HMS Otus - the submarine in Sassnitz

We'd never had a chance to visit a submarine, so visiting this place was our top priority that day.

HMS Otus is a British submarine. She was launched in 1962 and served in the Royal Navy from 1963 to 1991. It ended its service in the port of Portsmouth. Later, it was bought by a German businessman who moored it in the port of Sassnitz and opened it as a museum.

We visited the ship almost alone! Without a guide! It was an amazing experience to explore all the rooms and equipment inside. At the ticket office we received a leaflet with the plan of the ship, then we crossed a gangway to the hull, through which we could go inside.

Walking inside was a little mysterious, and we tried to show this in the film:

We started our visit in the torpedo room. Kris was sad that there were no torpedoes left. Next, we went to the sleeping quarters, crew quarters, then we went through the radio room, captain’s bridge, sonars, kitchen, toilet, dining room and even the engine room.

It was great that all the equipment in the boat had survived. We could touch most of it. We tried the periscope, which the children knew only from the cartoon “The Penguins of Madagascar.” The boat could accommodate 68 people. Walking through the rooms, we could imagine how the crew sailed deep under the sea, shut in these small spaces for months. During the tour, speakers played sounds from the movie “Das Boot” referring to the heyday of the boat. For example, we could hear an alarm. Agatha thought for a moment that the alarm was actually real.

The rooms are separated by distinctive round hatches which you have to bend down to pass through.

HMS Otus took no active part in combat. The most interesting thing we read was that the crew once attempted a deep escape from a very great depth. Two submariners managed to escape from a depth of 183 meters. So far, the record has not been broken.

Fun fact: the trial took place in July 1987 in the Bjørnafjorden fjord near Bergen, Norway. The escapes started at a depth of 30 meters and went deeper step by step. Both men who reached 183 meters had no lasting injuries.

The submarine is docked at the port, next to a car park and a footbridge. Admission is ticketed.

Is it worth it? We liked it so much that we couldn't leave 🙂
The whole visit took us almost two hours.