Qype: U-434 in Hamburg

Hamburg - Arts & Entertainment - Museums

My long ambition to get onto more submarines is finally coming to fruition. I've seen 2 in a month! My fascination with these relics of the cold war stems mainly from enjoying "The Hunt for Red October" so much.

U-434 is a Soviet vessel dating from 1976. She is a Tango-class (NATO designation) attack boat, armed with 24 torpedoes. Powered by 3x 5200 shp 6 cylinder diesels, she was, I believe, the largest non-nuclear submarine in service at the time.

A German businessman thought it would be a good idea to buy her for around €1M in 2002, and she was transported back from Russia for a further €1M and now lies in Hafen City. Admission is around €12 with an extra €3 for the guided tour, which ou can have in English. I highly recommend the extra tour as you get to see areas of the boat (command room etc.) that you wouldn't be able to otherwise. Sadly, as she was still in active service as a training boat until 5 years ago, the Ruskies removed quite a bit of equipment from her before she was sold. Therefore, you won't be plotting a firing solution as the torpedo computer has gone, along with sonar and communications. For the most part though this is as authentic as it gets.

One ping only.

Check out my review of U-434 - I am filchambers - on Qype