Albanian obsolete submarine in a Czech museum

TIRANA, June 16 – A Czech newspaper reported that an Albanian “whiskey-class” submarine, built in Russia in 1954, would be delivered to Prague after sponsors raised enough to house the submarine in a museum.
The Mladᡦronta Dnes newspaper wrote that a group of sea captains and military historians want to turn the 76-meter long submarine into a unique museum on the banks of the Vltava.
Plans include sailing the Mediterranean Sea through the straits of Gibraltar and up to Hamburg, before sending it downriver to Prague.
“It’s technically feasible,” said AleڠKnퟥk, director of the Military History Institute. “The question is if we can find money for the transport and a place where we could anchor the submarine or put it in dry dock.”
That idea for displaying the submarine was proposed after an agreement was reached with the Albanian army to donate samples of Czech-made weapons from the pre-World War II period to the Czech Republic, and the submarine was an added bonus.
Knퟥk hopes to bring the vessel in on pontoon floats. The only other option would be to cut it into pieces and weld it back together on the spot – which would be almost impossible to do properly, he said.
The Soviets built 215 such submarines in the 1950s, but most have been destroyed. The Czech Republic would be one of only three countries to own and exhibit such a submarine.
The Russian “whiskey”, or Project 613 submarines, is actually an improved copy of the German U-boats. Many of the captains of the first Austro-Hungarian submarines used in World War I were Czech.