Submarine

Sitting in the Hamburg harbor is a real Russian submarine that is now on display like a museum. The U-434 was built in 1976 and could hold 84 marines. We got to crawl all through it, pass the torpedo launchers and the bunk beds that these tall Russian men must have slept in the fetal position on. We sat at the table where the officers must have talked about their desires to blow up the Statue of Liberty. There were a million levers and gauges and buttons covering every square inch of it. Half way through I started to feel very claustrophobick, and that was only after 15 minutes! What struck me most was that man has had the ability to create these intricate machines that plunge down into the depths of the ocean. People have known the science behind all of those levers and buttons and tubing since what the 1940's (?) yet I, living in the year 2009, have no idea how to really wire anything. I left the museum feeling very stupid while Ted left feeing very grateful that the Russian's didn't bomb the US any more than they did during the Cold War. It really was a great history lesson. We were both glad that sonar was invented thus making this type of submarine obsolete.