A retired fisherman has spent an estimated £50,000 turning his 70-foot canal barge into a WW2 replica.

Cyril Howarth was inspired by a film to create one of the feared attack vessels that sank 3,000 Allied ships during the Second World War.

It has caught the eye of nearby residents at Botanty bar, near Lancashire on the Leeds-Liverpool canal.

The 78-year-old has given the barge a German style make-over, fitting it with torpedo tubes and a periscope.

He spent half the money buying the narrowboat and the rest transforming it to resemble the deadly submarine.

It might look the part in this video footage but the vessel is still a rowboat and completely harmless, reaching a maximum speed of 3pmh.