Hi seevogel114,

As far as I know the watch officer made that decision & he put the men with the best eyesight in the most critical positions at the time. I have seen this in a couple of books but I don’t remember which ones. It seems some were better in the dark & others in fog or at certain times of the day (perhaps sunrise or sunset) etc. Also the most experienced men might have been assigned to the most critical sectors at the time depending on the circumstances. From the U-boat Commanders Handbook:

“Particular attention should be paid to the sun sector, in order to be safe from sudden air attack.

d) In carrying out the artillery raid, a sharp lookout should be kept (first officer of the watch) to leeward of the gunfire. In certain circumstances, it is advisable, as soon as a certain effect of the bombardment is noticed on the enemy ship (collapse of the defense), to interrupt the attack, and to take up a position on the other side of the enemy, in order to watch the sea on that side.

i) A specially reliable man should be assigned the exclusive task of watching the steamer after it has been stopped.”

I also don’t know who went first during a crash dive but that procedure was practiced over and over again while being timed during their training and not being able to do it in the allotted time could disqualify you from U-boat service. It was also timed during test dives at sea.

The survival of the boat could depend on just how fast getting everybody back into the boat was accomplished so there was probably a procedure that required whoever was closest to go first while the rest stacked up as they got there & then went in order. They essentially jumped down the hatch, hit the deck below & rolled out of the way before the next guy landed on top of them. I expect their training was painful until they learned how to do it correctly.

Additionally, there was sometimes an extra man on watch (usually looking for aircraft) in especially dangerous areas. And don’t forget there could be a gun crew manning the guns (AA guns & deck gun) and even one or more others taking a smoke or the navigator taking a fix or even a PK man. It would be even worse if there were wounded men involved. They tried to keep the number outside to only those necessary but a surprise attack could come at any time. Rank probably wouldn’t have mattered except for the watch officer. Typical military discipline would cause a petty officer to line up behind the ratings (you always take care of your men) during an emergency but I don’t know if that applies here where overall speed is most important.

The watch officer was always last & was responsible for locking down the hatch once he was inside. Also note that the dive may already be in progress before everybody gets inside. They all had to know how to do it the fastest way.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Ken Dunn