"U-Boat to be destroyed" Topic

A salvaged U-Boat in England is to be cut up. It is a type IX long range boat. Only one other exsists in the world. A petition has been started to advise the owners to find another home rather than the scrap yard for this historic treasure.

link

UK residents have more of a voice as it is on their soil, but anyone around the world can add their names to the list.

Anytime a unique piece of history like this is lost it is regretted years later. They can never be replaced.

Didn't know what board to send this to, so sorry if it is on the wrong one.

Good shout !

I signed.

Steve P

Before signing the petition, I would suggest reading further (the BBC report cited on the same page):
link

They are not scrapping it, but turning it into an attraction. Quote: "The boat will be cut into three sections so a floating crane can take it to its new site across the water… At Woodside huge glass panels installed over the end of each section will allow visitors to see inside the submarine from specially-built viewing platforms."

Signed

I signed the global one. UNderstandably the new owners find it a pain, but if one finds an abandoned baby on one's dorr step, one doesn't cut it up for salvage!!!

Signed

Amazing this stuff still exsists.

In a similar vein, the guy who had the large scrap yard in Normandy by the Failaise Gap has passed away and in November they are auctioning off the remaining stuff.

This is the last known major lot of WW2 German (scrap metal) vehicles.

Slowly we see WW2 turn into History. Much like a fellow I used to know that grew up in Gettysberg. They used to have a turkey shoot each year with rifles they had salvaged from the battlefield and restored.

Wait!!! It's not being scrapped!!!

The link in the first post seems to create that misconception, but they are actually preserving it (see 2 posts up).

My fear is that this petition will stop the current preservation plan in favor of something infeasible and the sub really will get scrapped!!!

That should be 6 posts up.

Just read Yonderboy… hmmmm. That sounds better to me than the scrapping mentioned in the petition…

If done right the slicing up of a UBoat can be quite informative.

I have been on the USS Drum next to the battleship Alabama. It is intact and you just view it by walking through it.

I have also visited the German Science Museum in Munich where they have sliced a U-boat from fore to aft. I learned a lot more about subs that way.

I signed the petition even though the other plan would be for cutting it up. There is submarine on display in (i think) Travemünde or Cuxhaven and I can remember visiting it twice as a small lad… about the only thing I still remember from that time and it left quite an impression on me. I am sure you would never get the same impression just looking into the slices. If it was sliced bow to aft it would be different, but this way… not worth it!

Cheers,

Burkhard
dhc-wargames.de

Being able to see inside of it would be nice, but doesn't the ship have to be maintained? Eventually it really will turn into a disintegrating bucket of bolts.

The X craft at Duxford is sliced up crossways, works really well. Perhaps not quite as big as a Type IX…

The Holland Boat at the RN Submarine museum in Portsmouth is a mixture of cut panels and a bit you can go inside.

Signed the global version.

Ah, yes, the brilliant internet petition (mall petition, store petition, etc.). Write a slug line portraying something any way you want (cut up for scrap!), regardless of the reality (sliced in three for display and preservation). Then collect a bunch of addresses of nitwits who are for the fifteen seconds they read the slug line outraged that such a thing could happen but not really interested enough to look any deeper or even remember the next day what they've signed.

Just pray this one is somewhat legit and not just an email phishing scam for some marketing guys.

Signed, sealed & delivered.

This is how you really do it.

tinyurl.com/9gbcj

Walking through a WWII U-Boat is an experience not to be missed. The ten or so people in your group make quite a crowd. The idea that five times that number crewed the boat makes claustrophobia seem a trifling thing. Be sure and take the virtual tour on this website.

Toured the sub here in WI (US from WW2 still with shell damage under the paint on the bridge). Not only is it small, but at 6'5" I found it damn near impossible to move very fast (stepping over the bulkhead doors is a treat) and banged my head dozens of times. Cannot imagine trying to fit the crew in there also.

Had the same experience when I was in the army at Ft. Knox and they opened a PzV for us to climb in. I passed as I was not sure I'd ever get out again (smile).

Dan

Much like the U-505 exhibit in Chicago, this is how you do it bowfin.org/website/index.cfm

When I first visited the Bowfin in the early 1980's, she was in relatively poor condition. I think the USS Olympia was the only naval museum ship that I'd seen in worse condition. Fifteen years later, the ship is immaculate. Not quite how it'd apppear in wartime – except maybe as it set out from harbor on patrol.

With respect to the British U-Boat, cutting it into sections to view into it is much like some of the older Smithsonian Air & Space, or worse, like the old "mummy unwrapping" parties of the 19th C.

Wyatt

Like the bowfin tour, view the USS Cod usscod.org
Based in cleveland, Ohio. A very impressive walk thru gives the feel of how close the crew was to each other and the virtual tour on line is good too.

I second you Bob. I went through the USS COd in June and was thoroughly impressed with the tour and the material condtion of the boat. I can't determine if the interior spaces on the class IX boat was accessible by the public, but I'd think that would be better if one could walk through the boat rather than only glimpse at sections end on.

Signed! Great post, must save that baby.

@chriskrum: His website certainly looks to be legitimate, since a lot of work has obviously been put into it:

atlantik-pirat.com

On the British side, a petition to No. 10 Downing Street, i.e. the Prime Minister can hardly be called e-mail phishing!

Perhaps, you should get your facts right before slandering all and sundry …

I toured the USS Clamagore at Patriots Point in Charleston after I had toured the U-505 (many times). I couldn't believe the space available on the Balao class subs. The crews quarters were actually two aisles with bunks in the middle.

The IXc class U-boats were 14 feet wide inside the pressure hull and 22 feet beam. After you throw all the stuff inside, I don't see how 50+ men had space to stand, let alone run the boat.