Surprised you didn’t mention the U2540.  She actually was raised and put back into service by Germany after 17 years on the bottom of the Baltic.

Fun fact. After the war, the Norwegian navy hid away three VIIC class submarines in an attemt to strart rebuilding the submarine branch of the navy. In the mid 60s, one of them U 995, was given back to Germany and is now a war memorial outside Kiel.

I'm trying to get some sleep. Thanks Mike, now I have to stay up and watch this.

I cannot believe it!! it's our friend, Mike Brady from Oceanliner designs 😀
Sorry wrong channel 😂😂

It's so interesting how quickly the outer hulls of pre-nuclear submarines will rust away so much more quickly than compared the the hardened inner pressure hull.

I’m surprised that anyone surviving the sinking of the titanic would want to be anywhere near the ocean again.

The story of the North Atlantic convoy system in WWII is harrowing. Relentlessly hunted by U-Boat Wolfpacks, these convoys were horribly vulnerable. The weapons, munitions and all manner of vital supplies carried by these ships were Britian's literal life's blood during the first two years of the war. Considered the best account of this part of WWII, Nicholas Monsarrat"s novel The Cruel Sea is a fictionalised account of a Flower class corvette. These small and poorly armed vessels were the mainstay convoy escort vessel for the first two years of the war, until larger and more capable destroyers and frigates were available as escorts. The corvettes, armed with a single 4 in deck gun, two 303 Lewis and two 50 Vickers machine guns and anti submarine depth charges launched by throwers or dropped over the stern on rails, used visual spotting and primitive ASDIC / sonar to detect the marauding U-Boats. Their paltry AA armament was woefully inadequate. These tiny 208 foot ships fought a desperate and unequal battle against the German U-Boats and aircraft hunting the convoys they protected.

War Grave status hasn't prevented the scrap pirates from robbing out sunken ships. Possiblt the U-Boats defence is if their location is not known accurately.

My grandad was in the merchant navy during that war and on one of his ships he said they were torpedoed in the bow and had to sail backwards to prevent it flooding, had to travel along the west coast of Africa, eventually to were it could be put into port for repairs. Probably to Cape Town or such. He had a real dislike for subs as many were left to drown when their ships went down.

The U-995 is a museum at Laboe, Germany and the SM U-1 is in the Deutsches Museum, Munich, Germany

U-534 was sliced using diamond wire,  before being moved.

I've been following the new group who own her, and the item's they have been finding are incredibly, truly a 1940s time capsule

Great video as always, Mike and team!
- If I may interject one thing, no German submariners were ever lost at sea during WWII, in Germany they are considered "Still on patrol" to this very day. This phrase has always sent a chill down my back for some reason.

Unbeknown to many, Churchill confessed, years after the war, that the only thing that had ever scared him was "The U-Boat menace" - This was not without merit, not only were the U-Boats decimating shipping on a massive scale but  Hitler had also promised a fortune in gold ($250K) and an iron cross to any U-Boat commander that could sink either Queen Mary or Elizabeth. Such an event would have dwarfed the Titanic tragedy had the Queens been carrying troops . . .

I have a girlfriend in Munich Germany and a few years ago I travelled with her extensively through Germany - LOVED the people there and the country!
While there I asked questions about Manfred Von Richthofen (The Red Baron), Erich Hartmann (The ace of aces with 352 confirmed kills), and several other air aces. As much as Regina loves me, my questions were answered with a very sharp "Don't talk about it!" - I replied gently to her with "No honey, Americans aren't interested in the politics, Americans are only interested in the warrior." I was again rebuffed with "Don't talk about it!." - I let the subject drop out of respect, as the topic of air aces is generally avoided in Germany, even now.
However, Regina will openly talk about the U-Boats because of the movie "Das Boot" portraying the submariners as "Sailors" and not "Fanatical monsters". We even visited the Das Boot film set, which is still there. It was an awesome experience!
If memory serves me correctly, Das Boot was based on a book written by one of the crew entitled "Track of the Grey Wolf" or maybe it was "Iron Coffins" - in either case I highly recommend reading both books.

I have always felt that the German U-Boat period is the perfect subject matter for cinema.- In the beginning the U-Boats were seemingly unstoppable and caused death and destruction to the Allies on a huge scale, seemingly at every turn. Then slowly, ever so slowly, the Allies began to work together by creating HUFF DUFF and long range aircraft, aircraft that were loaded to the gills with RADAR, searchlights and devastating guns and used in conjunction with the breaking of the German Enigma to destroy the raiders. Then slowly, day by day, fewer and fewer U-Boats began to respond when sent radio messages, until finally "Black May" when 41 U-Boats were lost in a single month: As said by the Captain in the French brothel at the opening of the movie Das Boot "The old bunch is gone Phillip."

I saw U-505 or "Nemo" as it was called there.

Truly a breathtaking sight.

I remember going to see U534 at Birkenhead Warship trust when it was still intact.  It was one evening when the place was closed but the sight of it sent a shiver down your spine.   Went to see it again after it had been cut up and it had lost some of that effect - but I get why something had to be done to secure its future and open it up (as it were) to a new audience.  To those who might be horrified by such a thing, it has to be remembered that it is a massive undertaking to preserve a ship, let alone one that had been sunk, and if the US can't justify saving one as important as the SS United States,  that perhaps gives us some idea of the challenges.  On a similar theme, we have managed to preserve a post-war one of ours (HM Submarine Ocelot) and that can be toured at the Historic Dockyard at Chatham and I can strongly recommend it.

Anyone who serves or has served on any submarine from the very start to present day has my upmost respect

In a slightly happy ending for U-534,  she's now come under the ownership of Big Heritage, who also own the western approaches museum in Liverpool. They intend to make her part of one big cross-Mersey museum on the Battle of the Atlantic.

I have twice toured U-505, the first time was when she was still outside in the 1960s, and the second time was a couple of years ago in her new indoor arena.  If you ever visit Chicago, the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry is very much worth seeing.

I visited U-534 at Birkenhead when i did the pre paid tour. It's the most fascinating time capsule i ever saw. it was amazing to be inside it. We were told the depth charge that sank her landed on the rear deck where the gun crew tried to stop it falling off. they failed and it detonated after falling overboard. In the control room, the crew (in safer waters) played tunes by tapping the valves with a spanner which drove the captain insane. Apparently it was a regular thing!

U505 is very much worth the visit to the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. She's a small extra fee to board and there are only limited tickets sold per day for the interior tours, so it's best to go in the mornings.

I was so happy to see this was not an AI historical war video, I didnt know Mike had this channel until I heard his voice!