The Flore submarine museum (a diesel submarine) in Lorient is located in the former German WWII submarine base, which includes 3 enormous submarine pens (which could host up to 30 submarines).
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Next to the 2nd German submarine pen (K2) you can immediately see the Flore submarine. This sub can be visited. You can see the Flore submarine from the outside without having to enter (and pay) the museum, but to see it from the inside, you’ll need to pay.
The Museum
After paying your entry (and seeing some of the souvenirs you can buy), you are ushered into a small cinema where you can see information about the submarines and operations.
All the displays are located in the K2 German submarine base building. Just walking through the displays, you get a good feel how enormous the submarine pens are.
There are several display areas that show you the technology, equipment and history of the French subs.
Submarine batteries
Periscope and other submarine equipment
Navigation chart of a submarine
History display of the French submarines
Submarine cannonOnce you have seen the static displays, you need to go outside to visit the diesel submarine, the Flore.
Stairs to the inside of the Flore submarine
Up to the top of the Flore submarineOnce inside (do watch out if you are tall and/or big, since it’s not high and it’s VERY narrow), you walk the length of the submarine and see how the crew lived (just look at photo 8 tab below). You’ll notice that the officers were (slightly) better situated than the crew.
Torpedo room in the Flore submarine
Sailors bunk beds
Officer quarters on the Flore submarine
Chart table in the Flore submarine
Teletype in the Flore submarine
The station that steers the Flore Submarine
The mess hall menu of the day
The narrow corridors in the Flore submarineIt’s a fascinating experience to see how these sailors lived, often for months on end, in these incredibly confined spaces.
Here’s one photo of a bunk bed that I had to share:
The bed is at the angle of the sub, and only ONE leg fits in the bed!! Talk about making the maximum use of every part of the sub…
Conclusion
The visit is interesting. It’s maybe not as grandiose as a visit to the nuclear submarine of Cherbourg (click here to read more about the nuclear submarine visit), but this sub is more historical. It’s a diesel submarine, and there’s less space than in the nuclear one.
If you’ve never seen one up close, this will be an eye opener.
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