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.

The Type XXI U-boat Wilhelm Bauer (originally U-2540)

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The Type XXI U-boat Wilhelm Bauer (originally U-2540) was a major evolutionary development in submarine design. Earlier U-boats, and the submarines of all other early-mid 20th century navies, were designed to run primarily on the surface. Compared to a Type VII U-boat, or an U.S. Navy fleet boats such as the Gato class, the Type XXIs had clean lines with few projecting deck features (e.g., no deck guns and retractable bollards). This hull form would be used in post-war submarine construction in the U.S. Navy's Tang class, the Royal Navy's Porpoise class, the French Navy's Narval class and in the Soviet Navy's Whiskey, Foxtrot, and Tango classes (NATO class designations).