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World War One discussions.
sunken tonnage claims
Posted by:
Phil Cullen
()
Date: March 13, 2003 08:34AM
<HTML>Hello all
The room has been very quiet of late maybe this will liven things up!
Recently I have been looking at the KTB of the u 55. On almost every patrol the commander claimed to have sunk a steamer of about 6,000 tons which they failed to Identifiy. When you consider they were at war, given weather conditions in the Atlantic and the risk of being attacked by warships this would not be unexpected. However, even after years of research by others in much calmer times and with great resourses, like Spindler the ships still can not be identified!.
A prime example of this is the sinking of a " Goldmouth " type steamer on the 7-2-1917 by the u 55. The vessel was estimated at 7446 tons and required 2 torpedos to sink it but Spindler failed to ID the vessel. No vessel was reported sunk or even damaged in Lloyds losses for that area and date!
Lets not forget this happened at the end of a long patrol in winter, could it have been that there was no steamer! but Werner wanted to get home. Could the torpedos been fired in order to justify a return to base? The commanders were in competition with each other and probably took their standing in the order of merit very seriously.
Does anyone else agree based upon the diaries of other u boats.Or is this the way out by a poor researcher!. Or could he just have missed!
Regards
Phil Cullen</HTML>
The room has been very quiet of late maybe this will liven things up!
Recently I have been looking at the KTB of the u 55. On almost every patrol the commander claimed to have sunk a steamer of about 6,000 tons which they failed to Identifiy. When you consider they were at war, given weather conditions in the Atlantic and the risk of being attacked by warships this would not be unexpected. However, even after years of research by others in much calmer times and with great resourses, like Spindler the ships still can not be identified!.
A prime example of this is the sinking of a " Goldmouth " type steamer on the 7-2-1917 by the u 55. The vessel was estimated at 7446 tons and required 2 torpedos to sink it but Spindler failed to ID the vessel. No vessel was reported sunk or even damaged in Lloyds losses for that area and date!
Lets not forget this happened at the end of a long patrol in winter, could it have been that there was no steamer! but Werner wanted to get home. Could the torpedos been fired in order to justify a return to base? The commanders were in competition with each other and probably took their standing in the order of merit very seriously.
Does anyone else agree based upon the diaries of other u boats.Or is this the way out by a poor researcher!. Or could he just have missed!
Regards
Phil Cullen</HTML>
| Subject | Written By | Posted |
|---|---|---|
sunken tonnage claims
|
Phil Cullen | 03/13/2003 08:34AM |
|
Re: sunken tonnage claims
|
Brian | 03/13/2003 03:56PM |
|
Re: sunken tonnage claims
|
David H | 03/13/2003 06:17PM |
|
Re: sunken tonnage claims
|
Brian | 03/14/2003 12:40AM |