A decommissioned submarine in a port on the German island Rügen offers unique tourism attraction. Visitors can get on board and experience the life of submarine sailors in the second half of the 20th century.
To get into a submarine is definitely an interesting experience for a landsman. Nevertheless, it is not as unique as it used to be. There are more and more decommissioned submarines and some of them serve as floating museums. In the port of Sassnitz on the Rügen Island there is HMS Otus, a British submarine, open for tourists.
The sub looks a bit lonely and visitors who come there to go on a boat trip to see the cliffs notice the HMS Otus only at the last moment. The ninety meters big submarine was built in 1962 and at that time it was the state of art product from the point of view of the UK, USA and French experts. It started to serve in 1963 and was still operational in 1981.
After nine more years it was decommissioned from the Royal Navy and since 2002 it serves as a museum ship. As server Noninky.cz informs, after the unification of Germany it was dragged to Sassnitz. The submarine could submerge to 300 meters. There were six torpedoes prepared to be launched from the fore of the sub and two from the stern. The HMS carried 21 torpedoes or 50 mines. It could travel for 10,000 kilometers and the maximum speed was over 75 kilometers per hour.
The submarine is adjusted for tourists so they do not have to enter as the sailors did but can instead walk in through a new entrance; the exit is at another torpedo tube. In the speakers visitors listen to the sounds that the sailors could hear while under water – explosions of mines and other specific sounds.