Escal'Atlantic, is a museum that explores the historic ocean liner experience in

Saint-Nazaire Saint-Nazaire (; ; Gallo: ''Saint-Nazère/Saint-Nazaer'') is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France, in traditional Brittany. The town has a major harbour on the right bank of the Loire estuary, near the Atlantic Ocean ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. The museum is found inside the former German

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

submarine pen A submarine pen (''U-Boot-Bunker'' in German) is a type of submarine base that acts as a bunker to protect submarines from air attack. The term is generally applied to submarine bases constructed during World War II, particularly in Germany and ...

in the harbour of the city port. It tells the history of the ocean liner, allowing the visitor to wander the insides of an "ocean liner" from the past by visiting areas of a vessel and by means of artefacts.

History

Prior to the Second World War, Saint-Nazaire was the transatlantic harbour for passenger liners travelling to Cuba, Mexico and Panama. After the

fall of France The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France during the Second World ...

in 1940, the Germans built a huge concrete submarine pen on the site of the old docks and buildings in 1941, allowing the

U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role ...

s easier access to the

Battle of the Atlantic The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allied naval blockade ...

Museum

The museum opened on 22 April 2000. A total of of the former submarine base has been constructed into the Escal'Atlantic museum. The museum consists of a self-guided walking tour of around a 1 ½ hours through twenty areas of a traditional liner from the 1900s to the 1960s. The tour includes both the public areas such as staterooms, steerage, hairdressers, music rooms, a piano bar and dining room and the inner workings of a liner such as the engine room and captain's bridge. The museum has interactive features, audiovisual displays and "hands-on" devices, designed for family visits. Over 200 artefacts have been sourced from various ocean liners including the SS ''Normandie'' launched in 1935, and the SS ''France'' from 1961. In October 2012, the Escal'Atlantic closed briefly to renovate and redesign the walking tour through the museum and reopened on 1 July 2013. The museum is closed during certain months; dates and times of operation are given on the website.

References

{{reflist Saint-Nazaire History museums in France Local museums in France Museums in Loire-Atlantique Maritime museums in France