The Central Park U-Boat 

My great grandfather Herbert Jame Geiger, owner of the Bulk Wreckers & Salvage Company, purchased the submarine at the end of the war. He sold many pieces of it as souvenirs to locals but most of it ended up being scraped. He kept the conning tower for his children to play on. It still stands in our backyard to this day in Saint Regis Falls, NY.

Unlike many comparable RU-vid channels, you speak with a clear enunciation at a moderate tempo, giving the listener a chance to pick up on all that you say. The value of this should not be underestimated, especially for the non-native English speaking part of your audience!

Renamed "U-Buy-A-Bond". That is priceless.

One of the things I love about your videos is that you’re so consistent with uploading, Mark. Your videos are incredibly interesting and so well made!

This was also done during the second world war. A German stuka was on display in the parking lot of a Searsrobuck store in Union city N.J. Thanks Mark for bringing history to life . You know I'm a big fan of your channel.

I have seen a few pieces of German Artillery on display and it was always a mystery how it got to some town in West Texas or Nebraska or something. Now we know.

Another video on something I've never heard of. Thanks for the info!

There is an Oberon-Class submarine half buried (up to the waterline) in a park in a small town in Australia called Holbrook. It was placed there in honor of one of Australia's early submarine/torpedo pioneers. While passing through the township it caught the eye of my Greek mate who asked me how it got there. I told him it sailed up the nearby river during a big flood to evacuate the township, but the flood subsided before it could get out and it's been there ever since. He believes that yarn to this day and I have to hide my cheeky grin every time he repeats it to others.

Would have been an unbelievably ironic turn of events if the ship carrying it was sunk by a U-Boat...

I have read about WWI and WWII since I was 7, some 50 years ago. Consistently, you bring up pieces of important knowledge I had no clue of. I had previously thought myself well-educated, at least reasonably so, about these two wars. I no longer suffer from that delusion. Thank you for your amazing work and dedication to accuracy!

When he asked ' how did a U boat end up in central park ? ' I initially thought it was due to some catastrophic navigation.

According to the polish wikipedia page: it went to Montreal in november 1917 and after that to Toronto. Later it went on a trip trough the entire United States. And it was indeed scrapped after the end of the war.

Best channel on RU-vid and I watch a lot of RU-vid.

Where'd it go? I dunno! Something about "leaving valuables unattended" in Central Park seems a bit foolish...

Keep ‘em coming, Mark. Fabulous and fascinating.

Mark deserves 1 million subscribers. His videos represent the best of RU-vid

I thought I was going crazy when I bought a world war one picture from a local antique store that had this exact u-boat

Your channel is awesome. Tom Clancy once said that... “ a new Clive Cussler novel is like a visit from an old friend”. I get that same excited feeling every time you upload a new video. Thanks you Mark for the very informative stories. Well investigated and presented. Cheers.

Dude I've explored every centimeter of central park. I was already asking myself how I could have missed a big Uboot there.

As a kid living on Catalina Island in the late 1950s we used to play with a WWI Maxim machine-gun in a small park off Front Street in Avalon. It was inert, welded so nothing moved, and mounted on concrete. We all wondered where it came from and why it was there. A few years later I found out that it had been "bought" by the town of Avalon during WWI for buying war bonds. This video is the first time I've seen a second reference to that practice. Thanks! (In 1997, when I visited the island, the gun was still there!)

I love this channel. I've been looking for history like this!! I will binge every last episode and continue to watch everthing you post. I just want to say thank you Mark. You're the man!!

Very nice presentation. My Grandfather was an EM2c USN when assigned to crew the surrendered SM UB-88, eventually bringing it to Long Beach, California. It was sunk as a target 1921 in Catalina channel. UB-88 remains the only U-boat to have been on the California coast.

The title music is very dramatic and definitely has a WW2 action film feel to it. Good choice.

Absolutely loving your channel Mark. Thank you.

Great stuff as always Dr. Felton. Very glad I came across your channel sometime back.

I wont insist but a short biblio for each episode, a sort of a "guide for further reading", would be much appreciated. Thank you Mark!

Absolutely remarkable what you find Dr Felton.You do History and honor with these videos!

Thank you Dr. Felton for keeping history alive.

$1,000.00 Bond got you a Pickelhaube? In 1917's currency value?! So I guess they've always been ludicrously expensive.

i’m from new york and this is the first time i’ve heard of this story. great video. i hope you can do a part 2 and let us know what happened to it

Great footage as always. I’m amazed how you find appropriate footage for your videos.

UC-5 Featured in one of my small uni assignments about the display of WWI U-Boats in the Thames. Thanks for the vid!

Loved it! Keep it up Mark!

My only complaint is these videos don’t last long enough. Which means I have to binge watch a dozen a night. Oh the struggle. Great channel.....

Hey mark, great video.

Great video. It really shows how much research you put in your videos.

Amazing videos! The level of detail is just right

Thank you Mr Felton - another great video.

It ended up in the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1919- it was tested at length after being fully assembled again- then used for scrap. The British didn't want it back as they already had enough captured subs of all types at the end of the war. UC-5 weighed less than 200 tons surfaced. She was designed to operate in coastal waters strictly as a minelayer, carrying A max load of twelve mines- she could not fire torpedoes. By almost all standards- .she was one of the most successful warships in history! At only 200 tons she sank - from August 1915 to March 1916- 30 ships- almost 40,000 tons and damaged 7 more at over 20,000 tons. A British tank which saw heavy action in France was exhibited alongside the submarine. She sank the destroyer HMS Velox and Submarine E 6. navsource.org/archives/08/pdf/0846507.pdf navsource.org/archives/08/pdf/0846508.pdf

Awesome bits of info! Thank you man

Great video. Your subjects are very unique. I am happy to have found your channel.

The obscurity of the subject matter is a dominant facet of the gems you offer. Well done.

Informative,and educational i was born and raised in Manhattan a block from central park at 71st Street and had no idea of this historical occurrence. Thanks

Ha! I worked on a fishing trawler out of Harwich in 1996, the Shipwash sandbank was favourite fishing ground. Sometimes when crossing the sandbank at low tide the boat would touch bottom too.

Interesting and informative vid. I'd like to see you do a collab with The History Guy. You often cover similar topics, and he also has a great presentation style.

You really do an awesome job of pronouncing german and other foreign words. Hats off!

Great video Mark keep up the good work.

Really shows the leap in technology made in such a relatively short timespan, when you see the reliance then on teams of horses of such numbers used to haul the hull.

There is always something new to learn. Great video.

Wow. So interesting to think of the technology of a submarine being moved around by huge teams of horses. Such a fascinating time of advancement - electricity, steam, gas, diesel, radio, radar, the dawn of air power, and then to the moon and back within 60 years.

AMAZING! The photos alone of the teams of horses pulling the old iron fish through the streets of NYC are worth it. You can bet your bottom dollar that those interior 'souvenirs' are distributed throughout the UK and the USA. I contend that untold 1000's of relics are sitting in basements and barns throughout the West, many not having been touched/re-discovered for 75-100 years!

So I've just realised how many of your documentaries I've watched & hadn't subscribed to your channel!! That has now been rectified, I apologise for being late, 😊 Keep up the great work Mark.

Another great video Mark. I love that music at the beginning!

Wonderful footage, Thank You!.

Well done Mark!!!

Very well done mr Felton!

To: The AceDestroyer 1 day ago (edited) You and Dr Mark Felton. Excellent docos well researched. You both seem to be able to correctly pronounce German names words etc to the standard most Germans would compliment you on .Well done

I am addicted to this channel !

If it's Mark Felton.... it's going to be interesting.

Mark, so glad your videos haven't been mistakenly caught up in the Great RU-vid demonetization Purge of June 2019!!!

Very interesting (as usual)! I hope the mystery of the U-boat's disappearance can be solved.

This channel is awesome I learn so many cool facts

very cool video Mark. thank you

I never knew of this, but I remember a ww2 u-boat, the “U 505” was stationed at the Chicago museum of science & industry, with daily tours, (one could look through the periscope at a parking lot) back in the late 60s, when I was about seven years old......(have no idea what became of it either, though it probably could be found out, if one asks the right people at the museum, or something)....

Excellent video. I'm supporting you.

what a story.Tanks Mark!

I heard part of it got sent down to NC and is used as a smoker at Leons BBQ Bonds.

Hi Mark, absolutely love your videos!! So informative, and historically accurate.....unlike some of the documentaries on some of the streaming services!! Please take this as a compliment...your videos remind me of, 'The World at War'.....but with more in depth coverage. Keep up the fantastic work!!

You should do a video about how u boats would help rescue people they had sunk. Give them water and tow the lifeboats towards land. Explain how this culminated in the Laconia Incident and why they stopped rescuing people.

Odd double connection with Birkenhead here - the design of New York Central Park is based on Birkenhead Park, and a U Boat is currently on display at Woodside Ferry Terminal in Birkenhead.

Awesome video as usual

the lack of a skyline in manhattan is astounding in comparison to today

British sailor radio distress call in WWI: “ Help us! We are sinking!!!” German radio operator: “Vhat are you sinking about?”

Great story thanks! A bit surreal seeing teams of horses pulling a U Boat!

Best documentaries on youtube!

My grandmother saw that u-boat she always spoke about it!

Another awesome video

@Mark Felton Productions Could you please do a video on the WWI U-boat that is in Lake Michigan off Chicago. The U-boat was used at Great Lakes Naval Academy north of Chicago from 1919 until the early 1920’s the U-boat needed a overhaul the decision was made to sail it to a training area off of Chicago then use it for target practice. The U-boat was located a few years ago by AT&T running underwater phone lines from Chicago to Michigan. The U-boats location is secret the plan is to salvage it put on display in Chicago next to the WWII U 505.

Interesting. I had never heard of this sub. Perhaps a story on the WWI U-boat rusting away in the Thames Estuary. UB 122, I believe is the consensus.

Thanks Mark!

Another great episode. I marvel at the crews of the smaller submarines. It would have been quite crowded in UC5 with a crew of 14.

again, amazing video :)

Simply amazing part of WW One history! Thanks

Six German U-boats were sailed to the Brooklyn Navy Yard by USN crews in 1919. They visited ports on the East Coast in support of Victory Bond sales to retire war debt. Later the Navy decided that they would be useful as recruiting tools. One boat (UC-97) transited the St. Lawrence Seaway and four of the five Great Lakes. Another boat (UB-88) conducted an epic voyage down the East Coast, across the Gulf of Mexico, up the Mississippi River as far as Memphis, then sailed through the Panama Canal and up the West Coast.

Very interesting, well done.

That's fascinating. Greetings from NY

Best of luck finding anything more about this U-Boat, I wouldn't doubt it wasn't completely scrapped out and back then record keeping wasn't given much a priority

Could you do a video on Operation Reinhart? Thanks.

I love the fact that the stories are very detailed and best of all................NO WATERMARKS.................like other channels

Great videos

Great video mark! Could you do a video on u 534 sometime, I would like to hear your opinion of it being cut up after it was raised in 1993.

Interesting and unique Thanks mark UC 5 has a devastating purpose in naval war, which shows from her record Mines instead of torpedoes!!!!!

Mark, you are working hard! I always raise a happy eyebrow seeing a new vid of yours in my YT stream. My thanks! Can you perhaps make a content rich video about the passings of the French Foreign Legion during WWII? That's an other unexplored topic of WWII. Many thanks and kind regards

Great, another story local to Colchester :) My dad was commissioned nearby at HMS Ganges in the mid fifties, and from there served on HMS Cumberland. Keeping on the subject of submarines, they were testing cutting edge sonar equipment in the Atlantic and detected the Nautilus going underneath the ice in 1958. Probably not common knowledge that we were listening in so don't tell anyone ;)

We need dr.felton history t shirts to spread the word!!!

Again, an unbelievable ( ie "superb") video of another forgotten nugget of wartime history.....Mark how do you do it?

It must have been extremely challenging to crew one of these U boats.

Great channel! Subbed.

Mark this may be a picture of uc5 in 1919. I say "may" because the description is not very descriptive I mean I'm assuming it's the date of the pic but it could be the date it was taken into a collection or something. At any rate it is shown nesting post war with a couple other Germans subs at the Brooklyn Navy Yards. It's not something any American should be proud of but we're famous for forgetting our wars and warriors so it's not strange that u can get a few articles on the sub and nothing of her final disposition. So she did make it past the war and was apparently sea worthy even after being cut up. Sailors (and others) luv souvenirs so I gotta think someone walked home with something. Besides this any ship sorta goes into fire sale mode before decommissioning. All the neighboring ships drop by and swipe hatches, electrical gear and what not it's standard. I was next to "Might Mo" when she was retired the last time and she got worked over pretty good. So I'm sure the little sub lived on in pieces. On the other hand their were other German subs on hand by wars end so she wasn't unique. Like the X files, the answer is out there. The Navy luvs record keeping so the final fate of UC5 is known. Maybe I'l drop the public affairs people a line sometimes ya get lucky with these things. UC5 is shown in the last two photos www.navsource.org/archives/08/08465.htm

Good stuff