Hi Tristan,

The adoption of a conning tower emblem wasn't necessarily tied to the first patrol. Many boats had real conning tower emblems after the UAK markings were removed and before their first patrol. The UAK symbols aren't generally considered conning tower emblems as they identified the shipyard and a series of boats.

Basically all boats had UAK symbols from going into service until being accepted into the navy by the U-boat Acceptance Command but only some boats adopted actual conning tower emblems after the UAK symbols were removed.

Additionally as Paul points out Hogel does show a conning tower emblem for U-353. However it is qualified as: “According to Canadian information”. The report on uboatarchive.net says she carried no badge so apparently she wasn’t displaying a conning tower emblem when she was sunk but it is possible she left port with one and it was obliterated by the harsh conditions at sea. I know of one boat that painted over their conning tower emblem before they left on patrol but at the time of her sinking the emblem could be seen as the coat of paint that had completely covered it up before she left for that patrol had washed off or had been worn off and I have seen some photos of boats returning from patrol with emblems badly damaged or missing completely due to the harsh conditions at sea during the patrol.

At any rate Hogel’s book isn’t 100 percent accurate and it has been updated with supplements at least twice that I know of so it is quite possible U-353 never adopted a conning tower emblem. It is however the definitive work on the subject of conning tower emblems.

Regards,

Ken Dunn