Work began this week on cutting up the German submarine U-534 which will become a major tourist attraction at Woodside Ferry Terminal.
Engineers using a special diamond wire cutter will slice the sub into four sections, each of which will be moved by floating crane from its present location at Mortar Mill Quay to Woodside.

Each section of the sub, which weigh up to 240 tons, will take a day to move and the overall operation will take about a month.

The first section to be removed will be a 23metre length of the bow.

The cutting has been designed with such precision that the submarine could be re-assembled in one piece if required.

Preliminary work has also started on the exhibition area at Woodside, which will include artefacts from the sub and other memorabilia portraying the history of undersea warfare. It is due to open this summer.
For the past month work has been concentrated on painting the exterior of the sub and removing rotten timbers and steelwork from the upper deck.
The interior has also been cleaned and a number of artefacts, including ships tools, have been discovered.

There were also 15,000 litres of diesel fuel still remaining in storage tanks that had to be pumped out.

Neil Scales, chief executive and director general of Merseytravel, which owns and operates Mersey Ferries, said: "We're now moving on to the next stage in what is an exciting project to boost tourism.

The first cut!
[newsimg.bbc.co.uk]