Type XXI U-Boat U-2540

DerAdlerIstGelandet · May 24, 2009

vikingBerserker said:
I think it says a lot that it was under water for 12 years was raised and used again.

It that an old armed schooner in the background?

No the U-Boot is the only "warship" in that area.

HerrKaleut · May 27, 2009

Sorry Kameraden but had the XX1s gone into full service they would have been an unmittigated disaster for the following reasons;
1) Poor hull integrity.The 8 major hull sections of the type xx1 were crudely made in 32 different factories with little or no experience of U-boat construction and did not fit very well. Therefore the pressure hull could not stand great depths or close depth charges. The hull failed in tests at much less than standard U-boat depths
2) Underpowered. The diesels could only produce 1200 h.p. instead of the projected 2000 h.p. giving a surface speed of 15.6 knots ,less than any ocean going boat and slightly slower than a corvette. The system was so poorly designed that the superchargers could not be used.
3) Impractical Hydraulic system. The main lines, accumulators,cylinders and pistons of the hydraulics of the main diving planes,rudders,torpedo tube outer doors and A.A. gun turrets were too complex, delicate ,and located OUTSIDE the pressure hull, and was therefore subject to saltwater leakage,corrosion and enemy weaponry and could not be repaired from inside the pressure hull.
4)Poor habitability and sanitation would have affected crew efficiency

DerAdlerIstGelandet · May 27, 2009

HerrKaleut said:
Sorry Kameraden but had the XX1s gone into full service they would have been an unmittigated disaster for the following reasons;
1) Poor hull integrity.The 8 major hull sections of the type xx1 were crudely made in 32 different factories with little or no experience of U-boat construction and did not fit very well. Therefore the pressure hull could not stand great depths or close depth charges. The hull failed in tests at much less than standard U-boat depths
2) Underpowered. The diesels could only produce 1200 h.p. instead of the projected 2000 h.p. giving a surface speed of 15.6 knots ,less than any ocean going boat and slightly slower than a corvette. The system was so poorly designed that the superchargers could not be used.
3) Impractical Hydraulic system. The main lines, accumulators,cylinders and pistons of the hydraulics of the main diving planes,rudders,torpedo tube outer doors and A.A. gun turrets were too complex, delicate ,and located OUTSIDE the pressure hull, and was therefore subject to saltwater leakage,corrosion and enemy weaponry and could not be repaired from inside the pressure hull.
4)Poor habitability and sanitation would have affected crew efficiency

I think for most part you just described the conditions on all WW2 Submarines in one way or another.

Fact still remains the Type XXI was still the most advanced design to be built in WW2, no matter what kind of service it saw.

HerrKaleut · May 28, 2009

Sory Adler must disagree. To an extent yes on section 4 (habitation) in that,in common with the types V11 and 1X, they did not meet the "minimum" standards of the USN or RN. To quote just one problem, interconnections of washing and drinking water made the sanitation "inadequate and unsafe".

Points 1,2 and 3 however say to me that this was a bad design , advanced in it's conception I'll grant you, but badly designed.

Just out of interest, when u-2540 was first recommissioned on Sept 1st 1960 (Kplt Hans Voss) she was given the name U-Wal (whale) She was later re-named Wilhelm Bauer to commemorate the first german submarine builder back in 1850

DerAdlerIstGelandet · May 28, 2009

HerrKaleut said:
Sory Adler must disagree. To an extent yes on section 4 (habitation) in that,in common with the types V11 and 1X, they did not meet the "minimum" standards of the USN or RN. To quote just one problem, interconnections of washing and drinking water made the sanitation "inadequate and unsafe".

Points 1,2 and 3 however say to me that this was a bad design , advanced in it's conception I'll grant you, but badly designed.

You take any submarine and rush the design process it is going to have the problems that you describe. Again, the fact remains that the Type XXI was the most advanced design of WW2. If the design process could have taken longer as it should have, I am sure the design would have been better.

CharlesBronson · May 31, 2009

Beautiful pictures Adler !

Interestingly the AAA guns turret were specifically designed for thip ship. Thay had a pair of 30 mm Krieghoff maschinenkanone MK 303, aimed trough a periscopic and gyroscopic reflex gunsight.

The muzzle velocity excedeed 1000 meters per second, effective ceiling 3000 meters, rate of fire 400 rpm and the case lenght of its cartrigdes 210mm.

Later the weapon/cartrigdes system was further developed in USSR, Czech republic, and still used in the Former Yogoslavia countries.

ccheese · May 31, 2009

That's quite a sub, Chris. I'd like to visit that one myself. Thanks for posting....

Charles

wheelsup_cavu · May 31, 2009

The only sub I have been on was the U-505 in Chicago when I was 11 or 12.
It seemed small to me then...

Thanks for the pictures since I won't be visiting the U-2540 any time soon.

Wheelsup

HerrKaleut · May 31, 2009

Adler, it might be of interest to the readers that as well as the type XX1, two smaller XX111s were also raised and all 3 were refited at HDW,Kiel.
In a break with the past, they were given names, so the first one (ex-u-2365) was called U-Hai(Shark) and was commissioned on 15th August 1957 (Kplt Walter Ehardt), the second (ex-2367) was named U-Hecht (Pike) and commissioned on October 1st of that year(Kplt Hans Hass).Both boats were given the new classification ...class 240.

U-Hecht was scrapped in or around 1968
On the 14th of September 1966, while on exercises in the North Sea, a welded seam gave way and U-Hai was lost with all but one of her crew. The wreck was later raised and scrapped.

I hope this is of interest.

vikingBerserker · May 31, 2009

The masted sailing ship in the back ground is actually the Seuta Deern, and is the largest wooden cargo sailing ship still in existence - currently a resteruant. I'd love to hit them both.

diddyriddick · Jun 1, 2009

Nice pics! Does look like an old Foxtrot, doesn't it.

DerAdlerIstGelandet · Jun 1, 2009

HerrKaleut said:
Adler, it might be of interest to the readers that as well as the type XX1, two smaller XX111s were also raised and all 3 were refited at HDW,Kiel.
In a break with the past, they were given names, so the first one (ex-u-2365) was called U-Hai(Shark) and was commissioned on 15th August 1957 (Kplt Walter Ehardt), the second (ex-2367) was named U-Hecht (Pike) and commissioned on October 1st of that year(Kplt Hans Hass).Both boats were given the new classification ...class 240.

U-Hecht was scrapped in or around 1968
On the 14th of September 1966, while on exercises in the North Sea, a welded seam gave way and U-Hai was lost with all but one of her crew. The wreck was later raised and scrapped.

I hope this is of interest.

Interesting, I was not aware of that either.

diddyriddick said:
Nice pics! Does look like an old Foxtrot, doesn't it.

The Foxtrot was directly influenced by the Type XXI, but was derived from the Soviet Zulu class which were heavily influenced by the Type XXI.

blau · Jun 22, 2022

DerAdlerIstGelandet said:
Last weekend while I was up at the North Sea, I made a stop in Bremerhaven, Germany to check out the Type XXI U-2540. It is now a museum ship, but unfortunately by the time I got up there, it was already closed.

Here is a bit of history on this U-Boat.

Type: Type XXI

Displacement: 1,621 tonnes standard
2,100 tonnes full load

Length: 76.7 m (251 ft 8 in)

Beam: 8 m (26 ft 3 in)

Draught: 5.3 m (17 ft 5 in)

Propulsion: Diesel/Electric
2× MAN M6V40/46KBB supercharged 6-cylinder diesel engines, 4,000 PS (2.9 MW)
2× SSW GU365/30 double acting electric motors, 5,000 PS (3.7 MW)
2× SSW GV232/28 silent running electric motors, 226 PS (0.166 MW)

Speed: Surfaced:
15.6 kn (28.9 km/h) (diesel)
17.9 kn (33.2 km/h) (electric)
Submerged:
17.2 kn (31.9 km/h) (electric)
6.1 kn (11.3 km/h) (silent running motors)

Range: Surfaced:
15,500 nmi (28,700 km) at 10 kn (19 km/h)
Submerged:
340 nmi (630 km) at 5 kn (9.3 km/h)

Complement: 57 officers and men

Armament: 6 × torpedo tubes
4 x 20 mm cannon

Construction of U-2540 began on 28 October 1944. She was launched on 13 January 1945 and commissioned on 24 February 1945 as part of U-Flotille 31 for training purposes. In April 1945 the boat went to the front after training at Rønne on Bornholm.

On 4 May 1945 she was scuttled near Flensburg, Germany.

In June of 1957, U-2540 was raised and rebuilt and overhauled. She was recommissioned as the Wilhelm Bauer into the new German Bundesmarine 1 Sept 1960. She was used as a research vessel until 28 August 1968.

In 1970 she again entered service a test bed to test equipment out for the new Type 206 U-Boats. After a collision with the Destroyer Z 3 on 6 May 1980, she was put out of service.

In 1984 she was turned into a Museum ship by the German Maritime Museum. It has been completely restored to its WW2 configuration.

Here are some pictures that I took.

View attachment 398708

View attachment 398709

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Hi, I know this post is from 2009., but I couldn't resist.
You know, if visiting this boat you would be in a very prominent group, with one US president doing it, actually two times.. Here is link 1946 Truman - Deutsches U-Boot-Museum
It could find a lot about it on Internet,...

Type XXI U-Boat U-2540

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