In the oldest submarine rescue centre in the world, built in 1942, the Submariners’ Museum in Lorient La Base displays the history of the Battle of the Atlantic through the wrecks in Lorient, using underwater images, audio-visual archives and testimonials from sailors.
You too can explore the wrecks and the seabed! The Kerguelen Sports Ocean in Larmor-Plage (formerly Centre Nautique de Kerguelen) offers supervised but fun underwater exploration trips. Discover the Flake Sperrbrecher 134 (20-24 meters), Cyrano (17-20 meters) or the mythical German submarine U-171 (39 meters) sunk in 1942, around the island of Groix.
Several rooms allow you to discover, without getting wet (!), the contemporary wrecks in the bay…
Through projections of films and archive images of the Battle of the Atlantic, testimonies), you will relive these dark hours of history. The underwater images and films take you on a virtual visit of the sunken wrecks of the Second World War.
Divers from the Mediterranean can’t believe it. The seabed in Lorient Bretagne Sud is very rich in fauna and flora. Anemones, soft corals, wrasse, octopus and cuttlefish, ocean sunfish, crabs, velvet crabs, porpoises, pollock, whiting-pout, lobster… All the coastal fish are easy to observe. Not forgetting basking sharks (harmless) and even dolphins, who come to play in the area during the summer…
Underwater wrecks mark the diving in Lorient Bretagne Sud. “These wrecks are the remains of the maritime activity”, says Christophe Cerino, President of the Submariners’ Museum.
Wrecks from the Second World War, such as the U-boat 171 which lies off Groix 40 meters deep, or from the First World War, such as the Thüringuen in front of Gâvres… Not forgetting trawlers such as the Kerolay in front of Kerpape or the transporter Isère in front of Locmiquélic. Famous because it brought the Statue of Liberty to New York in 1885…
