http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeCJu5mjE0I

The history behind this submarine (U-534) is that it was sunk in the last 48 hours of WW2 (May 1945), and salvaged later. The video discusses how the submarine will be cut into 5 pieces for display. The rationale for sectioning the sub is due to (1) cost of moving, and (2) facilitate display due to the Disabilities Discrimination Act (the British counterpart of ADA, perhaps). The technique for sectioning the submarine is reminiscent of how the ill-fated Russian submarine Kirsk was salvaged.

Here is another YouTube link with some additional film on this vessel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkCt7TBw ... ure=relmfu

There have been tabloid photos from the mid 1930s showing how German U-boats were stored in that manner so they wouldn't be counted against the naval weight limits under some disarmament agreements. Of course, no self respecting British politician reads the tabloids, so they were able to have "Peace in our time"!

In the military insanity years of the early 1900s that resulted in coastal monitors and other strange stuff, there was a proposal for an Amphibious Submarine that would travel as a railroad car. It was a sub along the lines of the early Holland designs, with railroad freight truck center plates built into the bow and the stern. The truck brake cylinders and fittings were intended to be salt water resistant, their spacing maintained by a connecting link, and the sub would run up on the front truck on a marine railway to be hauled ashore by cables or a locomotive, with it seating on the rear truck as the inclination lowered the stern. The marine railway would have connected to the commercial railroad network for transportation. Obviously this would have been a very small submarine in order to meet railroad clearances. Drawings and articles on the concept were preserved by friends at Washington Navy Yard. One particularly humorous aspect of this was that it looked curiously like the sub Lionel later designed as a flatcar load for their "O" gauge trains.

PC

The sectioning of this particular boat may be the best way to display it. Remember, this vessel sat on the bottom for years and was subject to decay. While the exterior looks ok, the interior was an almost unrecognizable mess, making an interior walk-through tour just about impossible.