General Discussions
This is the place to discuss general issues related to the U-boat war or the war at sea in WWII.
Here\'s another back-up story.
Posted by:
Fin Bonset
()
Date: November 29, 2000 07:00PM
<HTML>Here\'s more about it. Apparantly there was an inquiry board set up. The imperial navy took this very seriously. the boat was UB-65.
Here it is:One of the strangest and most compelling tales of haunting\'s is that of U.Boat 65. Tragedy struck even before she was launched in 1916, at the height of the 1st world war, a construction worker was killed while working on the boat, when an iron girder fell on him, but worse was to follow, three engineers were overcome by deadly chlorine fumes while they were testing the batteries of the submarine. No one could ever determine why the batteries had leaked the lethal gas.
During her sea trials UB65 surfaced during rough weather to test her stability in stormy conditions, a sailor was washed overboard and drowned, as a consequence, the captain ordered the sub to dive, as she was diving a ballast tank sprung a leak, it took 12 frightening hours before the submarine could be brought back to the surface. The jinxed craft limped back to Germany where she was repaired and made ready for sea again. Then once more tragedy struck, while the torpedoes were being loaded, one of them exploded killing the second officer and wounding many other people, during a subsequent enquiry no reason could be found for the torpedo, to be able to prematurely explode in this manner.
UB65 was making ready to go to sea when a frightened crew member approached the captain and told him he had just seen the ghost of the second officer on board! The captain refused to take this report seriously, but was taken aback when a second crew member reported seeing the second officer boarding the craft! The seamen was shaking with fear when he told the captain how the apparition had walked up the gangplank, strolled onto the ship and simply vanished into thin air! The crew were worried about these incidents as they felt it was a bad omen, but panic nearly broke out when during an attack on a British merchantman, the ghostly second officer was again seen studying instruments on the craft by several sailors! The captain tried to dispel the fears of the crew by dismissing the stories, but the crew of UB65 knew there was something wrong with the ship.
Then the captain himself saw the ghost of the second officer! The U Boat had surfaced during rough weather, when the lookout spotted an officer on deck, as the man turned towards him he realized it was the dead second officer! He shouted to the crew below what he could see, an nearly caused a panic, the captain rushed up to the conning tower expecting to see nothing, instead there was his dead comrade exactly as the lookout had said! Then after a few seconds the ghostly second officer vanished!
When UB65 returned to port and the captain reported the incidents, a special board of inquiry was set up to investigate, the reports of the ghost were taken seriously, U boat crews were made up of extremely brave and hardy individuals, they were not the kind of men who were easily frightened, so the officers leading the inquiry could not just dismiss these reports. They then took the unprecedented steps to have the boat exorcised!
UB65 after the exorcism, was put back into service and a new crew and captain were assigned to the ship. For the next two missions, it seemed as if the exorcism had been successful, much to the relief of the new crew. Then in May 1918, whilst patrolling off the Spanish coast, the apparition once again made its presence felt, this time the ghost was seen on three occasions, the petty officer onboard swearing to god he had seen the ghost walk through a solid steel bulkhead!
On her final voyage during July 1918, UB65 was spotted motionless on the surface by an American submarine, orders were given to torpedo her, but before any attack could be made, UB65, suddenly blew up.
No one knows why UB65 mysteriously exploded, all the crew were lost, along and the secrets of the ghost which haunted her.
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Here it is:One of the strangest and most compelling tales of haunting\'s is that of U.Boat 65. Tragedy struck even before she was launched in 1916, at the height of the 1st world war, a construction worker was killed while working on the boat, when an iron girder fell on him, but worse was to follow, three engineers were overcome by deadly chlorine fumes while they were testing the batteries of the submarine. No one could ever determine why the batteries had leaked the lethal gas.
During her sea trials UB65 surfaced during rough weather to test her stability in stormy conditions, a sailor was washed overboard and drowned, as a consequence, the captain ordered the sub to dive, as she was diving a ballast tank sprung a leak, it took 12 frightening hours before the submarine could be brought back to the surface. The jinxed craft limped back to Germany where she was repaired and made ready for sea again. Then once more tragedy struck, while the torpedoes were being loaded, one of them exploded killing the second officer and wounding many other people, during a subsequent enquiry no reason could be found for the torpedo, to be able to prematurely explode in this manner.
UB65 was making ready to go to sea when a frightened crew member approached the captain and told him he had just seen the ghost of the second officer on board! The captain refused to take this report seriously, but was taken aback when a second crew member reported seeing the second officer boarding the craft! The seamen was shaking with fear when he told the captain how the apparition had walked up the gangplank, strolled onto the ship and simply vanished into thin air! The crew were worried about these incidents as they felt it was a bad omen, but panic nearly broke out when during an attack on a British merchantman, the ghostly second officer was again seen studying instruments on the craft by several sailors! The captain tried to dispel the fears of the crew by dismissing the stories, but the crew of UB65 knew there was something wrong with the ship.
Then the captain himself saw the ghost of the second officer! The U Boat had surfaced during rough weather, when the lookout spotted an officer on deck, as the man turned towards him he realized it was the dead second officer! He shouted to the crew below what he could see, an nearly caused a panic, the captain rushed up to the conning tower expecting to see nothing, instead there was his dead comrade exactly as the lookout had said! Then after a few seconds the ghostly second officer vanished!
When UB65 returned to port and the captain reported the incidents, a special board of inquiry was set up to investigate, the reports of the ghost were taken seriously, U boat crews were made up of extremely brave and hardy individuals, they were not the kind of men who were easily frightened, so the officers leading the inquiry could not just dismiss these reports. They then took the unprecedented steps to have the boat exorcised!
UB65 after the exorcism, was put back into service and a new crew and captain were assigned to the ship. For the next two missions, it seemed as if the exorcism had been successful, much to the relief of the new crew. Then in May 1918, whilst patrolling off the Spanish coast, the apparition once again made its presence felt, this time the ghost was seen on three occasions, the petty officer onboard swearing to god he had seen the ghost walk through a solid steel bulkhead!
On her final voyage during July 1918, UB65 was spotted motionless on the surface by an American submarine, orders were given to torpedo her, but before any attack could be made, UB65, suddenly blew up.
No one knows why UB65 mysteriously exploded, all the crew were lost, along and the secrets of the ghost which haunted her.
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