Germany has shut down roads and entire towns in the middle of summer. Moving a giant submarine has been the biggest attraction of the year

Rarely an old German naval submarine becomes famous to the point of broadcast live on Youtube its last trip. This is the U17, which has been travelling for over a year to rest at its final destination, the Technical Museum in Sinsheim (in Baden-Württemberg, Germany).

But to get here the 50-meter-long ship is being transported by land not without much dedication – and expectation – causing roads to be closed due to its passage.

A colossus sailing between small houses

The U17 is making its final journey from the Technical Museum in Speyer to the Technical Museum of Automotive and Technology in Sinsheim. By car it is not a big deal, about 39 km and 40 minutes including traffic jams, but the huge submarine It is making the journey in four weeks due to its 48 meters in length.4.6 metres wide and weighing more than 350 tonnes.

It is a logistical challenge that involves large-scale heavy transport by road and across the Rhine and Neckar rivers, requiring major road closures and traffic restrictions, including stopping trains and dismantling traffic lights and signals, as the old fighter moves at 10 km/h.

According to museum officialsAs it is too large to fit several bridges over the Neckar River on its way to the museum, the submarine has to be tilted at 70 degrees and will navigate the river sideways. In this link From the museum you can see the entire journey it has made by land and sea thanks to an exhaustive photographic report.

“The entire transport is a delicate task. We manoeuvre the 90-metre-long and 10-metre-high heavy transport not only under deep bridges, but also through the narrowest streets of the picturesque Kraichgau. One of the most difficult moments is turning the ship several times on the pontoon. Until now, filming had only been done on land,” the museum explains.

The submarine, which was in service with the German Navy from 1973 to 2010, could carry up to 23 crew members and dive to 100 metres. It was fitted with a 1,100 kW (1,500 hp) Siemens electric traction motor, two 440 kW (600 hp) MTU diesel engines each to power the generators and reached a top speed of 10 knots (18.52 km/h) on the surface. Now it is time to rest and receive visitors.

Photo | Technical Museum Sinsheim Speyer