Cybercaptain: U-534

Monday, January 13, 2020

U-534

U-534 conning tower

Went in the weekend to see the U-534 brought to Birkenhead as a tourist attraction. Not sure how someone could see the interest in a WW2 sub from Germany in UK as one but hey-ho, we each make our choices. I would have thought UK has enough of old outdated tonnage to go around. The sub is today cut into 3 sections and as from pics below you can see the plexi glass reflections that closed off access into them for public safety I suppose. There were displays of paraphernalia found inside the sub as well as some placards.

The aft of the hull, sb side, the rectangular hatch is the decoy launcher "pillenwerfer"

I had in 1987, years earlier, visited the U-2540 submarine in Bremerhaven, Germany. The U-534 in Birkenhead was in 1993 salvaged from her resting place at 67 meters depth NE of the Danish Anholt Island by the Dutch salvage company Smit Tak in 1993. She's basically same design as the U-2540 and is intact.

Port side aft of hull, propeller visible

The U-534 had lain on the sea bed for nearly 41 years, until she was discovered in 1986 by a Danish wreck hunter, Aage Jensen. U-534 had phonograph records which were able to be played after conservation.

Midship section with conning tower, torpedo in fore

The U-534 was transported to Birkenhead, England, in 1996, the vessel formed part of the Warship Preservation Trust's collection at Birkenhead Docks until the museum closed on 5 February 2006. In June 2007, the Merseytravel transit authority announced that it had acquired the submarine to display at the Woodside Ferry Terminal. For technical reasons and to facilitate economical transportation to its new site, the vessel was cut into five sections, two of which were subsequently re-joined.

Midship section, conning tower

It is now displayed in sectioned form to allow visitors better visibility without entering the U-boat. Merseytravel said that preserving the hull intact would have created prohibitive transport costs. Engineers began a month-long operation to divide U-534, using a diamond wire cutter, on 6 February 2008. On 10 March 2008, the sections, each weighing as much as 240 tons, were transported over several days by floating crane.

Like she used to look before cutting up

As a footnote, the U-boat Story exhibition opened on 10 February 2009 and closed in 2020. I must have been just in time before they closed. To be honest this is not much to write home about as she was laid out in 3 sections behind plexi-glass walls, one can look inside and see the jumble of pipes, cables and insulation that does not really tell anything, only the outside shell was worth seeing. Maybe this is more to jog kids imagination.