General Discussions
This is the place to discuss general issues related to the U-boat war or the war at sea in WWII.
Re: u-boat emblems+numbers
Posted by:
Ken Dunn
()
Date: October 26, 2001 12:43PM
<HTML>Hi Mike,
I am afraid it is much more complicated than that.
Pre-war U-boats had their number painted on the conning tower. That practice was discontinued when the war started.
There were different emblems on the same boat at different times. When a new U-boat was launched it was given a UAK symbol for identification. This emblem was removed when the boat was commissioned.
During the war, many U-boats had one or more emblems painted on the conning tower. The emblem was up to the commander. There were also flotilla emblems and some commanders chose to display them instead of or in addition their own emblem. The same flotilla emblem would be displayed on many U-boats at the same time. Some boats had more than one emblem of their own at the same time too.
Additionally, some boats used different emblems for different patrols. Some emblems weren’t painted on until the boat was at sea and sometimes these were removed before returning to port. Sometimes an emblem from one boat traveled with an officer from that boat when he took command of his own boat. New commanders sometimes changed the emblem of a boat they were given command of. Sometimes commanders used one emblem for a while and then changed to a different emblem.
As the war progressed, the displaying of emblems on the coning tower at sea was restricted or frowned upon and some boats used removable emblems for displaying only in port.
As to badges worn by crew, some did and some didn’t display them. They were frequently the emblem of the boat but not always. The crew and commander of U-126 wore a button with a three-leaf clover on their caps but the emblem on the boat was the queen of spades. The commander of U-126 also wore a three-leaf clover on the bill of his cap as well as the button and a spade (as in queen of spades).
If you are not confused by now, you should be. At any rate, there is not necessarily a way to tell what U-boat an officer is from by anything on his uniform. This could only be done when he was wearing the emblem of his current boat. You could also not always tell what U-boat it was just from its emblem.
The best (and only) book I know that explains all of this and also contains most of the emblems is:
Högel, Georg. U-Boat Emblems of World War II 1939 – 1945. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 1996. ISBN 0-76430-724-X. You can purchase it at Amazon.com. If you use the link from this site to amazon.com to purchase it, the site gets a small commission and it won’t cost you any extra.
Also, you can find some of the emblems on this site and others elsewhere on the Internet.
Regards,
Ken Dunn</HTML>
I am afraid it is much more complicated than that.
Pre-war U-boats had their number painted on the conning tower. That practice was discontinued when the war started.
There were different emblems on the same boat at different times. When a new U-boat was launched it was given a UAK symbol for identification. This emblem was removed when the boat was commissioned.
During the war, many U-boats had one or more emblems painted on the conning tower. The emblem was up to the commander. There were also flotilla emblems and some commanders chose to display them instead of or in addition their own emblem. The same flotilla emblem would be displayed on many U-boats at the same time. Some boats had more than one emblem of their own at the same time too.
Additionally, some boats used different emblems for different patrols. Some emblems weren’t painted on until the boat was at sea and sometimes these were removed before returning to port. Sometimes an emblem from one boat traveled with an officer from that boat when he took command of his own boat. New commanders sometimes changed the emblem of a boat they were given command of. Sometimes commanders used one emblem for a while and then changed to a different emblem.
As the war progressed, the displaying of emblems on the coning tower at sea was restricted or frowned upon and some boats used removable emblems for displaying only in port.
As to badges worn by crew, some did and some didn’t display them. They were frequently the emblem of the boat but not always. The crew and commander of U-126 wore a button with a three-leaf clover on their caps but the emblem on the boat was the queen of spades. The commander of U-126 also wore a three-leaf clover on the bill of his cap as well as the button and a spade (as in queen of spades).
If you are not confused by now, you should be. At any rate, there is not necessarily a way to tell what U-boat an officer is from by anything on his uniform. This could only be done when he was wearing the emblem of his current boat. You could also not always tell what U-boat it was just from its emblem.
The best (and only) book I know that explains all of this and also contains most of the emblems is:
Högel, Georg. U-Boat Emblems of World War II 1939 – 1945. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 1996. ISBN 0-76430-724-X. You can purchase it at Amazon.com. If you use the link from this site to amazon.com to purchase it, the site gets a small commission and it won’t cost you any extra.
Also, you can find some of the emblems on this site and others elsewhere on the Internet.
Regards,
Ken Dunn</HTML>
| Subject | Written By | Posted |
|---|---|---|
u-boat emblems+numbers
|
michael c mcabee | 10/25/2001 10:24PM |
|
Re: u-boat emblems+numbers
|
Ken Dunn | 10/26/2001 12:43PM |
|
Re: u-boat emblems+numbers
|
Antonio Veiga | 10/26/2001 06:01PM |
|
Re: u-boat emblems+numbers
|
FNE | 10/27/2001 03:01PM |