Author Topic: U-534 German U-boat gets ready for a new home  (Read 5950 times)

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U-534 German U-boat gets ready for a new home
« on: February 06, 2008, 11:01:49 AM »
Hi All

This story caught my eye and I have to admit no knowing that thee was a U-boat in Liverpool!

Piece courtesy of ICLiverpool - http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/

Shame that there doesn't appear to eb a photograph of the vessel on this site?

"U-534 German U-boat gets ready for a new home

Feb 6 2008

by Richard Down, Liverpool Daily Post

Neil Scales with the U-534 German U-Boat in Birkenhead

WORK has started on cutting up the wartime German U-boat in Birkenhead docks.

Engineers using a special diamond wire cutter will slice the sub into four sections.

The decision to chop up the U-boat has attracted some controversy, but the costs of moving the submarine intact are said to have been too expensive.

Instead each section, weighing up to 240 tons, will be moved by floating crane from its present site at Mortar Mill Quay to Mersey Ferries

Offline John Eyres

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Re: U-534 German U-boat gets ready for a new home
« Reply #1 on: February 06, 2008, 06:53:04 PM »
Hi Steve.
Certainly controversial to cut her. Seems like vandalism if you ask me. Here is an image of her a couple of weeks ago being prepared http://shipcanal.fotopic.net/p48060939.html compared to this previous photohttp://shipcanal.fotopic.net/p44905799.html
John.

Offline Kelvin Davies

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Re: U-534 German U-boat gets ready for a new home
« Reply #2 on: February 07, 2008, 06:48:06 AM »
Steve,
Here you are then:
http://www.shipspotting.com/modules/myalbum/photo.php?lid=579474

This was taken shortly after the submarine was moved from its original location.
Greedy landowners had decided that the waterfront space occupied by the Historic Warships was going to pay a lot more if they turned the area into fancy apartments.
The organisers of the Historic Warships collection were given fairly short notice to go and find another site.

This involved moving the U534 which had been raised from the bottom of the Baltic a couple of years earlier, along with HMS Plymouth, a British submarine HMS Oberon, the original Liverpool Bar lightship, a minesweeper and other bits.
The history of U534, which was probably the last U boat to be sunk at the end of WW2, was the subject of a good documentary on the Discovery channel some time ago.
U534 was running away from Germany with a couple of other boats; the German Navy HQ had ordered all submarines to surrender but U534 and its companion boats chose to make a run for it through the Kattegat.
After a battle which cost the RAF one Liberator bomber, U534 was hit with depth charges and eventually sank. All except 5 of the crew escaped before she went down. Some of the 5 died either during the escape from the boat or later in hospital.

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Re: U-534 German U-boat gets ready for a new home
« Reply #3 on: February 07, 2008, 08:50:09 AM »
Hi Kelvin and John

Thanks for the pointers to the photographs - the whole story of the U-534 must have flown past me as I cannot recall seeing anything in the media when she was raised from the Baltic.

Having looked the story up on the Internet, it certainly is an interesting one and I'll have to look out for re-runs on the Discovery Channel.

Regards

Steve Ellwood

Offline Marek W

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Re: U-534 German U-boat gets ready for a new home
« Reply #4 on: February 07, 2008, 09:25:08 AM »
Thanks for the great news Steve. Damn..I'd give and arm and a leg (among other body parts not so frequently used these days) to photograph that. A few years back we had a Russian sub here. Well...it was quite a while ago. Too bad I wasn't into photography back then. I'd make my cameras smoke had it been nowadays.

Offline Derell Licht

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Re: U-534 German U-boat gets ready for a new home
« Reply #5 on: February 07, 2008, 06:22:59 PM »
BTW, if anyone wants to see high-res photos of her *before* she was moved, there are many of them on www.flickr.com.
Here are a couple that I picked from a casual search:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/maddiedigital/311161230/sizes/o/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23734037@N00/459866969/sizes/l/

Enjoy!!
 8-)
Not all those who wander are lost...

Offline Marek W

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Re: U-534 German U-boat gets ready for a new home
« Reply #6 on: February 07, 2008, 06:52:43 PM »
WOOOOOOOOOOOOW! The word "Envy" isn't strong enough :) Great job!!! Thanks for sharing!

Offline John Eyres

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Offline John Eyres

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Re: U-534 German U-boat gets ready for a new home
« Reply #8 on: March 09, 2008, 11:35:12 PM »
Just an update on U534. She has now been sliced into 5 sections. Photo's here http://shipcanal.fotopic.net/p48893024.html and http://shipcanal.fotopic.net/p48893021.html

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Re: U-534 German U-boat gets ready for a new home
« Reply #9 on: March 10, 2008, 04:51:21 PM »
Hi Rambo

Excellent photographs, although being a greedy so and so, I wouldn't have minded a view of the end sections in closer detail  :-)

Regards

 

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