SAINT NAZAIRE U-BOAT BASE FROM ABOVE
Just look at the size of this U-Boat base - it’s massive!
Saint Nazaire is arguably the best preserved of all five of the German U-Boat sites in western France sites, possibly due to it not being an integral part of the French Navy’s plans and so was left to stand unused for many years.
It features 14 cells for 20 submarines, the eight cells on the right hand side for one boat each and the six wider cells on the left capable of protecting two boats at a time.
Today the site is in public use and so visiting is easy and you can access the large cells within the bunker.
Saint Nazaire was one of the most important ports for the Kriegsmarine and provided one of the largest dry docks for the repair of German ships. On March 28, 1942, aware that it could become the stopping point of Germany’s largest battleships including Bismarck and Tirpitz, the British sent 600 commandos to attack Saint Nazaire as part of Operation Chariot.
The aim was to destroy the lock gates which would protect the battleships and allow them to be repaired, forcing them to return to other bases in Germany where they would have to run the gauntlet of the English Channel or North Sea.
Whilst the commandos fought the German garrison at Saint Nazaire, HMS Campbeltown - a US destroyer transferred to the Royal Navy - rammed the lock gates. Packed with explosives on a timer delay, the ship exploded the following day causing the lock gates to become inoperable. In fact, it wouldn’t be until 1948 when the dry dock was operational again.
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