BAREG Historic Germany & Denmark Trip – Updated Photos

Three BAREG members spent six days traveling across northern Germany and western Denmark to visit two U-boats, maritime museums, the famous U-boat Archive, and a massive Atlantic Wall bunker. 

The U-boats visited were the Wilhem Bauer (updated image in gallery), a Type XXI berthed on the Weser River in Bremerhaven, and the U-995, a Type VII-C that is on display ashore in Laboe.  The trip was led by Aaron H. and through his contacts we had special access to U-boats and at the U-boat Archive and Museum in Cuxhaven. 

The BAREG team took measurements on the U-995 and these will be used to inform ongoing work on the U-1105.  A side trip to Sea War Museum in Thyborøn, Denmark, and the HMS St George shipwreck museum in Thorsminde were surprise-filled bonuses.  For example, the Sea War Museum has the conning tower of the U-20, the U-boat that sank the RMS Lusitania.  The museum also had a display on underwater archaeology with a focus on the Battle of Jutland, or the Skagerrakschlacht as it’s known in Germany.

Tango class B-515

Image 1 of 7

The Tango class (NATO designation) B-515 was built in 1976 and served in the Soviet and Russian navies' Northern Fleet until early in the 21st century. The hull design is directly descended from the Type XXI U-boats, such as the Wilhelm Bauer, that were being built in Germany in the early 1940s. Today the B-515 is a museum ship in Hamburg lying on the Elbe River's bed at low tide. It's unclear how the museum operator came up with the designation U-434 (painted on the conning tower) as this submarine never served in either the FRG's Bundesmarine or the DDR's Volksmarine.