RE: U-Boat Propulsion
Posted by:
Don Baker
()
Date: July 24, 2000 11:54PM
Hi gang
I will try to answer your questions.
1. At this time I can not remember the exact reason why the diesel engines were not started in order to charge batteries - it may have been that they required compressed air to start and there was little or no air on hand. And apparently there was no damage to the thrust bearings from "windmilling" the propellors.
I do know U-505 was not towed backward.
2. However - by the time we reached Bermuda, the engineering officer Cdr. Earl Trosino had things well enough in hand that he requested permission from Capt. Gallery to start the diesels and sail U-505 in to port under her own power. Capt. Gallery, probably not wanting to take any undo risks with his prize at this stage of the game, denied permission. After all, none of Guadalcanal's crew were submariners nor had any of the men who went aboard her ever been on a submarine before. In addition - no one could read German so they could not understand the labels on the controls and valves. An experienced submarine officer did come out and went aboard U-505 for a few hours while we were still off the African coast but decided Trosino had done all the correct things and he soon departed the scene leaving Trosino in charge.
Cdr. Trosino had had many previous years as a Chiel Engineer in Sun Oil tankers before entering the Navy. After crawling around inside the sub for a few days he had things pretty well sorted out. There is also a story, which is well covered in the Gilliland & Shenk biography of Adm. Dan Gallery, about a crewman on U-505 who claimed he was a conscripted Pole and who went aboard U-505 and assisted in the salvage. It is clear this incident did occur but just exactly what this crewman did is not clear. Probably just the fact he could read German and speak English was a big help in addition to his knowledge of various systems in the sub.
After Germany surrendered, U-505 was sailed on the east coast by an American crew. One day a few of us from the carrier went aboard U-505 in port and almost got involved in a fist fight with her American crew when those submariners had the temerity to tell us it was impossible to capture a sub and tow it back and that the whole thing had to have happened in some other way.
Regards to all,
Don B
I will try to answer your questions.
1. At this time I can not remember the exact reason why the diesel engines were not started in order to charge batteries - it may have been that they required compressed air to start and there was little or no air on hand. And apparently there was no damage to the thrust bearings from "windmilling" the propellors.
I do know U-505 was not towed backward.
2. However - by the time we reached Bermuda, the engineering officer Cdr. Earl Trosino had things well enough in hand that he requested permission from Capt. Gallery to start the diesels and sail U-505 in to port under her own power. Capt. Gallery, probably not wanting to take any undo risks with his prize at this stage of the game, denied permission. After all, none of Guadalcanal's crew were submariners nor had any of the men who went aboard her ever been on a submarine before. In addition - no one could read German so they could not understand the labels on the controls and valves. An experienced submarine officer did come out and went aboard U-505 for a few hours while we were still off the African coast but decided Trosino had done all the correct things and he soon departed the scene leaving Trosino in charge.
Cdr. Trosino had had many previous years as a Chiel Engineer in Sun Oil tankers before entering the Navy. After crawling around inside the sub for a few days he had things pretty well sorted out. There is also a story, which is well covered in the Gilliland & Shenk biography of Adm. Dan Gallery, about a crewman on U-505 who claimed he was a conscripted Pole and who went aboard U-505 and assisted in the salvage. It is clear this incident did occur but just exactly what this crewman did is not clear. Probably just the fact he could read German and speak English was a big help in addition to his knowledge of various systems in the sub.
After Germany surrendered, U-505 was sailed on the east coast by an American crew. One day a few of us from the carrier went aboard U-505 in port and almost got involved in a fist fight with her American crew when those submariners had the temerity to tell us it was impossible to capture a sub and tow it back and that the whole thing had to have happened in some other way.
Regards to all,
Don B
