a picture of a sailing ship like the one I have (except mine has the skeleton missing). Is this a Spanish galleon? If not, what is it?

[Oberon]

That sub looks awfully a lot like an Echo II.

[Takeda Shingen]

Your destroyer looks to be early Cold War. Not at DD expert here, though.

Regarding your sailing ship, it is definitely a galleon. The elongated forecastle is a sign that we have postdated the caravel. This also seems to indicate that it is not a John Hawkins design, meaning that it is, most likely, Spanish.

The skeleton, however, is not to scale.

[AG124]

The skeleton, however, is not to scale.

Yes I assumed that. :P I was actually quite glad when it fell off - not that a plastic fish tank ornament is the most realistic model anyway.

Those plastic ships from Hartz (not the more realistic looking warships) used to be air powered too - the stern of the sailing ship would move up and down when an air pump was attached to a little hole on the base of the rock. There were also side and stern paddle-wheelers with moving wheels and a chinese junk that bobbed up and down (I always wanted one of the side-paddlers when i was a kid, but never got one ) I have the feeling that some of those Hartz ships were intended more for the entertainment of the fish tank owner than for the fish themselves. :P

Anyway, thanks for the help in ID'ing those pictures.

EDIT: Look, there are several aquarium U-Boats on eBay now - and none of them ship to Canada. Search 'Sunken U-Boat.'

[Type941]

apart from the fact that I think plastic shipwreck models in fish tanks look cheap and tacky, the sub model looks like that Echo indeed. But IMO it's just some 'generic russky sub' and probably is made on purpose slightly different than the real thing. I think if they make a model of sunk Kursk so someone can put it into their fish tank it would be quite bad taste.

[AG124]

I think if they make a model of sunk Kursk so someone can put it into their fish tank it would be quite bad taste.

There are many aquarium models of the Titanic available, although these are very, very crappy. But I suppose since there are no survivors from the Titanic who are still alive today, there is no one who would be offended (the Titanic has completely passed into history).

There is however, a very realistic fish tank Bismarck available from Interpet Nautical Treasures. It does not look like the sunken wreck (which actually has the stern, turrets and most of the superstructure missing) but it does look like the ships itself. Would this be considered offensive to some? :hmm: I believe there are still survivors from the Bismarck who are alive today.

[Ramius]

Dont suppose you have a link for them do you ?

Need to get some new toys for my fish

[AG124]

I could post eBay links, but they would expire soon and end up dead. I am also not sure if that would violate SubSim's policies (they don't like links which lead to retailers, as they could lose game sales). However, they do not sale fish tank ships (although maybe the U-Boat models would be appropriate. Then again, many people have suggested eBay to get things like AOD which are not available here.

Anyway, I will post two links to U-Boat models for aquariums. If I am not allowed to do so, please let me know and I will delete it. This thread may have expired by the time it is clicked on as it is for less than a week.

http://cgi.ebay.com/SUNKEN-U-BOAT-OR...QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/SUNKEN-U-BOAT-OR...QQcmdZViewItem

And the Bismarck:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Interpet-Nautic-...QQcmdZViewItem

There are also many others on eBay right now, including a nuclear sub and destroyer. Not the ones of which I posted those pictures though.

[Type941]

I don't think they would be as much offensice as they are just like i said before 'bad taste'. IMHO, a fish tank should have beautiful underwater life, plants, etc, the natural habitat of a fish. Given that you can't have a real shipwreck/fish size proportion in your 100L fish tank, to me they just look weird and something from a cartoon.

Ok, I'm biased perhaps as well, as I am a scuba diver, who actually dove on shipwrecks. That's why this 'bismarck in fishtank' sounds just plain silly to me!

let's put it this way - if you are using a fish tank as a part of home decoration, a toy shipwreck would look in one like trainer shoes with a tux.

Having said that, the models of shipwrecks themselves do look pretty impressive on their own, as I can appriciate how much effort has gone into making them (having done about 30 Revell and Tamiya models when I was younger... submarines... Kursk (before it sank).. included!).

[AG124]

I don't think they would be as much offensice as they are just like i said before 'bad taste'. IMHO, a fish tank should have beautiful underwater life, plants, etc, the natural habitat of a fish. Given that you can't have a real shipwreck/fish size proportion in your 100L fish tank, to me they just look weird and something from a cartoon.

Yes, that is absolutely true. When I used to have a fish tank, mine looked even worse - there was a lighthouse, two brightly colored bridges, and three different colours of seaweed (and my parents bought bright blue and green rocks/sand/gravel [don't know what to call it] to put in the bottom - which I always hated). If I ever got another fish tank (which I probably will never bother with) I might do it differently. But in the meantime, I may end up buying ships from eBay just to put on display. :hmm:

[Ramius]

:rotfl:
Used to have one of these, but it was just way to small for the tank.
Plus one of my fish was almost bigger than it LOL

[Kapitan]

man i like some of these lol the first sub one is definatly an echoo II ssgn

i dont have a fish tank but where you get them from ?

[AG124]

man i like some of these lol the first sub one is definatly an echoo II ssgn

i dont have a fish tank but where you get them from ?

The only place I ever seen any of these is on eBay. Some, like the plastic Hartz sailing ship, have been discontinued. I have never seen another Echo like the one in the top picture either.

[August]

Originally Posted by Type941

Ok, I'm biased perhaps as well, as I am a scuba diver, who actually dove on shipwrecks.

What shipwrecks have you dove on 941? I scuba dive as well and have been on a few wreck dives in the New England area including the U-853.