#0785 'trout'

Submarine, built at Germania shipyard / Kiel in 1902

The development of German submarines dates back to 1849, when the Bavarian soldier Wilhelm Bauer developed the idea of ​​a submarine during the Schleswig-Holstein War. In Kiel he realized a model that was built by August Howaldt in 1850 under the name "Brandtaucher" at Schweffel and Howaldt. During a test run by Wilhelm Bauer, the test submarine, which was imperfectly built due to lack of money, sank. The experimental submersible built in 1897 with the construction number 333, designed by Karl Leps, was followed in 1902 by the construction of the "Forelle". It is based on the plans of the engineer Raymondo Lorenzo d'Equevilley-Montjustin, which in turn were influenced by the developments of the designers Claude Gobet, Gustave Zédé and Isaac Peral, as well as by the Englishman Waddington. She was the first usable German submarine, with a conning tower, a periscope, an air purification system and a bilge pump. A battery with a capacity of 715 ampere hours was used as the energy source for the electric motor. At a speed of four knots, the range of the Forelle was about 25 nautical miles.