German Naval Charts

This map brings a collection of historical German naval charts into a modern geographic setting. The original charts have been georeferenced so that they can be explored alongside a present-day map of Britain, Ireland and the surrounding seas.

The collection includes charts at several different scales. Broader charts remain available underneath regional and detailed charts, so the best available historical coverage remains visible as the map is enlarged.

Why put the charts on a modern map?

A scanned chart is useful as a historical document, but georeferencing it makes the geography much easier to investigate. Coastlines, patrol areas, minefields, reported positions and routes can be compared directly with their modern locations.

This is part of a wider Wrecksite project looking at German naval activity around Britain and Ireland during the First and Second World Wars. The chart collection can be explored alongside submarine patrol tracks, war diary positions and other contemporary material.

This section of Wrecksite is a work in progress. Charts and contemporary naval records are being added, georeferenced and checked as the project develops.

U-90: 14 November – 10 December 1917

The map currently includes a reconstruction of U-90's patrol between 14 November and 10 December 1917. The route is accompanied by recorded positions derived from the surviving patrol record.

The reconstructed line connects those positions to make the course of the patrol easier to follow geographically. It should therefore be read as a reconstruction between recorded positions rather than as a continuous record of the submarine's exact track.

Historical charts and modern geography

These are historical charts and should not be expected to align perfectly with modern mapping. Distortion in the original paper, scanning, historical surveying and the georeferencing process can all introduce differences.

Their value here is not as modern navigational charts, but as geographic historical documents. Once placed back into their approximate real-world position they provide a useful framework for exploring contemporary naval records and reconstructing activity at sea.

What comes next

Further submarine patrols, reported positions and other information from contemporary records can be added as the project develops. Where the surviving evidence allows it, this may also include mine-laying operations and other events.

These records can then be viewed directly against the charts available to German naval forces at the time, rather than only against a modern map.

Using the map

Use the chart opacity control to compare the historical mapping with the modern basemap underneath. The U-90 patrol switch turns the reconstructed patrol route and recorded positions on or off independently of the charts.

Wrecksite.uk is provided for historical, educational and research purposes only. Historical charts, positions and geographic information shown here must not be relied upon for navigation or other operational purposes.

Special Projects

Special Projects brings together historical material that is best explored geographically. It places charts, reconstructed voyages, operational areas, minefields and other records on an interactive modern map, allowing related evidence to be viewed separately or in combination.

The projects are organised into three broad themes: the First World War, the Second World War and Exploration. This structure allows new research, routes and historical maps to be added as the collection develops.

First World War

Battle of Jutland, 1916

This project reconstructs the geographic setting of the Battle of Jutland, fought on 31 May and 1 June 1916. It combines ship and formation tracks, German U-boat patrol areas, and Allied and German minefields.

Each named ship or formation has its own track and colour. Individual tracks can be switched on or off, making it possible to follow a particular vessel while retaining the wider operational context.

The patrol areas represent assigned areas rather than the precise movements of individual submarines. Likewise, the ship tracks are historical reconstructions rather than GPS-like records. Their accuracy is limited by the surviving evidence.

WWI ship-log voyages

This project maps positions transcribed from Royal Navy ship logbooks. The controls allow voyages to be explored by vessel, year and month across the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian Ocean and surrounding seas.

Track segments are included only where the elapsed time, implied speed and geographic relationship between recorded positions are credible. Reused reference coordinates, implausible connections and routes crossing intervening land are excluded where they can be identified.

The resulting lines show plausible connections between dated observations. They do not imply that a vessel followed the exact course shown between those observations.

Second World War

German naval charts

Georeferenced German naval charts are placed over the modern basemap so that historical mapping can be compared directly with present-day geography.

Charts at different scales become available as the map is enlarged. Their opacity can be adjusted to compare historical coastlines, place names and navigational information with the modern map beneath them.

Historical surveying, paper distortion, scanning and georeferencing can all affect alignment. These charts should therefore be treated as historical documents rather than precise modern mapping.

Exploration

James Cook’s voyages

The Exploration collection begins with a georeferenced historical chart and routes representing James Cook’s three voyages.

The first voyage, undertaken in Endeavour between 1768 and 1771, can be displayed independently. The second and third voyages, both undertaken in Resolution, are provided as separate routes so that each expedition can be followed individually.

The historical chart has its own visibility and opacity controls, allowing it to be compared with the modern basemap and with any combination of the three voyage routes.

Reference: General Research Division, The New York Public Library. "A general chart: exhibiting the discoveries made by Captn. James Cook in this and his two preceeding voyages; with the tracks of the ships under his command, plate 58" The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1955 - 1967. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/cf4421f0-7462-0133-0662-00505686a51c

The Exploration section is designed to accommodate further explorers, expeditions, routes and historical map sheets as additional material is researched and prepared.

Using the map

Open the Special Projects controls and select First World War, Second World War or Exploration. Each section contains its own projects and layers, which can be expanded and controlled independently.

Visibility switches turn individual maps or routes on and off. Opacity controls allow historical material to be faded against the modern basemap. Where available, clicking or tapping a route provides further information about it.

Accuracy and use

Special Projects presents historical evidence in its geographic context. Original records may be incomplete, approximate or internally inconsistent, while scanning, transcription and georeferencing can introduce further uncertainty.

Routes, positions, boundaries and chart alignments should therefore be understood as evidence-based historical interpretations rather than exact modern geographic records.

Wrecksite.uk is provided for historical, educational and research purposes only. Its historical charts and geographic information must not be relied upon for navigation or operational use.