U534 at BIRKENHEAD

We made the trip over to the North West for our friends wedding in Birkenhead so it was only right that the following day I made a visit to see the mighty U 534. German submarine U-534 was a Type IXC/40 U-boat of the German Kriegsmarine built for service during World War II. She was built in 1942 in Hamburg-Finkenwerder by Deutsche Werft AG as 'werk' 352. She was launched on 23 September 1942 and commissioned on 23 December with Oberleutnant Herbert Nollau in command.On 5 May 1945, for unknown reasons, the captain of U-534 ignored the surrender order and set course for Norway instead. To this day, mystery still surrounds U-534's refusal to surrender, although numerous theories exist. What seems to be established fact is that U-534 was sailing on the surface of the Kattegat, together with three other U-boats, when British Liberator aircraft attacked. The crew managed to shoot one bomber down, and nine depth charges from the bombing runs missed, but then the boat received a direct hit. U-534 began to take on water as a result of the damage to her aft section by the engine rooms, and sank north-east of Anholt. The shot-down B-24 must have come down nearby, all crew on board the plane were lost.U-534 under attack by a RAF Liberator, from 86 Squadron. U-534 had a crew of 52 men, all of whom escaped and 49 survived. Five were trapped in the torpedo room as she began to sink but escaped through the torpedo loading hatch once the boat had settled on the sea bed. One of these crewmen, 17-year old radio operator Josef Neudorfer, failed to breathe out as he was surfacing from depth and died from damage to his lungs. The other two deaths were caused by exposure.U-534 lay on the sea bed for nearly 41 years until she was found in 1986 by the Danish wreckhunter Aage Jensen, nicknamed "Dynamite-Aage". Shortly after, Lars Sunn Pedersen presented the raising idea to Danish media millionaire Karsten Ree who decided to sponsore the raising of the submarine amid rumours of Nazi gold. Hopes of gold treasure proved unfounded, as the ship contained nothing extraordinary. She arrived in Birkenhead in 1996 and is currently a static display/living history museum in three stections due to her massive size. All images on this website are copyright protected Michael Hill (parksie@ntlworld.com) Under the Berne Convention Act of 1988, all images within this gallery are copyright protected Michael Hill. Not for commercial use without prior permission. parksie@ntlworld.com