100-Year-Old U-Boat Propeller Returns Home

A propeller from a U-boat that sank 100 years ago is being handed back from the country that sank it to the country that built it. 

U-8 was one of the 329 submarines serving in the German Navy in World War I. In March 1915, it was trapped in nets, forced to surface and scuttled under gunfire from HMS Gurkha and Maori in the English Channel. 

All its crew were rescued and crowds gathered to watch them being brought ashore. The U-boat remained at the bottom of the channel, but its propeller was discovered in 2014 along with other historical items which had been illegally recovered in the Kent area.

Now the propeller is going home, and Jan Hackstein, the German Naval Attaché, who attended the handover says it’s a sign of reconciliation and friendship between the U.K. and Germany.

“Although the German public is still a bit reserved about the armed forces, we see a rising historic interest. The centenary of World War One pushed this interest, and today it is very normal that the media is publishing stories, for example on the fate of people during the war. So there will be an interest in seeing the propeller and discovering the story of the Kaiser’s U-boat and the crew behind it,” said Hackstein.

The propeller will be on display at the German Naval Memorial in Laboe from autumn. 

“The German Naval Memorial close to Kiel is a very poignant memorial, remembering all those who died at sea and for peaceful navigation in free waters.”

His words are echoed by head of Coastal Operations at the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, Charles Ball: “As Coastguards and sailors we share common goals and an equal love and respect for all those in peril on the sea. As ever, we have more in common than we have differences, and this ceremony cements as mariners our continued friendship.”