The submarine base of Saint-Nazaire is one of five large fortified

U-boat pens A submarine pen (''U-Boot-Bunker'' in German) is a type of submarine base that acts as a bunker to protect submarines from air attack. The term is generally applied to submarine bases constructed during World War II, particularly in Germany and ...

built by

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

occupied ' (Norwegian: ') is a Norwegian political thriller TV series that premiered on TV2 on 5 October 2015. Based on an original idea by Jo Nesbø, the series is co-created with Karianne Lund and Erik Skjoldbjærg. Season 2 premiered on 10 October ...

Saint-Nazaire, France.

Construction

Before the

, Saint-Nazaire was one of the largest harbours of the Atlantic coast of France. During the Battle of France, the German Army arrived in Saint-Nazaire, in June 1940. The harbour was immediately used for submarine operations, with the arriving as soon as 29 September 1940. In December, a mission of the

Organisation Todt Organisation Todt (OT; ) was a civil and military engineering organisation in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, named for its founder, Fritz Todt, an engineer and senior Nazi. The organisation was responsible for a huge range of engineering pr ...

(Oberbauleitung Süd) inspected the harbour to study the possibilities to build a

submarine pen A submarine pen (''U-Boot-Bunker'' in German) is a type of submarine base that acts as a bunker to protect submarines from air attack. The term is generally applied to submarine bases constructed during World War II, particularly in Germany and ...

invulnerable to air bombing from England. Work soon began under the supervision of engineer Probst. The selected space was that of the docks and buildings of the

Compagnie Générale Transatlantique The Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (CGT, and commonly named "Transat"), typically known overseas as the French Line, was a French shipping company. Established in 1855 by the brothers Émile and Issac Péreire under the name ''Compagnie ...

, which were razed. Building began in February 1941, with pens 6, 7, and 8 completed in June 1941. On 30 June 1941,

Vizeadmiral (abbreviated VAdm) is a senior naval flag officer rank in several German (language), German-speaking countries, equivalent to Vice admiral. Austria-Hungary In the Austro-Hungarian Navy there were the flag-officer ranks ''Kontreadmiral'' (al ...

Karl Dönitz formally opened the U-boat pen, with being the first boat to occupy one of the pens. From July 1941 to January 1942, pens 9 through 14 were built; and between February to June 1942, pens 1 through 5. Work was eventually completed by the building of a tower. Between late 1943 and early 1944, a fortified

lock Lock(s) may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainment * ''Lock ...

was built to protect submarines during their transfer from the

Loire The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône ...

river and the pens. The lock is long, wide, and high; the roof features anti-aircraft armament.

History

The adjacent

dry-dock A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...

in Saint-Nazaire dock was the target of

Operation Chariot The St Nazaire Raid or Operation Chariot was a British amphibious attack on the heavily defended Normandie dry dock at St Nazaire in German-occupied France during the Second World War. The operation was undertaken by the Royal Navy (RN) a ...

, a British commando raid in 1942, the U-boat pens were a secondary target of the raid. The attack successfully disabled the dry-dock by ramming an explosive-filled destroyer into it, and by demolition teams wrecking the pumps and electrical system. File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-719-0208-13A, Frankreich, Rommel auf Dach eines U-Boot-Bunkers.jpg, Rommel inspecting the base, 18 February 1944 File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101II-MW-6434-20, St. Nazaire, U-Boot einlaufend.jpg, at Saint-Nazaire

Design

The base is long, wide and high, amounting to a surface on the ground, and a volume of concrete of . The roof is deep, featuring four layers: the first one is a sheet of reinforced concrete; the second is a

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

and

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wid ...

layers; the third is a layer of reinforced concrete, and the fourth, is a "Fangrost" layer of steel beams, deep. The roof is dotted with anti-aircraft weaponry, machine guns and mortars. File:Saint Nazaire submarine base img 2390.jpg File:Saint Nazaire submarine base img 2388.jpg File:Saint Nazaire submarine base mg 7839.jpg The base offers 14 submarine pens. Pens 1 through 8 are dry docks, long and wide; pens 9 through 14 are simple docks, long and wide, each holding two submarines. Between pens 5 and 6, and 12 and 13, are two areas giving access to the upper levels of the base. The base was equipped with 62 workshops, 97 magazines, 150 offices, 92 dormitories for submarine crews, 20 pumps, 4 kitchens, 2 bakeries, two electrical plants, one restaurant and a hospital.

Defence

On the roof is one completed and one uncompleted

M19 Maschinengranatwerfer The M-19 Maschinengranatwerfer is a German 50 mm mortar which was used during World War II. The mortar was developed in 1934 for the purpose of defending permanent military bases. It had a maximum rate of fire of 120 rounds per minute and a r ...

automatic mortar bunker.

The ''Ville-Port''

The zone of the base was abandoned for a long time. In 1994, the municipality of Saint-Nazaire decided to re-urbanise the base, in a project name ''Ville-Port'' (lit: "city-harbour"). The base now features several museums, including a mockup of a transatlantic liner called the Escal'Atlantic, and the French submarine ''Espadon''. File:Base ssmarin stnazaire.jpg, Present day view of the submarine base of Saint-Nazaire File:Base sous-marine de Saint-Nazaire 16.JPG, Roof of the base and radome File:Espadon mg 7836.jpg, The ''Espadon'' as a museum ship

References

*Lars Hellwinkel: Hitler's Gate to the Atlantic - The German naval bases in France 1940–1945. Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin 2012, . *Janusz Piekałkiewicz: Sea War: 1939–1945. Blandford Press, London – New York 1987, . *Clay Blair: Hitler's U-boat War: The Hunters, 1939–1942.

External links

Saint-Nazaire tourism

{{Uboat Saint-Nazaire Buildings and structures in Loire-Atlantique Museums in Loire-Atlantique Maritime museums in France German Navy submarine bases