Dora II (Dora 2) is an unfinished

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

submarine base A submarine base is a military base that shelters submarines and their personnel. Examples of present-day submarine bases include HMNB Clyde, Île Longue (the base for France's Force océanique stratégique), Naval Submarine Base Kings Ba ...

and

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 ...

bunker A bunker is a defensive military fortification designed to protect people and valued materials from falling bombs, artillery, or other attacks. Bunkers are almost always underground, in contrast to blockhouses which are mostly above ground. T ...

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, an ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

, which is next to Dora I (Dora 1). Construction of the bunker (designated by the Germans as DORA II) was undertaken 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, but the complex was never finished unlike Dora I. Trondheim was traditionally referred to as ''Drontheim'' in German, and the name ''DORA'' is the letter "D" in the German phonetic alphabet.

History

Background

Following the occupation of Norway in 1940, it was soon realised that the country only had limited facilities for minor naval repairs. More extensive work usually meant a return to Germany. The capitulation of France two months later overshadowed the strategic importance of Norway to some extent, but it was still regarded as a better location for access to the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

and

Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceans. It spans an area of approximately and is known as the coldest of all the oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, ...

s than Germany. Nevertheless, better protection for U-boats from aerial attack was required so a bunker-building programme was instigated.Jak P Mallmann Showell ''Hitler's U-boat Bases'' (2002) Sutton Publishing p. 55 German U-boat bases in occupied Norway operated between 1940 and 1945, when the

Kriegsmarine The (, ) was the navy of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official branches, along with th ...

(German navy), converted several naval bases in Norway into submarine bases.

was an important U-boat base in Norway during the war. It was the home of the 13th flotilla and it had 55

U-boats U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare ro ...

assigned to the flotilla during its service.

Construction

The German civil and military engineering group,

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 ...

, started constructing the facility as a submarine base as they were finishing Dora I (completed in June 1943). Construction of Dora II began in 1942 but was never completed. The second bunker was a little more than half complete by the time the war ended. If finished it would have been long by wide, with four pens capable of holding six

. The completed walls are thick, and the roof is thick (only a quarter of the roof was completed).

After World War II

In 1947 and 1948 the port authority conducted cleanup and blasting on Dora II. Part of the walls on the uncompleted sides were blasted away. Dora II is used as a shipyard and as a warehouse and garage for boats and cars by companies such as Trondheim Verft AS and Skipsmaling AS.

Notes

External links

UBB Dora II

{{Uboat German Navy submarine bases Buildings and structures in Trondheim World War II sites of Nazi Germany Tourist attractions in Trondheim