Hi TF, There is a serious perspective problem with that photo. It looks fake.
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Gdos, As usual your question probably cannot be answered with a simple answer. Most things changed over the course of the U-boat War and the life rafts were likely no exception. For example at the beginning of the war U-boats carried wooden skiffs which were replaced by inflatable life rafts later in the war. The life rafts were different sizes, some being for groups of men or for prov
Forum: Technology and Operations

Hi Bill, uboatarchive.net is active and has been for years. Give it a try.
Forum: General Discussions

Hi John, You got mail.
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Brian, Unfortunately I have never found the complete text of Standing Order 154 however its intent is clear based on the proceedings of the Nuremberg trials: Nuremberg War Crimes Trial - Doenitz verdict: “Among these preliminary standing orders of the U-Boat Command is Order Number 154, signed by Doenitz: "Paragraph (e). Do not pick up survivors and take them with you. Do not
Forum: General Discussions

MaschObStbsGfr Paul Mengelberg (U-26) passed away peacefully Friday October 11, 2013 at the age of 97. Paul served on the torpedo boat (a small destroyer in those days) ILTIS (933 tons) during the Spanish Civil War. He then briefly served on the destroyer Z-7 HERMANN SCHOEMANN before transferring to the U-BootWaffe. His training boat was U-5 and his first operational U-boat was U-39. He was
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Brian, You’re quite welcome. That’s the most accurate converter that exists and it converts both ways - grid to lat/long or lat/long to grid. It also plots the location on a google map though you will probably have to zoom out to see it. It is really a great tool.
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Metman, See: for a great free on-line grid converter.
Forum: General Discussions

Hi HHA, Definitely not U-234. U-234 was a Type XB purpose built minelayer that looks nothing like that boat. I suspect that the boat in the video is U-805 a Type IXC/40.
Forum: General Discussions

Hi von Schoenvorts, I have researched all the German cases listed on that site & they are all bogus except for the Eck case of course. I didn’t research the Japanese cases. My dad was on the Cardonia and was in the lifeboat supposedly machine gunned (and of course it wasn't) and I had lunch with the only still living survivor (92 years old now) of her sinking last Thursday. He ab
Forum: General Discussions

Hi All, “Suppliers of the Grey Wolves” is indeed a good book & it is up to the high standards set by their “Uboot im Focus” magazines. It is a large book weighing from 3 to 4 pounds and is printed in both German and English on high quality paper and contains some excellent photos that I had never seen before including a few super rare photos taken inside a Type XIV U-boat. It is expe
Forum: General Discussions

HI Jack, See: for a list of the officers (except for the Chief Engineer) on that patrol. There is also a link there to the KTB for that patrol translated into English. You might also want to grab a copy of: Topp, Erich. The Odyssey of a U-boat Commander – Recollections of Erich Topp. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 1992. ISBN: 0-275-93898-0. Copyright: Verlag E. S. Mittler &
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Dudly, First you need to understand that many times only some of the lifeboats even got away. For example a ship with a bad list to one side couldn’t launch any of the lifeboats from the other side. The lifeboats located just above the point where the torpedo hit were frequently completely destroyed when the torpedo exploded. Of those that did get away many were damaged by shrapnel dur
Forum: General Discussions

Hi zakarpatska, The short answers are: Yes the torpedo tubes could hold 3 TMB or 2 TMC mines. Yes they were normally launched one at a time. See the following for a good explanation of how U-boat torpedo tubes operated, included the mine launching mechanism:
Forum: Technology and Operations

Hi Bob, The Norfolk sunk by U-175 was Canadian,not British and was much smaller than the Norfolk you are researching.(-:
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Bob, Someone has transposed some numbers. The S.S. Norfolk was sunk by U-552, not U-522. Out of curiosity, which source claimed it was U-522 & which one claimed it was U-175?
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Frank, You have a Private Message.
Forum: Technology and Operations

Hi All, See the post entitled “New WWII German Naval Grid Reference Converter” at . The old 2003 post I made is refeerences a thread that is no longer on the site. There is a new Naval Grid Calculator out there now that does an excellent job.
Forum: General Discussions

Hi All, The trim/balance of the boat was important enough that the Chief Engineer was responsible for it. Everything that was expendable/consumable (ammunition/torpedoes, food, water, fuel etc.) was routinely monitored, logged and reported to him so he could make any necessary adjustments. One of the control room petty officers routinely monitored the salinity of the water, especially when th
Forum: Technology and Operations

Hi Simon, Thanks much!
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Simon, What did the modifications for underwater refueling look like. I knew some boats were fitted out for this but I haven't come across any details on what the alterations were.
Forum: General Discussions

Hi jcrt, I think the front boats that were sent to be used for training were simply worn out from front line service but still usable for training. The training boats sent to the front were sent because they were needed at the front more than they were needed for training.
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Robert, There were multiple cables that connected to the torpedo while it was in the tube including the one that transmitted the information to the gyro gidenance system in the torpedo. They were supposed to automatically retract when the torpedo was launched but sometimes they didn't.
Forum: Technology and Operations

Hi bezukhov, The launch of WWII U-boat torpedoes was meant to be initiated electrically from the bridge or control tower. Compressed air was the only method used in WWII U-boats to push the torpedo out of the tubes. WWII U-boat torpedoes were not designed to swim out themselves. Multiple simultaneous shots were actually controlled by a mechanism that initiated them at specific timed interva
Forum: Technology and Operations

Hi Lcdrusnret, There is a description of the first method (just adding an offset to the numeric portion of the grid reference) at at the bottom of the page. This progressed to the Address Book and as the war went on the Address Book became more complex. There are references to it in some U-boat KTBs. You can find a detailed description of the systems employed in: Bray, Jeffrey K. Ultra
Forum: General Discussions

Hi lcdrusnret, The grid didn't change but during the course of the war they came up with an "Address Book" which was used to double encrypt the grid references in radio transmissions instead. Most of the time the grid references in the KTB are in the clear but sometimes they entered the encrypted grid references in the KTB instead. Anyone reading a KTB might find a grid refere
Forum: General Discussions

Hi All, Anyone doing WWII U-boat research eventually runs into the problem of having to deal with a grid reference from a KTB and a latitude and longitude from a merchant ship or warship document. The German system was meant to disguise the true latitude and longitude of a given position and required a map with the exact location of the squares and sub-squares which of course wasn’t readily
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Ken, See the article at: entitled “Treatment of Merchant Ship Survivors by U-boat Crews 1939 - 1945”. The attack took place in rough weather and a pair of escorts came up just as U-48 was leaving (forcing her to dive) and depth charged her. Additionally the commander of U-48 Herbert Schultze had a history of helping survivors when he could, not shooting at them so you can be sure y
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Ronald, U-boat guns were not marked with the number of the U-boat. Only things that were unique to a particular U-boat were marked that way and there were very few items like that on a U-boat. I don't know what the 77 meant for sure but it is common for German military weapons to have a some of their parts marked with the last two digits of its serial number though I don't k
Forum: Technology and Operations

Hi Tony, I can think of a couple assuming I understand what you are looking for. The first is the raid into Scapa Flow by U-47(Günther Prien) to sink the battleship HMS Royal Oak 14 Oct 1939. See: for the details (don’t forget to click on the “More on this vessel” link). For the Brits this was something like waking up in the morning to find London Bridge had been blown up while it was be
Forum: General Discussions