in the Final Phase of World War II the German Navy commissioned a revolutionary new type of Submarine design a design so Innovative that it was used as inspiration and adaptation in navies worldwide in the decades following World War II despite this significant part in history of Submarine designs only one example remains today and it’s located in bahav Germany welcome to a walkthrough of the wilham power before we enter the submarine I would like to further outline why this submarine is important the wilham bower was originally a German World War II Type 21

submarine only a few boats of this type made it into active service and they did so extremely late in the war so what sets this design apart from the existing designs previous types of German World War II submarine designs were upgraded World War I designs by H tiesel the type 21 was a significant departure from this previously the submarines would primarily Sail on the surface and only die for shorter periods of time of 12 to 24 hours there were severe limitations in submerged speed and duration not to mention that they needed to surface to ventilate and replenish Air at type seven could only

sail at a maximum of 7 to8 knots submerged and for a duration of about 1 hour at this speed the range was limited to about 40 Mi now if the speed was reduced to 3 to four knots the range was extended to 80 Mi but it would then take 12 hours in comparison it could reach a speed of 17 knots on the surface but then it was no longer hidden from the watchful eyes of ships and PLS as the war progressed this vulnerability became a genuine problem the type 21 was designed from the ground up to spent most of its time submerged the features of the design

which enabled this served as a blueprint from many navies around the world after World War II and mark the departure from submersibles and the dawn of real submarines the whole of the type 21 was a far sleer design compared to the old more ship-like designs externally the dive planes were retractable and only extended when they were required however one of the most significant changes to the outside appearance was of the sale gone were the many producs and platforms common to submarines of the period in its place

was instead a lowprofile sale set over midships all the usual protrusions like periscopes snuggle antenna Etc were contained inside the top of the cell only extended when needed you will also notice that a deck gun is nowhere to be found missions were planned to be carried out using lengthy underwater transits the submarine would use its snle to recharge the batteries instead of surfacing surface transits were only expected to be used when in Shallow Waters found near friendly Naval bases or Rivers if you have not seen my video of the German type 7 yet I would recommend

you to do so so you can appreciate just how different the two designs are I will leave a link in the description a disclaimer before we enter the submarine the wilham power is a refitted type 21 originally named the u240 the U 2540 was scuttled in 1945 and then raised in 1957 and recommissioned into the federal German Navy as the wilham power here it served as a test bet for new Innovative Technologies several substantial changes were made to it and thus it is not in its fully restored World War II configuration during the video I will

make call outs stating if what you’re seeing is newer or it is in its original World War II config configuration now let’s see what the submarine looks like from the inside these are the four torpedo tubes of the wilham power and the top two are the original design of the type 21 the type 21 could carry 23 Torpedoes the standard torpedo used by the German ceks Marine during World War II was the g7a steam torpedo the submarine could also be loaded with the g7e electric Torpedoes however unique for the type 21 and type 23 submarines were that they could carry

the G 7 eses acoustic homing torpedo the Homing torpedo was very different as it could be fired when the submarine was submerged without the need to use a periscope to gather data on the target the ghd passive sensors and the additional active sensor called the nalong enabled the submarine to calculate a firing solution and launch a torpedo while fully submerged the depth where this was possible is estimated to be be as deep as 50 m originally the type 21 had a semi-automatic hydraulic torpedo reloading system to Aid the crew in reloading Torpedoes very

quickly this system was designed to provide a Reload time of just 20 minutes for all six tubes this was considerably shorter time than previous versions which required much more manual handling of torpedoes this Innovation came at the expense of living accommodations in this room which was moved further AF in the submarine during the US’s research of the tp21 after the war the Innovative reloading system was noted for further investigation for us adaptation a similar system was adopted by the Soviet navies which can be seen in my video of the Tango

class however you will not be able to see it here because the the German Navy redesigned this compartment in the 1970s removing this system and also removed the two bottom torpedo tubes unfortunately it’s impossible to rebuild the bow compartment to bring it back to its original World War II configuration because only three to four pictures remain today of how the layout and the design of the Torpedoes were in the bow the detailed blueprints required to rebuild have been lost here you can see the the hatch used

to load the Torpedoes into the forward compartment when docked a slide setup was put in place on the submarine’s deck and inside the submarine to enable the crew to move the Torpedoes under the torpedo loading hatch you can see the ship spell the voice of the ship this area is the place where most of the changes were made during the refit after the submarine was raised in 1957 here are the chambers for the technical officer of the boat the technical officer of the boat oversaw all technical aspects from ref fueling

the boat in Harbor to the trim and fillings in the fuel bunkers and tanks he was the leader of the technical division on board counting around 25 people that’s almost half the entire crew needless to say he played a key rooll this is the officer’s mess still in its World War II condition the submarine was equipped with a toilet and washroom this had three wash basins a foot bath and a shower unfortunately this is not on display or in its original state however if you have watched my video of the u995 type 7 you will appreciate just how big and up

great this was here you can see the officers quarters the officers quarters are still largely in condition as it was in World War II after the submarine was raised in 1957 the interior was refurbished here we see the radio room this is where all the communications to and from the submarine were done this is also where you would have found the Enigma machine used to encode and decode messages this entire room was used for location and sensing research remember the wilham bower served as a test bed for new Innovative Technologies below you can Glimpse the

significant amount of space used for the two levels of batteries the batteries were stored throughout compartment a to compartment B where we stand now the batteries take up 2/3 of the height of the submarine here here is the commanding officer’s chamber nearly original as it was in 1945 this is the control room and it’s the beating heart of any submarine this room has remained almost unchanged so it is presented in its original configuration the depth control router control pump valves trim controls and

other technical equipment are original this is the rter station where the cuse of the submarine was controlled above the rocker steering lever you can see the engine telegraphs Revolution gauges compass and the rudder indicator this is is the hydroplane station where the left was used for the forward hydroplanes and the right was used for the AFT hydroplanes here you can also see the gauges showing information about the depth and angle of dive here the petty officer would manage the submarine’s buoyancy by controlling the pressure tanks and bunker he could

for example increase buoyancy by removing water from the tanks with the use of compressed air it’s also from here the ballast tanks could be blown to surface the boat all green and red valves are air valves the technical officer would be in charge of operations here this is the cunning Tower where you can command the submarine for attacks and surface transits the museum is planning to restore the remains of the C8 Periscope originally the torpedo calculator or TDC was placed in the caring Tower unfortunately it is not

known exactly where this was installed as the detailed plans of the t21 has been lost and very few pictures are available of the Interiors this is the bridge of the submarine and it was rebuilt during 2020 to 2021 to restore how it appeared in World War II it was used for office of the watch and Lookouts during surface transits in the bridge the AA guns are also installed the flag turrets were built as 2 cm m44 U flag turrets based on the land version called flag c38 three crew members were working in

each turret one Gunner and two crewmen responsible for reloading ammunitions the turrets were operated by Hydraulics from the boat’s hydraulic system if the Hydraulics failed the turrets could be operated by hand aim was done using crosshairs or Oculus in total 11 men occupied the bridge during surface Transit which resulted in a much longer dive time compared to for example the type 7 but this was accepted for several reasons firstly the submarine was only expected to perform surface travel when near home bases secondly the bridge offered a much

higher agree of protection for the cruise this is the pressurized oil system with two oil pumps one hand operated oil pump and two pressure oil accumulators this system does not only Power the Hydraulics for the hydroplanes and the rudder but it is also powering the Hydraulics required for the equipment on the bridge like periscopes and snorkel this is the pipe for the snorkel which was used to supply the diesel engines with air while sailing submerged as mentioned in the introduction this was a crucial part of the design enabling the submarine to recharge its

batteries using diesel engines while staying hidden from patrolling aircraft and ships this is the chart table where they would plan and plot the calls [Music] this is the submarine scaly which was used to cook food for up to 57 crew members unlike previous types of German submarines this had cold storage for food in the form of refrigerators and freezers The Galley is still in condition as it was by the end of World War II [Music] the pump room under the control room was staffed at Sea with two Petty officers

they were responsible for the compressed air tanks and pumps in this room the dry scope can also be found the space was also used to store provisions and ammunition it’s a room that you will actually not find in the type [Music] seven the crew accommodations on board at type 21 submarine were hugely different compared to the type 7 the submarine offered a significant increase in comfort for the crew the lower ranks or the youngest no longer need needed to sleep and live in the bow compartment among Torpedoes and food [Music]

cans in the bow torpedo compartment there was an area where Bridge crews could dry their clothes when the duty was complete as the submarine was designed to cater for both Arctic and subtropical conditions it was possible to keep the conditions dry and warm throughout the entire submarine [Music] this is the AF living and sleeping area for the regular crew and it is still in its original World War II condition a total number of birth was 42 including one hammock in the petty officer’s best room the submarine’s total compliment was 57 men and only 10 had to share or hot bunk

most of them were the youngest crew members on board the submarine this area served both as mess and quarters and is not thus not separated as it was for the officers in this compartment we find the diesel engines as part of the refet when the submarine was raised the original man diesel engines were replaced with two MB 820 mayback dler bz diesel engines these can produce 600 horsepower at400 RPM both are connected to a 450 KW BBC generator incidentally these are the same type of diesel engines as found on the German type 207 which I also have a

video on originally the diesel engines were connected to the propeller shafts along with the electric motors and creeping Motors using a clutch system in this more modern setup you see here only the electric motors are connected to the propeller shots and the diesel engine sole purpose is to generate electricity via generators on the side towards the stern compartment you can see the air purification system which remove carbon Dio dioxide from the air this enabled the submarine to stay submerged without having to

vent this was an upgrade compared to the previous designs which could not remove carbon dioxide from the air this left these older designs with only one option to reduce levels of carbon dioxide they had to surface this is clearly depicted in the highly acclaimed movie D Bo this is the electrical compartment which stands unchanged since the war ended you can see the switchboards and all the electrical installations as they were for the type 21 submarine these are the main switchboards and control panels for the electric motors these were used to

control the revolutions resistance and the direction adhering to Maritime colors the starboard color is green and the port color is red these are the diesel engines monitor panels these are the diesel engine controls and here you can see the exhaust gas temperature gauges and the engine Telegraph these are the Silent Running or creeper electric motors they were designed to be used when the submarine was at slow speed and they achieved this very very quietly when the Silent Running Motors were used at 6 knots the submarine was virtually silent earlier submarines

needed to run their electric motors at near full power to achieve the same speed but this would result in a significant noise level this noise level served as a good Target for the enemy to find and attack the submarine using listening devices after the war the US Navy performed tests on the noise generated by the type 21 the test showed that even at a range of only 220 M they could not locate type 21 running silently here you can see one of the electric motors the port side electric motor was removed to allow for an exit for Museum

guests the submarine was fitted with two seen sht gu 36530 Main Electric Motors all also called haa engine the electric motors were designed to generate a top speed of 15.6 knots on the surface and 17.2 Knots while submerged the type 21 submarine was the first German submarine in production designed for higher submerged speed compared to surface speed after the submarine was salvaged in 1957 both electric motors were restored rebuilt by seens in Berlin and put back on the wilham power the original range of the electric motors and batteries allowed for 110 m a

10 knots or 365 miles at 5 knots this is the rer compartment and it’s still in a decent shape close to how it was in 1945 the only change was the addition of a special operations Force hatch which was added by the German Navy in the 1970s Special Operations force is the German version of the US Navy Seals the purpose was to test using it as a dive lock chamber there’s also a decoy deployment device which was a new feature added to the type 21