Germany was once considered a country of poets, thinkers, and engineers who changed the world with their groundbreaking inventions. One of these clever minds was Wilhelm Bauer, who designed the first submarine. Born on December 23, 1822, in Dillingen an der Donau, he moved to Munich with his family after elementary school. At the age of 18, he joined the Bavarian army. The idea for an underwater boat that could secretly approach enemy warships came to him on April 13, 1849, when his unit attacked the Düppeler Schanzen in Denmark. When his service in the Bavarian army ended shortly afterwards, he joined the Schleswig-Holstein army on January 30, 1850, which provided him with significant support in the development of the first submarine, the prototype “Brandtaucher 133,” which was also called the “iron seal” because of its shape. On February 1, 1851, together with two other men, he made the first dive in the Kiel harbor basin, which almost ended tragically. This was because Bauer, a passionate inventor, had built the prototype without diving cells or ballast tanks. Therefore, the interior had to be completely flooded in order to dive. However, the submarine sank immediately to the bottom of the 13-meter-deep basin when it was lowered into the water. Since the outer walls were only 6 millimeters thick, they immediately deformed under the water pressure, rendering the entire technology unusable. Wilhelm Bauer and the two men had to wait a total of 6 hours in their diving bells until the incoming water equalized the pressure so that they could open the hatch. However, opening the hatch created an air bubble that pulled one of the men upwards. Wilhelm Bauer was able to save himself and the second man, who was almost frozen to death, by bringing them to the surface. The “Brandtaucher 133” was not raised until 1877 and is now in the military museum in Dresden. Bauer was not deterred by the failed attempt and continued to tinker with a submarine. After the dissolution of the Holstein army, Bauer returned to Munich. There, with financial support from Russia, he developed a new submarine and emigrated there. From 1855 onwards, he conducted successful test runs with the “Seeteufel” model. But after this also sank, he returned to Munich once again. From October 1867 to July 1868, he took a job at the Dinglerschen factory in Zweibrücken, one of the most important steel construction companies of its time, to build an oil-powered submarine engine. This project failed due to the ever-increasing costs. So, after a nine-month stay in Zweibrücken, he returned to Munich, where he died on June 20, 1878. The first maneuverable submarine was not produced until 30 years after his death. But Wilhelm Bauer had made himself immortal as the inventor of submarines with his submarines “Brandtaucher 133” and “Seeteufel.” In Russia, he was even awarded the title of “Imperial Russian Submarine Engineer” and he certainly did not have to live in poverty, as he received an annual honorary pension of 400 guilders from King Ludwig II in his final years. A replica of the first modern submarine was first displayed in the town hall and then moved to the Schieß in Zweibrücken at the end of 2015. The 1:2.5 model of the Brandtaucher on a sandstone base in a planted bed at the end of Schwarzbach-Allee was built by Rolf Dietrich from Zweibrücken and pays tribute to submarine developer Wilhelm Bauer. But the days of the great poets, thinkers, and inventors who catapulted Germany to the top of the world seem to be over. Because now it is not Germany but China that is building the fastest train, while we exaggeratedly rely on our bicycle, which was developed over 200 years ago by Karl Freiherr von Drais. It almost seems as if thinkers and inventors are dying out and Germany is abolishing itself, which only time will tell.
