Hitler's last U-boot, U 2540

Описание: Howdy everyone!
today we're going for a walk thru of U2540. This sub is one of the last to enter active service in WWII and is a type XXI (21).
her keel was laid in october 1944 and commissioned the 24th of february 1945 as part of the 31st submarine fleet.
sea trials began in april of 1945 but had to be halted due to fuel shortages. she was ordered to returned to Kiel when
she came under attack by an allied air raid in which 8 members of her crew were killed on the docks but the sub came out of the attack unscathed.
U2540 was scuttled near Flensburg on may4th and remained there until 1957 when she was salvaged and refitted for service and christened 'Wilhelm Bauer' in honor of the inventor of german submarine technology.

the sub served as an experimental, developmental and research platform for the Bundesmarine. many weapons and submarine tech advancements were copied by NATO allies including the hull design.
she was originally configured with 6 forward torpedo tubes, however the two bottom ones were removed later to accommodate other equipment.
serving as experimental research vessel, she was briefly decommissioned in 1968 but then returned to active service in 1970.
an underwater collision with 'Zerstörer 3' (formerly the USS Wadsworth on loan to the Bundesmarine) in 1980 sealed her fate for good and she was finally decommissioned in 1982.

music:
'Ascension' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au

'The Distant Sun' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au

#uboot