THE 'SEEHUND' RECOVERY

Towards the end of World War II, a German two-man submarine of the Seehund Seal Class with two live torpedoes grounded on the Dutch coast near Egmond aan Zee. The sea and the sand did their work and it dissapeared from sight, subsequently to be completely forgotten until a classic North Sea winter storm partly exposed the hull. The Dutch Navy ordered recovery of the sub so the torpedos could be safely disarmed.
April 2002, complying with strict regulations, SVITZER Salvage and partner Woud Wormer sank a cofferdam around the still partly sunken sub. Carefully sand was removed and even more careful handling exposed the torpedoes which were disarmed by specialists.
Despite the submarine had broken, it is hoped nonetheless that it will find a place in a local museum to serve as a reminder of past time.

[@1980RPMC]

This mini sub now rests at it’s final place in a museum. Bunkermuseum in IJmuiden. They rescued the mini sub from the because it was going to scraped etc. They even had contact with the former captain and have quite a lot of info about this mini sub.

[@roberthendry6492]

I lived in Holland in 1996/7 and how these people could do with water,what they needed to accomplish/to complete whatever they needed, never ceased to astound me....and they live below sea level, thanks to their own ingenuity!👍

[@h2energynow]

Nice video and explanation on why it was done this way. Glad everyone was safe.

[@von-Adler]

The Seehund was a 2 man mini submarine. The crew sat behind each other in canvas chairs. It carried two torpedoes externally

[@michaelcuff5780]

Man! Those torpedos still had alot of kick left in them! Good thing they had pros handle them.

[@Dirtbug473]

Ive learned much from my bro-in-law a retired EOD Specialist...who has trained with all EOD people of other countries years ago involved with NATO. These guys in this clip are "guttsy" . Im told they train, train, train and learn...to avoid getting hurt. Hats off to such a gifted bunch who help protect us all.!!!

[@kismeaholyoufoks3390]

if you see the welding at 4.50 you know why it collapsed

[@m.g.540]

Nerves of steel working so close to those torpedoes , you would find me one mile down from those things!

[@MrDriftspirit]

yeah, must be made for jobs like these. but the human psyche has normally a protective "device". the more time you spend at a danergerous situation(explosives, fire, speed, on a roof or at clibing, parachuting ...) the more you loose the fear in it. only respect and carefulnes remains (if the people were clever and not addicted in adrenalin)...but a little tiny risk still remains, as seen in göttingen in 2013 as 3 very experienced war material removers were killed while prepreparings for a dismantling of a 500kg bomb with an acidic detonator..

[@Shadowofthesoldier]

17:00 That's a masive plume of water! I lived in Saint-Nazaire, and we regularily got EOD teams at work in town and at the beach because of all the german activities and allied bombing during ww2.

[@Highspeedoffset1]

Really, And what was the size of the triggering charge?

[@mileshigh1321]

And people are complaining about fishes dying....Where do they think they can explode these on land safely?

[@jameseastwood4984]

My grandfather Commander Tom Boyd took part in the St Nazaire raid and won the DSO.

[@johnjephcote7636]

The contractors having plenty of experience in moving sand, is an understatement for the Dutch.

[@thomask5295]

Seriously? All that effort, money, and danger to the workers? Just find the right depth, dig a hole, put some explosives in and blow the whole shit out of the sand. Problem solved. Much faster, much safer, much cheaper. Oh, the batteries will pollute the environment!! I'm pretty sure the smoke, oil leaks and gases produced by all those machines on the beach did much more damage to the environment as the poor batteries would ever be able to do (if they hadn't already done it). Looks like someone was just up for some big bucks.

[@theephemeralglade1935]

Okay, but the videos is giving me a nervous tick.

[@hammyh1165]

The British Royal Navy museum has a nice working example of a German Bieber mini submarine . Look up the episode of Salvage Squad on here.

[@ehpa9047]

Was this one a Bieber? Does not seem to be a Seehund.

[@bernieshort6311]

These mini subs sinking 100,000 tons of shipping in the latter years of the war is astounding. That’s a lot of tonnage given the times and the small size of the mini submarines. A very interesting video, thank you.

[@alexwild4350]

To those who ask "Why didn't they just blow the torpedo’s in place and save all the money ?" The answer is it would have spread all the other recoverable pollutants all over the place and cleaned up nothing. That is the lead from the internal batteries, the copper and brass from the wardhead casing which after 70 odd years 'still shined'. The wiring, other brass fittings, oil from the engine, alloys and so the list goes on, all would have been spread far and wide, and not cleaned away.

[@samfrancisco8095]

Not if covered with blast pads.

[@FJPETER]

The true reason is they have unlimited budget paid from Germany

[@philiphorner31]

Yes lead does not come from the earth.

[@ricksmith4736]

Greta said not to

[@andyhastings5950]

@@philiphorner31 pissant question. Oil also comes from the ground. You want me to spread a 55 gal drum of used oil all over your living space???? Same with lead, especially lead oxide that is found in acid filled batteries. Now do you get the message??

[@RonanSmithUK]

The lag in the camera footage is so choppy, they need a faster speed SD card :P

[@TheButlerNZ]

It's like watching American NTSC footage in NZ (converted to PAL).. that appears to drop a frame every 15 or so (a couple a second) just enough to make action look oh so frustrating. Luckily Movies at the time were obviously better quality but I still see it sometimes even on SKY digital... (I found an excellent app for android and made an NZ Sky remote that I put in my channel but I don't know if anyone has (or can) try it..

[@Del-Canada]

A lot of their videos are like that. May be a conversion issue as mentioned.

[@elizabethcoleman5729]

These men are amazing with their most danger work environment wow what courage these men have.

[@jayt6575]

I thought the documentary was interesting. The video quality far as the lag or choppiness really hindered watching the video. Made me a bit nauseous.

[@robkunkel8833]

This type of work, which I thought was called “cofferdam” (an enclosure built within a body of water to allow the enclosed area to be pumped out) seems so complicated. Yet, it has been used for centuries. Good work. Music background? … well, it ain’t that bad.

[@bwghall1]

why risk it by taking on board ship/ why not blow it up in the dingey.

[@catchaser52]

Someone made a lot of $$$$$ Why didn't they just blow it up !!

[@rickmaggie1]

Interesting, I did not even know about this type of German U boat.

[@stevearizona521]

....and the CSS Hunley which sank in 1864, is in far better shape, while it's being restored in a museum in Charleston, South Carolina.

[@camojoe83]

One guy with a fucking excavator and a 3 man blasting crew would have got that done for so many millions of dollars less..

[@abnurtharn2927]

Six years ago, any updates?

[@Gremriel]

The remains are on display at the Bunker Museum Ijmuiden (NL) bunkermuseum.nl/expo-atlantic-wall-2/

[@bobhennis3585]

it seem like a long approach to a short problem. . it's out in the open, nothing around. why not set charges and blow the tubes right there. thats the way they do world wide to get rid of explosives found. oh well it's done.

[@MrBugsier5]

there is a village right behind the dunes you see in the video, it woul have broken a lot off windows! 500 kgm off high explosives going off is no joke...

[@normandate4495]

Thank goodness for the experts commenting, where would we be without them?

[@mmi16]

No mention of what the cost of the operation was with men, materials and equipment - what ever it was - it wasn't cheap!

[@Gremriel]

About €1.000.000 at that time.

[@the_jcbone]

Who encoded this? My eyes hurt.

[@bogomir67]

Why are These SVITZER vides always so jerky? The audio is smooth, but not the video?

[@MrDriftspirit]

thank you very much for uploading the video with so many detailes of the recvovery!. i am very sure, that i had been smimming and walking there several times in the 80ies and early nienties at holiday with my parents. memories to eastern vaccation now.

[@sirbash6787]

Sure the marine life was well happy about the 20m depth

[@jerrystauffer2351]

Imagine when Truk lagoon finally goes off.....

[@clydecessna737]

Jerky images kill the enjoyment of the video.

[@samjam2376]

does seem like a major project for what is being done

[@MrTimothytim]

True, but worth it if it cleans of the explosives from your swimming/living area by time :)

[@matthewcoldicutt5951]

Absolutely, Sam. One has to admire the skills and efficiency of the Dutch salvors. Real pros

[@davidpawson7393]

@Dragomir Ronilac What's your solution? Let kids find it after a storm and blow up?

[@pcz5233]

Amazing that those live torpedoes sat there for so long ready to blow. Lucky nothing triggered them with a beach full of people....

[@heyabusa1]

We really dont need the 'music'

[@markjessurun7765]

WOW what a Nice recovery and very Professionally Removed!! Top of the Line Recovery by WEISMULLER SALVAGE and everybody was SAFE !! WEISMULLER SALVAGE UR THE BEST !!

[@Schlappenschleuder]

my eyes are burning from the corrupt framerate of the video

[@ericlakota6512]

Y they dident just dig whole blow the torpedo would of ben efective and cheaper

[@jeffmoore9487]

Speaking of blowing things up, I can't imagine why they don't attempt to safely detonate the torpedoes, and if that fails, they can perhaps work more quickly and at much less risk and expense to salvage or just get rid of the danger. It's only sand, why so much care taken?

[@duanelohr1869]

If I were Danish, I would have to ask why? I think drill holes around the sub, put in a few tons of TNT, get everyone out of there, and just blow up the sub and the torpedoes into smaller pieces. Cost? A lot less than what was spent.

[@onthetracksof007]

Why Danish?

[@davidpawson7393]

Deaf too?

[@elizabethannferrario423]

Oh my dear lord thank god no one was hurt ! A great job ! A privilege to see this excavation! How dangerous,

[@ecr-9341]

Should have been left lay. Buried as it was and many yards from the beach, that thing was a danger to no one. Alas, just a colossal waste of money to pay workers in a socialist country.

[@SDeww]

`no!, they buildt a new tourist complex on that spot!.

[@davidaitchison3282]

Maybe I'm dumber than a sack of hammers, but, wouldn't it have been a lot safer and cheaper just to place a huge explosive charge on top of the thing and blow it to kingdom come?

[@Howoldareweanywayyipes]

Pretty good charge for an old bomb.

[@wjp255]

Awesome video. I enjoyed it. Thank you.

[@anthonyjohnramsey]

i wonder if the germans want it back

[@joelonzello4189]

Wow ! Still deadly after all these years....

[@thomaslabantt6625]

Should of restored it for history

[@Kaiserzeit1871]

Eine wirklich gute und informative Dokumentation. Sowas bekommt man im deutschen Fernsehen leider nicht zu sehen.

[@DL6UK]

guck mal richtig ...;)

[@mikeray1544]

Did they send the disposal bill to Germany?

[@pedrolistacarey4880]

Quit smoking grass, dude...

[@frederickburns1739]

History continues seventy years later!!! Great video!!!

[@maxdwyer8761]

@Bill Williams You say that like the "world'" had nothing do do with it.

[@TractorMan104]

Interesting but hard to watch because of the wind up potato it was filmed with. Not a very good stop motion film in my opinion.

[@Slick1G3]

whata waste of time and money shoulda blew it up right there

[@conormcmenemie5126]

WIJSMULLER? Is that the same tug/salvage company which produced TOM WYSMULLER, the late former NASA meteorologist?

[@maurice9551]

Framerate? Which framerate?

[@samjam2376]

i like when the one guy says "everytime we do this there's something special" like they recover submarines everyday.

[@kevinbyrne4538]

+Glen Collins -- The Dutch salvage firm Mammoet recovered the sunken Russian submarine Kursk, so perhaps they don't recover submarines every day, but surprisingly often.

[@samjam2376]

+Kevin Byrne ok

[@asArsenic]

They kinda do. They are professional salvers.

[@stevelamperta865]

Watch a film of the ocean,.. under water and what not from the 50s an 60s,.. the ocean was a beautiful blue. look at the water today and its greenish gray and polluted so badly and it stinks.

[@1corrsfan]

Hard to imagine that 2 men were in this mini sub.. They have to be nuts to do want to sail in that..

[@klausvonschmit4722]

Finally, our brothers in Europa have realized there is life after wearing banana hammock for swim wear! 😂

[@stuarth43]

??the gale would have shaken the hell out of the sub and torpedos so whats vibes from pile driving going to do?[;plenny dead fishes kbooommm

[@alistairbarclay3116]

What a complete waste of time and money

[@nickforgie4290]

Seehund is the nickname of type of sub it was, the XXVII midget sub. the one they are digging up is the u-5095.

[@nicolasrose3064]

"reconstruction"....!? What are they going to reconstruct it around, a bolt !? It's a lump of corroded shite.

[@derekrohan9619]

4:51 I don’t comment often. However that precise weld looks like hammerd dog sh$t. Any welder worth his salt knows you don’t weld down hill, you can only see it for a second but it literally looks like someone stuck bubble gum all over. I understand it’s temporary but it is supposed to potentially hold back a lot of water and sand.

[@parker1ray]

I know it's part of history, but there is nothing left!

[@memyselfandi9365]

At the beginning of the program it was said that the submarine was to be salvaged because of the chance of the torpedoes going off due to off shore drilling?!? Then they remove one of the torpedoes by explosion cutting?! Makes no sense , except a good excuse to salvage a seehund and lots of boys out stuff..

[@michaelmckinnon9169]

Was the Seehund preserved and restored to static display condition?

[@garywheeler7039]

Its a pretty deteriorated and rusty bit of mangled metal.

[@craftpaint1644]

They just left it on the beach with torpedoes on it all that time since the war? They're bastards and I could kiss them at the same time, Lol 👩‍🎨☕

[@mickd6942]

It's german bit of wd 40 and it will run again

[@finscreenname]

Holland just let it sit on the beach for 50 years with live torpedoes under it????

[@asArsenic]

The submarine is just one of the tens of thousands of tons of unexploded munitions in the Netherlands. There has been a clean-up effort ongoing since the end of WW2 and they are STILL busy. The submarine was stable and away from a populated area. The chance of anyone getting hurt was extremely low and the cost of removal was fairly high.

[@bigglesworth480]

and they could have spent the money on making new weapons?

[@asArsenic]

roderick fysh Why would they do that?

[@phyllisbentley5067]

I'm not so sure it's that easy to cause a torpedo to detonate, especially after being UNDER a beach for decades. But then, it's German ordinance, I don't know what type of detonator it used and the only expert I know on the subject died in a stupid auto accident 50 years after the war was over. Unbelievable that he survived so much in WW2 and died because some young, drunken fool wanted his side of the road too.

[@waskozoids]

just in case.

[@kart44]

I miss my VHS PLAYER

[@jlhighfield9116]

How much $$$$ did this project cost

[@xiro6]

no minisubs where hurt in the recording of this documentary.

[@sullybiker6520]

Dutch engineering is just amazing.

[@ArtVanAuggie]

Those two explosions were (are) stock footage of unrelated incidents.

[@tommalchert416]

This is stupid............Just blow the sub in up in place, and go home

[@alexandervonwrangel8026]

Mensch, da habe ich immer Urlaub gemacht!

[@Polypropellor]

Absolutely incredible job. I wonder how much it cost.

[@Gremriel]

Around €1.000.000 at that time

[@pedrolistacarey4880]

@@Gremriel - And where did that money come from...?

[@Gremriel]

@@pedrolistacarey4880 The recovery was ordered by the navy (because of the torpedos).

[@pedrolistacarey4880]

@@Gremriel - So, according to your answer, I grab it that the money came from the Navy's budget.

[@heloripascal8997]

So. how much of that explosion was actual torpedo and how much of it was the charge used to set it off ?

[@chrisstegerman8058]

I was there in that pit next to the Seehund to do a inviromental survey of the seefloor,very nice to find this video after al these years

[@jc-d6179]

"The notorious west coast of Holland". As opposed to the east coast you mean?

[@glennwall552]

Glad I'm not paying the hourly rates...lol

[@rexdrabble4988]

How to spend a shit load of money for FUCK ALL!!

[@kennethbellotte8678]

It wasn't worth saving...the cost outweighs the prise at the end

[@k.w.churchill4397]

Massive fish kill event!

[@me109g4]

Excellent video, thank you very much. Too bad the sub was in such bad shape, hopefully something can be done to it to make it look like a sub again. JT

[@SteveBueche1027]

All this concern about vibrations only to load it onto a dingy to the ship. Lol

[@thomasholmes8063]

I would have tried to detonate those torpedos!! They did the job right. I am in too much of a rush.

[@Highspeedoffset1]

They DID detonate the torpedoes.......

[@googlebad3540]

wait longer next times, perhaps it will rust away fully

[@thepostman41]

Good lesson on how government wastes money...

[@DonQuixote547]

What a waste of money and time, why not just blow the whole lot up in situ?

[@chuckotto7021]

Wow! The fish paid the final price for the egos of men.

[@DanDeVoto]

There was no mention of the crews fate.

[@williamwoods8022]

They were probably murdered along with the other over 12 MILLION Germans that were murdered during the war including the millions of German POWs that were put in open fields without food or shelter after the war ended that you can find exposed on the Jesus, Hitler and Wizard of Oz post if you Google Paisley Expressions that exposes the TRUTH about Hitler and WW2 and how we have always been getting lied to.

[@jjmurphy00]

4.50 Lmao check that pigeon poo weld on them precise supports omg...

[@TheButlerNZ]

04:38... and 2m below sea level ?? when it clearly shows them with barely 2m from ground to the top of the wall inside (an average male with their hands up is about 2m) so the sea would have to be lapping at the peak of the wall yet the tide outside is apparently at the same height as the ground they are standing on (comparing the welding shot with 03:29). Perhaps the water level is 2m at high tide... but not while they are welding that metal with bubble gum from the bottom of a school bench. q8D

[@jjmurphy00]

@@TheButlerNZ lmao.. Agree to all that

[@samuelschut3297]

bakkum en Egmond aan zee

[@waskozoids]

und tulipanen schwiebelen.

[@philiphorner31]

That's a pretty nice explosion.

[@VashStarwind]

No way the explosives inside those torpedo's were still functional ha

[@VashStarwind]

I stand corrected lol

[@rainergoertz2070]

Die Niederländer sind Super Profis... Repekt aus Aachen .... aber was ist mit den Resten des Seehundes... bevor es verrottet fragt ob ein lokales Museum vor Ort oder das Deutsche Museum intresse hat....

[@rainergoertz2070]

hab gelesen es ist in einem lokalen Museum gelandet. !!! sehr gut !!! Welches Museum ist es ?

[@daviddavidsonn3578]

why did they destroy the detonator...such a waste