Submarine Wilhelm Bauer

The submarine Wilhelm Bauer, originally designated U-2540, is a Type XXI U-boat completed just before the end of World War II, on February 24, 1945, and was sunk on May 4 without having carried out any patrol. It is the only floating example of the Type XXI U-boat.

In 1957, after spending more than 10 years on the seabed of the Baltic Sea, near Flensburg, it was refloated and subsequently refurbished at Howaldtswerke, Kiel, because commitments made by Germany to NATO required small submarines to patrol the coasts. These submarines were to be heavily armed, difficult to detect, and have a high survivability. Many new entire subsystems had to be developed and tested on the ships, a colossal task for the Cold War era.

Thus, it became known that a platform was needed to test these systems to reach a good solution, especially to save costs. Hence, the U-2540 was refloated along with two other Type XXIII submarines and they were commissioned as research vessels with different configurations in the Bundesmarine, the German navy. It was at that time it was named Wilhelm Bauer, after the designer of the first U-boat Brandtaucher built by August Howaldt in 1850 in Kiel.

New systems such as engines, snorkels, compressors, mines, anchors, rescue devices, torpedoes, acoustic detection devices, decoys, and much more were tested aboard the old U-2540, leading to the new types of submarines 205, 206, and 209 that were subsequently put into operation. The tests and research aboard the Wilhelm Bauer significantly reduced development and troubleshooting time.

In 1970, the "Wilhelm Bauer" became a civil vessel as a test bed and also participated in exercises as a target. Ultimately, fatigue of the hull and damage from several collisions made it somewhat unsafe, and it was decided to end its career in 1982.

The "Wilhelm Bauer" was very popular among the crews. A group of enthusiasts saved the vessel from scrapping, and the non-profit organization Technikmuseum Wilhelm Bauer was founded to preserve it.

In 1983, it was restored to its original World War II configuration and became a museum ship as part of the German Maritime Museum in Bremerhaven, Germany.

coro Zambrano