General Discussions
This is the place to discuss general issues related to the U-boat war or the war at sea in WWII.
Re: RE: Attack against unknown uboat 6/4-1945
Posted by:
Rainer
()
Date: February 27, 2017 08:56PM
Hi Leif
The sources for both is a document that can be found in the National Archives (Reference ADM 199/1786: Proceedings of U-Boat Assessment Committee 1944-45) and yes I have a copy of it. This document contains a precis of the torpedo attack reported by MTB-715 and of course the assessment of the committee.
I still concur with the assessment made in 1945 that no U-boat was sunk in this attack, as according to the attack report of MTB-715 the U-boat was escorted by an armed trawler which certainly would have reported its loss. Furthermore the only U-boat known to be in the area was U-1055 which reported the last time on 23 April, so it was not sunk or damaged in this attack.
Non-contact warheads of torpedoes were fitted with a magnetic pistols that were designed to detonate underneath the keel of a ship when the torpedo reached the magnetic field around a steel hull. Far more damage results of the combined effects of the torpedo explosion, water pressure and cavitation bubble as compared to the contact warheads. However, all navies experiences troubles with the magnetic pistols that either passed harmlessly underneath the ships when they failed to register its magnetic field or detonated prematurely when they were too sensitive.
C.C.R. is the abbreviation for "compensated coil rod" that replaced the D.C.R. (duplex coil rod) in the magnetic pistols of the British torpedoes as the latter proved to be unsatisfactorily. There is a short description of the problems discovered after the introduction of the new type on the following website: [www.navweaps.com]
It appears the magnetic pistols fitted with C.C.R. were very sensitive. In my opinion one of the torpedoes fired at the U-boat probably ran too shallow and detonated prematurely in a wave, its explosion also detonating the second torpedo. This would explain the two almost simultaneous "hits" observed by the Norwegians. U-boat commanders made similar claims about ships allegedly sunk by torpedoes that detonated prematurely during the German torpedo crisis early in the war.
Best regards
Rainer
Crew member of uboat.net
The sources for both is a document that can be found in the National Archives (Reference ADM 199/1786: Proceedings of U-Boat Assessment Committee 1944-45) and yes I have a copy of it. This document contains a precis of the torpedo attack reported by MTB-715 and of course the assessment of the committee.
I still concur with the assessment made in 1945 that no U-boat was sunk in this attack, as according to the attack report of MTB-715 the U-boat was escorted by an armed trawler which certainly would have reported its loss. Furthermore the only U-boat known to be in the area was U-1055 which reported the last time on 23 April, so it was not sunk or damaged in this attack.
Non-contact warheads of torpedoes were fitted with a magnetic pistols that were designed to detonate underneath the keel of a ship when the torpedo reached the magnetic field around a steel hull. Far more damage results of the combined effects of the torpedo explosion, water pressure and cavitation bubble as compared to the contact warheads. However, all navies experiences troubles with the magnetic pistols that either passed harmlessly underneath the ships when they failed to register its magnetic field or detonated prematurely when they were too sensitive.
C.C.R. is the abbreviation for "compensated coil rod" that replaced the D.C.R. (duplex coil rod) in the magnetic pistols of the British torpedoes as the latter proved to be unsatisfactorily. There is a short description of the problems discovered after the introduction of the new type on the following website: [www.navweaps.com]
It appears the magnetic pistols fitted with C.C.R. were very sensitive. In my opinion one of the torpedoes fired at the U-boat probably ran too shallow and detonated prematurely in a wave, its explosion also detonating the second torpedo. This would explain the two almost simultaneous "hits" observed by the Norwegians. U-boat commanders made similar claims about ships allegedly sunk by torpedoes that detonated prematurely during the German torpedo crisis early in the war.
Best regards
Rainer
Crew member of uboat.net
