Ok folks, here's another one for you.

In looking at the construction process involved in making a U-boat, one can see that it consisted of a number of sections welded together (ref. Stern's "Type VII U-Boats). Anyone who has had any experience with failures of any structures that have been welded will attest to the fact that the failure generally occurs at the weld.

With this in mind, was there any special welding technique that was employed to weld the sections of the pressure hull together? As has already been discussed, the Type VII U-boat was a relatively robust boat so the welding job must have been quite superb. It seems to me that there could be no room for errors in this part of the construction.

Further to the above, how was the integrity of the welds tested before the boat was sent out of the yard?

regards

Robert Eno