Date Added: 16 October 2017
German submarine U 552 was a Type VIIC U-boat built for Germany's Kriegsmarine for service during World War II. The boat was nicknamed "Roter Teufel" (Red Devil) after its mascot of a grinning devil which was painted on the conning tower. She was one of the most successful submarines, operating for over three years of continual service and sinking or damaging 30 Allied ships. U 552 has had an unusually long service life, surviving to the end of World War II until 2 May 1945, when her crew scuttled her in Helgoland Bight, to prevent her falling into enemy hands. The reason for Matthias Schultz (who normally prefers to make sailing ships up to the time of World War I) to build this vessel was the question of his father whether he could create something from this period. It was a really simple thing to construct this submarine, only the conning tower has to be separated from the hulk and the antennas had to be added. To have a view onto the screws the boat is placed on an extra stand in the bottle which is placed on two real exercise patrons for the machine gun G 3 from the German Federal Armed Forces because of their similarity to torpedos.
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