We're planning a trip to Europe next summer and having watched Das Boot too many times, I decided to check whether any German WW II submarine pens still existed so we could visit one. Sure enough, they do. They are massive structures. What astonished me though, was the amount of effort the Allies expended on trying to destroy them. On one night in April 1945, they sent 969 bombers to bomb the pens at Helgioland. The town around the pens in the link below was completely destroyed in bombing raids, yet the pens are still there. They still exist along on the French west coast and in Norway. I think most of the ones on the German coastline were removed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGj3L441SEs

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Top Gear did an episode where the lads drove around Crimea and drove through an old Soviet sub base that was built under a large hill. It was a massive place that is now open to tourists.

Better yet, on "No Reservations" Bourdain got the same tour of the satellite photo-proof base in the Ukraine. It would make a great post-Cold War disco/nightclub.

There's one on a Croatian island carved out of a rock cliff. Picture here:

Vis (island) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

One last bit of persuasion perhaps? Or getting rid of essentially excess munitions? Or both?
The History Place - World War II in Europe Timeline: German Surrender Documents

The pens at Saint-Nazaire.
http://www.u552.com/saint_nazaire_droite_ang.htmint-Nazaire.
U-552 & Erich Topp sailed from there & wreaked havoc on Allied shipping. Topp scuttled the U-552 in early May 1945 in Helgoland Bight right before the surrender. His boat is best remembered for torpedoing the USS Rueben James off Iceland October 31, 1941, five weeks before Pearl Harbor.

I thought it was pretty late in the war to be expending that much effort. Perhaps something was going in with submarines which might have explained it. Did they think the German High Command was planning to escape via submarine? Did submarines have the potential for a last minute threat?

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

I think it was just war as usual. After the French ports were lost, they shifted to Norway and the bombing followed them northward.
Bergen Norway...

"Bergen remained a rather quiet place during the first years, with only one large air attack. In 1943, the base was also added 2 new camps, "U-stützpunkt lager Prien" and "U-stützpunkt lager Weddingen" connected with the shipyard "Danziger Werft".

This was changed radically after the fall of France when Fdu West was moved from Angers, France to Bergen. A massive expansion programme of the base was launched, and several new Flak (anti-aircraft) units were stationed near the bunker. A lot of engineers and technicians were moved to Bergen. Additional 2 new camps called Werft Gemeischaftslager 1 & 2 were built.

Late in 1944 several massive British air raids struck the base in Bergen. In one occasion, a "tallboy" bomb went trough the roof in pen#3, making it unuseable for the rest of the war. The base was capitulated along with the rest of Norway on 8 May, 1945 when all German forces surrendered."

uboat.net - Boats - Flotillas - Bases

Enjoy your trip.

now I want a pen in the shape of a german submarine.

bring me back one?

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1991 300D

Phew, I wasn't the only one...

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

I want to live your life, Kerry. This is something I'd like to see, as well. If you go, take good pictures.

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

I too have been frantically searching google images for submarine shaped biros but I haven't found one yet

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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgkusNV0GLg

Somebody needs to sharpen their google skills!



Alibaba.... seller of all things.

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1961 220b: first project car - sold.
2000 CLK 430: first modern Benz - sold.
2001 CLK 55: OMG the torque!!! - sold
1972 280SE 4.5: Baby Gustav
1991 300TE 4Matic: Gretel the Snow Bunny - sold
1978 300SD: Katz the Free Man - given away
1980 Redhead: Darling Wife

not to be pedantic, but that is a Chinese submarine pen.

I was hoping for a German German submarine pen

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1991 300D