Visiting the German Navy Museum...

A awesome week of holiday is coming to its end. It had special moments with my family and extraordinary day trips with wonderful Mrs Monty and our two girls. But one of the highlights was without any doubt our trip to the German Navy Museum in Wilhelmshaven which we took yesterday. Its most exciting exhibit is the destroyer Mölders (D 186) that has an interesting circular route which is leading the visitors to more or less all different parts of the ship.

Of course this was our venue:

Bridge, superstructure and bow gun turret. A gentle 127mm artillery piece inside.

Launch installation for anti-aircraft missiles as well as anti-ship missiles (Harpoon).

The combat information center.

The radio room.

Besides the Mölders there are two other ships which can be visited inside and outside. One is the minehunter Weilheim from which I didn't take photos because it was raining temporarily and later I forgot to. The other one is type 205 submarine U 10 which was on duty from 1967 until 1993:

U 10

Besides those there are a couple of other ships which cannot be entered and a lot of other items belonging to German Navy warships. Most of the from more or less modern ships from after WW2:

Twin mounted 40mm L/70 Breda 1958/II AA gun used on different frigate, destroyer and replenishment ship classes

RBU-6000 depth*charge launcher used by the Sowjet Navy and GDR Volksmarine

100mm L/50 gun turret used on Köln class frigates and Hamburg class destroyers

Type 131.423 small torpedo-speedboat on duty from 1976 until 1989

Besides those exhibits there's memorial for the soldiers of the 2nd 'Matrosendivision' (Seamen's Division) on the area of the Navy Museum. It was built even before WW1 on another place but was transferred to this new site in 1960. It bears the names of seamen who lost their lives on duty on several ocasions between 1878 and 1911:

Inside the museum's building there's a permanent exhibition covering the history of the German Navy from the 1600s until WW2. Unfortunately space is very limited there and the history of Germany's navy isn't by far as excessive as that of other Nation it's a rather small collection. The exhibits are nice never the less but not too numerous:

Großadmiral Alfred von Tirpitz - Father of Imperial Germany's armament

Uniform of a general-adjutant to Kaiser Wilhelm II.

Very nice are the model ships that are exhibited everywhere. They are all 1:100 scale which is around 15mm wargaming scale. On the one hand that gives an excellent size comparison and on the other hand it made me think of 15mm land sea scenarios with those models...

Heavy cruiser Scharnhorst, 1907 - 1914

Battleship Bismarck, 1940 - 1941

Really large models there...

U 139 'Kapitänleutnant Schwieger', 1918

Currently there's a special exhibition about SMS Emden which is well known for its heroic landing party which was lost on the Cocos Islands while the ship itself was sunk in a naval battle by HMAS Sydney on 9th November 1914. However those men made there way back home with simplest means and against all odds.

1:100 scale model

Replica of SMS Emden's bell. The original is in the Australian War Museum in Canbarra.

This was only a small selection of the interesting things the museum has to offer. To my mind 11.50€ is a rather fair admission fee. For navy enthusiasts it's a place to visit without any doubt but even more peaceful minds will find something worth visiting. This time wonderful Mrs Monty wished to go there and give good old Mölders a closer look.

Anyway tomorrow I'll head home with a couple of bees in the bonnet. After this day in Wilhelmshaven the idea of 1/1200 naval battles is floating around my head. Maybe this becomes the next side side side project...