A BOATING club in Chester is renovating a submarine that they plan to launch in the River Dee in the coming weeks.

Chester Motor Boat Club bought the 1959 vessel, which was previously used for salvage operations, from Mahon Harbour in Spain.

It was then transported 1,300 miles to its new home on the banks of the Dee on Sandy Lane.

The idea to buy the vessel was conceived during a club meeting last year.

Recalling the meeting, Ken Doughty, the commodore of the club, said: “We were having a discussion about the lack of available boat moorings due to the limited space available on club grounds. Then one of the members said ‘if there's no room above the water, what about underneath it?’ We took the bull by the horns and ran with it."

John Sadler, a member with good mechanical skills was then tasked with finding a submarine that the club could afford and which would be easy enough to operate by anyone with just a few hours training.

After initially looking in the UK, John's search took him further afield to Europe where he found just what the club was looking for.

Although there are some mechanical issues with the submarine John is confident that he will be able to have the hull watertight and a working transmission system in a matter of weeks.

He said: "There's a whole river of space out there where we could moor plenty of subs. Hopefully, this is the first of many."