Control room of the Submarine Becuna.
The gyro compass is in the foreground and the bow and stern plane control wheels are in the background.
15 second exposure. The red is the “natural” light in the room. I don’t know if it’s the real light that would have been used but it was red.
View of the control room aft bulkhead. Axillary compass on the right.
This is the second WWII era submarine I’ve been on, the other is the Cavalla in Galveston, TX.
I have great respect for the men that sailed these boats. They are VERY cramped. Both of my shoulders rub the wall when I walk down the central corridor. Most of the sailors hot bunked and many shared a rack with a torpedo. The mechanical complexity is unbelievable. Yet men by the thousands went to face the enemy and frequently died in submarines just like this one. Pictures can’t convey how claustrophobic the submarine feels, and that’s sitting on the surface with the hatches open and fresh air blowing through. I can’t even imagine what it felt like to sit a few hundred feet under water for days on end.
