Restoration

Monthly Restoration Update

The old, damaged section of keel has been cut out and removed.

The bulkhead, separating the tiller flat and the aft accommodation space, has been removed

Some aluminium longitudinal members have been removed from the tiller flat, to gain a little space for installing the keel section and preparing the way for new replacements as soon as we have sourced suitable rivets and tooling

The mating scarph was cut into the keel, for jointing the new keel section to existing centre line.

The new aft section of keel has been cut to size and shaped. The mating scarph has been cut, along with the rabbet, to take the garboard planking, and sockets for fitting the new steamed timbers.

The new section of keel has been fitted and now awaits the arrival of the keel bolts for final bedding and fixing.

Some iroko has been purchased for the transom framing and some planking of the new transom.

Commenced cutting the transom framing. Purchased the oak for the outer transom frames.

More clearing of small items, such as old pipe brackets and cable trays, have been cut away from deck head beams and bulkheads through the boat

An engine moving cradle has been fabricated. A proper engine lifting beam has been made.

Monthly Restoration Update

Work is continuing on the tiller flat/aft tank space:

a. Garboard repairs alongside the keel (in fitting these, the landing rabbet on the keel has been altered to such an extent it is no longer possible to use the afte section of keel). Six additional plywood floor members.

b. Removing the additional timber strengthening block work along the lower part of the transom which have become degraded through rot

c. Removing some of the original but damaged transom framing (revealing a patchwork of more dubious plywood repairs within the transom)

Obtained a suitable baulk of oak for replacing the aft end of the keel for a length of 3.5 metres. Commenced cutting the new section of keel.

Removing the frayed aluminium floor members. Making patterns for the replacements.

Removed the post-war compression post from the aft endof the accommodation where it was forcing the keel out of shape

Removing the steering rods

Remove the lower part of the aft bulkhead in way of the keel, to provide easier access for scarphing in the new section. The entire bulkhead will have to be replaced during the re-building of this after section of the boat

Monthly Restoration Update

The aft end of S130 was found to be out of shape, so measures were undertaken to correct the problem:

1. Jacked up the aft section of the boat, from the forward bulkhead of the aft accommodation to the transom, by about six inches to correct the shape
2. Jacked up the wings of the transom to overcome a tendency for the hull to droop around the keel

Dry fit new section of keel

Continue building and developing the power feed machine for fitting replacement steamed timbers into the hull. This machine is designed to push the steamed oak timbers down into the hull from the deck edge, between the stringers and round the turn of the bilge to the keel ina  smooth powerful movement.

Removed the shaft fairing piece to gain access to the outboard stern gland

Pulled the ‘P’ bracket shaft bearing sleeve from the centre line shaft

Removed the centre line stub shaft

Pulled the shaft coupling

Draw the centre line propeller shaft

Removed the cast steel ‘P’ bracket immediately aft of the outboard stern gland

Investigate damage to the transom and hull forward through the aft accommodation. Removed garboard planking wither side of the keel in way of the transom. Considerable, somewhat dubious, repairs have been made to the keel and garboards in this area, which have left the keel rabbet severely damaged and missing altogether in places. The transom will require a complete re-build, including the internal timber and aluminium framework. Both inner and outer hull planking will have to be replaced along with the majority of the steamed oak timbers for an apporoximate length of 22 feet in this area.

Removed an area of planking in way of the starboard forfoot to reveal some suspect repairs and plan the rectification in this area and the rest of the stem above

Removed all the planking in the area of the deformed hull to starboard in way of the No. 2 engine room to reveal the timbers (ribs), framework and damaged engine beds. Upon close examination, there was no footprint of anything hard coming into contact with the hull planking. This is leading us to surmise that this damage could have been caused by an underwater explosion rather than impact from debris in a mud berth. Could this be war time damage, repaired but not reshaped, that has stayed with the boat until now. We are now planning how best to tackle the re-building of this section of the boat, including repair of the engine beds and replacing frames and diagional stringers.

Due to the construction methods used to build S130, it is now looking likely that we will have to replace more of the inner skin of planking than we had originally envisaged, as well as the outer skin.

During a rare idle moment a calculation was made of the estimated number of fastenings that will be required to restore the hull planking – approximately 45,000-50,000!, made up of wood screws, copper wire pins, copper nails and roves.

Monthly Restoration Update

Remove engine room top coamings from around engine room No. 1

Separate the rudder head bearing from the rudder stock

Make preparations for cutting away the damaged section of keel
a. Manufacture six definitive bilge supports and fit to cradles
b. Jack S130 up by two feet
c. Remove through-hull fittings in way of the damaged keel section

Digging out the substance packed into the frame spaces under the tank spaces and aft accommodation (sample is being analysed at the University of Plymouth)

Remove all bronze keel bolts in way of damaged keel section

Cut away damaged keel section

Remove main and trim rudders

Remove all three rudder glands

Remove the centre line ‘P’ bracket

Remove wing shaft tube fairing pieces

Remove outboard wing shaft blanking caps

Commence cutting away the deck-edge capping

Commence cutting and shaping the new keel section

Commence cutting out the aluminium framework from the tiller flat in preparation for re-building the transom

Run ribbans over the damaged hull to port in way of the No.2 engine room, to ascertain the extent of the required repair work

Start survey of the transom, tiller flat, aft accommodation space and tank space

Interesting Find

Three bottles of beer were found stowed under the bunker tanks. Further research into this seems to confirm that it was a German tradition to place three bottles of beer in the boat for good luck. See the pictures of the bottles on the galleries page

Monthly Restoration Update (all updates from now onwards refer to S130)

Lift and install the lifting rig onto the deck

Lift the three midships bunker tanks from the boat

Remove the balance of the oil tanks from the engine rooms

Removed the rudder quadrant

Commenced removing the main rudder bearing in preparation for disconnecting and removing the rudder

Exercise Tiger Remembered

Emotional day as three American veterans from Exercise Tiger visit the S130 Restoration Project. Paul Gerolstein, Nathan Resnick and Frank Derby come face-to-face with S130 for the first time – one of the actual Schnellboots involved on that fateful day 65 years ago. Their understanding and appreciation of the project is overwhelming and all three wish us the best of luck and we all agree to meet again in five years time on the 70th anniversary. Both local BBC News and CNN cover the story – see the video clips page for the CNN coverage.

Monthly Restoration Update

S130

Continue to clear the foredeck back to framework

Disconnect and prepare cabin and engine room top coamings and tanks for removal and lifting from the boat

Fabricate a lifting rig for removing heavier items

Arthur

The last items are stripped from Arthur, she is unslipped and towed to her new home

Monthly restoration update:

S130

Continue to cut away and remove the fibre and mineral resin covering from the foredeck

Discovered the torpedo sight calibration marks still set in the original foredeck, under the deck covering

Disconnect steering chains and remove steering gearbox and pedestal

Arthur

Continue to transport engines, equipment and fittings to the restoration shed as they are removed from Arthur

Arthur is slipped for access to shafts and through hull fittings

We have had increasing press interest over the last six weeks culminating in a BBC interview this week. The resulting feature will be shown on BBC Breakfast News (see the video clips page). A full 1:25 scale drawing of the frame layout is nearing completion awaiting a final document from the Admiralty archive. The restoration shed housing S130 is now complete and the new keel section has arrived from France.

From this month we will be detailing the specific work undertaken on both S130 and Arthur. The first of these reports is below:

S130

Commenced stripping away all items and structures which are not of 1943 specification and areas which will give access to inspection, repair or re-build.

a.  removed soft tops over the tiller flat and midships tank space
b.  removed wheelhouse
c.  removed No. 1 engine room top

Arthur

Lift superstructure for acess to the engine rooms
Lift two engines from engine room No. 1

We have been approached by the Coastal Forces Heritage Trust who have offered their assistance. The Coastal Forces accepted the surrender of several S-Boats in May 1945 and carried out the subsequent assessments. I have also been able to contact the Danish Naval Attache in London who has promised to investigate what remaining material might exist from the Danish Navy’s use of S-boats after the war. New images of the salvaged armoured bridge have been added to the galleries.

December

The S130 Restoration Project is highlighted in both the Telegraph and Daily Mail on 31 December.

October

On the research front we have been hard at work sourcing information and several new partnerships have been formed – details of these can be found in the links. We are now working with NARA, all the US Naval Libraries, and the Danish Naval Archives (to name a few) to try and source remaining information on S-Boats that may help. A special mention should be made of Lars Pedersen in Denmark who has been a massive help co-ordinating the information search in both Denmark and Germany. We have added a ‘can you help?’ page, which details items and information that we are actively searching for – anyone who can help should please get in touch. On the salvage front we have now raised the armoured bridge, the torpedo tubes and the forward gun tub.

A 40ft section of oak has been ordered to repair the keel. It is worth noting that this had to be sourced in France as the longest straight piece that could be found in the UK was only 36ft long. This should be arriving in December and we will be on hand to see its arrival. Arthur – the engine donor vessel – has now been moved to the yard and work commences this week on removing the required components. For the last three months we have been hard at work producing a full 1:25 scale set of General Arrangement drawings for both the upper and lower decks. This was no easy feat – in order to accurately recreate the detail we had to use scans of original drawings that were 16000 pixels wide! We have also been able to redraw all the piping schematics from images from a WW2 manual from the private collection of Dave Krakow (thanks Dave).

July

Last week during a visit to the salvage operation off the Danish coast, it seems the operation there has caused some consternation in the local town. This even made the local TV, where Kevin is briefly interviewed. We would like to address some of the concerns raised in the clip (these were passed on to us):

1. The salvage operation is not going to strip the three wrecks of everything there – only the absolute minimum of components required for the restoration will be raised. This will allow the site to remain a sport-dive destination for local divers.

2. The site is not a war-grave – all of the vessels were scuppered by their commanders on the last days of the war to prevent them falling into enemy hands

3.The operation has the full support and authorisation from the local authorities.

4. The company carrying out the operation, Nordic Marine Services, are not primarily a salvage company but a marine surveying outfit. Therefore items raised during the operation are for the restoration project only and not for independent sale.

June

Part of the restoration will be the sourcing and installation of the three engines required to power S130. These need to be as close as possible to the original V20 2000hp MB501’s, in order to prevent too much adaptation. As John mentioned earlier the collection has access to a later S-boat named ‘Arthur’ which is fairly close in design to S-130. Last week John had the opportunity to go and give this vessel the once over to assess the suitability of the engines. It seems this is actually a Zobel class boat commissioned in 1962 from Kroger Werft under licence to Lurssens. It was identified on the BMPT website as S142 ‘Puma’. It transpired that the engines will be usable with very little modification needed, and the boat will be moved to the shipyard quite soon for work to commence.

March

While much preparation had gone on before, our story here begins with the moving of S130 from its mud berth at Southdown to its restoration site on March 10th 2008. This was a large operation involving two 125t cranes, self-propelled transports and was made more complex by the fact that the worst storm in 20 years hit the coast earlier that morning. Due to tides, this was the only day for the next 12 months on which the operation could take place, so there were a lot of concerned faces around on the Monday morning.

With S130 safely ensconced in its restoration area plans are now being made for commencement of work. To this end we are scouring the world for information, drawings etc so that nothing will be left to chance. We would love to hear from anyone that would like to help in this regard. John Owles at Roving Commissions has kindly supplied us with an outline of work to be carried in the near future.

It is anticipated that the main restoration work will commence in the Autumn of this year. Over the next few weeks S130 will be completely cleared internally and a thorough structural survey be undertaken to ascertain the extent of the work required to return the hull to a sound condition, capable of attaining speeds of 40 knots. Another survey will then follow, which will be more inclined towards detailed research, looking for evidence within the deck structure which will hopefully guide us towards the type of armourment carried together with other items of deck equipment that may have been carried, eg mine laying and depth charges etc.. We will also be looking for evidence of the bridge arrangement. Meanwhile, we will be working on the engines and systems of a 1950s Jaguar Class Schnellboot which we are hoping to bring to Plymouth Sound later in the summer under its own power for use as donor boat. This vessel has four MB-501 engines together with the respective starting and monitoring systems and, it is hoped, suitable stern gear. We will also be arranging a suitable cover for the vessel to provide a suitable environment for the restoration work. Our next update will cover the inspection of the Jaguar Class Schnellboot and its engines