The Announcement Board

Seehund recovery off Holland

Posted on: 14 Mar 2002 at 10:50.

Today Dutch papers reported that in the next few weeks efforts will be made to salvage a German Seehund midget submarine lying about 60 meters off the coast near the North Sea village of Egmond Aan Zee (about 30km north-west of Amsterdam).

The submarine, Seehund U-5097, ran ashore during WWII on 18 Feb 1945 after being chased by British warships and was left by the crew (Captain Hans Wachsmuth and technician Erhard Feine). Hans Wachsmuth is still alive today, but Feine passed away long long ago. Local authorities expect the 2 torpedoes are still attached to the boat and are in critical condition now. That's why navy experts will try to defuse and remove these torpedoes first.

After that the possibility to pull the boat ashore and turn her into a permanent exhibition will be reconsidered.

The position of the midget submarine has been known since at least 1996. Apparently you could walk round the wreck at extremely low tides.

The plan is to create a circle steel dam (1800m in diameter) around the submarine, so they can access the torpedoes. The work will take some weeks and has started this Thursday.

The state of the submarine is unknown.




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