Massive WW2 German U-Boat base K3 at Lorient – and this is only part of it! #dday80 #brittany #ww2

WW2 GERMAN U-BOAT BASE UP CLOSE

Despite the nasty weather we enjoyed a day filming for our YouTube channel at the Lorient U-Boat base again last week – and it never fails to leave an impression.

The largest of the five U-Boat sites built in western France by German forces during WW2, Lorient in Brittany maintains a huge footprint on the Keroman peninsula with three main bunker sites – Keroman I, II, and III – plus dry docks, and two cathedral-like ‘Dombunkers’ for protecting and servicing U-Boats out of the water.

A fourth bunker, Keroman IVa was planned and building work was started – there’s a wall which can be seen connecting to K3 – but it was never finished while Keroman IVb never made it past the planning stage.

K1 and K2 are the largest of the buildings measuring 403m long and 143m wide, each with 3.5m thick roofs. K1 was built between March and September 1941 and features five cells for five U-Boats while K2, finished in December 1941 could store seven submarines.

K3 – which was finished in July 1943 – was a more efficient build as although smaller at 168m by 142m it was able to protect 13 boats. The roof on this building is a much more substantial 7.5m thick.

The two Dombunker – for storing U-Boats out of the water – are both 81m long and 16m wide with 1.5m thick roofs. They were the first builds to be completed at the site in May 1941 and took advantage of existing port dry dock facilities used by French fishing boats.
Lorient now houses several museums which are easily accessible and tell the story of these impressive structures and their place in history. The view from the anti-aircraft positions on top of the building is incredible as is the view from the pontoons in front of the cells which gives you a sense of the scale of construction.

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