Hi Steve, You got mail.
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Jcrt, One of the problems determining what that pipe is for is that the photos we have been working with only show one end of the pipe/container. The other end is in the shadows. Well it finally occurred to me (a senior moment I guess) to go back & look at the photos I took of the U-505 the last time I was there and I did have a photo that shows both ends of the pipe (see below). It
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Jcrt, The ventilation trunk on page 44 is several meters longer than the pipe in question and continues on way past where the pipe in question terminates. Also there are two on them, one on each side of the boat. They were also located under the deck plates. The ventilation trunks in that diagram run all the way to the diesel engine room. The diagram is a bit difficult to read without a
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Simon, I just found photos of both U-1023 and U-1306 and both had the 37mm gun.
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Simon, It doesn't look like U-260 has a schnokel in the photo & U-505 didn't have one either. Do U-1023 and U-1306 have schnokels in your photos? Also do they have 37mm guns?
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Simon, First I have no idea what was inside the pipe. However spare barrels were always carried for the original 20mm AA gun as I have seen references to them in various books and in at least one KTB. They were kept inside the boat back then. Like any machine gun barrel they could be damaged by sustained full automatic fire resulting in extremely poor accuracy and most light machine guns
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Rafik, Yes it was possible for a WWII U-boat to dive to 260 meters and survive. It was rare and in general it was an accident caused by damage to the boat. The calculated crush depth was around 250 meters but was just an estimate and a few boats went deeper during the war and survived though I am guessing that most boats that went that deep did not survive.
Forum: Technology and Operations

Hi Rafik, The IWO was second in command in a U-boat even if the LI outranked him.
Forum: General Discussions

Hi BHenderson, HE stands for Hydrophone Effect. Asdic sends out a pulse then the receiver listens for it after it bounces off its target. In HE mode the Asdic simply listens and acts as a hydrophone would. No pulse is sent out. HE is also referred to as “passive mode” etc. The noise created by a torpedo’s propellers was often picked up via HE alone.
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Paul, Check out the Modeling and schematics forum here at uboat.net. They have discussed this topic frequently.
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Gibbons1973, You have a private message.
Forum: General Discussions

Thanks much. This is exactly the kind of detail I was looking for. It illustrates the difficulty of authenticating a clock of this type even when it is part of a reputable collection. Are there books, records or other reliable reference material available to someone that has acquired or is contemplating acquiring a U-boat clock? Also is your collection on-line?
Forum: General Discussions

Hi All, Here is a link to a photo of a purported U-boat clock (caption: U-Boat clock taken from Kiel, 1945) at the Museum of World War II: The museum has a number of high quality artifacts which makes me believe this might actually be a real U-boat clock though I have no way to tell for sure. I would really like some feedback as to its authenticity. To view their other artifacts go to
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Dan, Just another myth as far as I know. You have a great holiday season too!
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Vince, Jerry Mason just pointed me to a discussion and diagram of the crew lockers in the bow torpedo room of U-76 in the Interrogation of Survivors report on his site at: . It confirms that some had their own lockers and others had to share. Most of the U-boat ratings bunked in the torpedo rooms. Also note that the lockers would have been very difficult to get to when the boat first
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Vince, For the Type VII & IX there were small lockers built in between the bunks and the pressure hull and in some cases above the top bunks for the crew. They were small and there were several by each bunk so yours might not be near your bunk but at least you had somewhere to store the very small amount of stuff you were allowed to bring aboard. I doubt each man had his own locker; t
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Neil, I don’t have any details on the durability of the explosive used in the warheads or the detonators but it was changed/improved over the course of the war like most everything else. No telling what they used at the end of the war with everything in short supply. Also I am guessing that the depth/temperature might even have something to do with it after all these years. You mig
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Neil, Both the WWII torpedo warhead and its detonator should still be considered very dangerous today. Fooling around with old explosives should be left to trained professionals with the right equipment. That said when Navy EOD divers tried to disarm the detonator from a torpedo protruding from the stern tube of U-352 several years ago the detonator (but not the warhead) detonated. N
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Marcus, You have a private message.
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Jt, The problem wasn’t as simple as just torpedoing the escorts. Until the T5 acoustic torpedo was available the U-boats didn’t have an effective weapon against an escort and even then the T5 wasn’t very effective against them either. There were several problems. First the escorts were very small, fast and agile compared to a merchant ship and they made very difficult targe
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Lio, Actually the gun in the photo is the 37 mm gun located on the deck behind the winter garden on that type of U-boat.
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Gary, If you haven't found it yet, here is a link to some of the info here on the site:
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Jamson, You might want to pick up a copy of: White, John F. U-Boat Tankers 1941-45 Submarine Suppliers to Atlantic Wolf Packs. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1998. ISBN: 1-55750-861-5. Copyright: John F. White, 1998. It goes into some detail and is essentially the standard reference on this subject due to a lack of other books on the subject. It’s a great read and even
Forum: Technology and Operations

Hi Paul, As Mark pointed out GRT has nothing whatsoever to do with weight. It is essentially a measure of the internal capacity of the ship. It is determined when the ship is built and never changes unless the ship’s construction is modified. The GRT of a merchant ship is the same whether or not it is carrying cargo. GRT is the number U-boat command used to determine eligibility for th
Forum: General Discussions

Hi HJ, It appears he died when U-259 was attacked and sunk in the Mediterranean. From : Brömme Kurt-Walter FkMt Born: 04.07.1920 Died: 15.11.1942 U-259+ See: for more info.
Forum: _ Forum in deutscher Sprache

Hi Paul, It isn't unusual or odd at all in this case as the BV 138 in the photo was assigned to work with the U-boat and vice versa. This wasn't normal by any means but it happened from time to time.
Forum: General Discussions

Hi P, The U-boat is U-255 and the U-boat is refueling the plane, not the other way around. Some Blohm und Voss 138s were built with diesel engines and were able to be refueled by U-boats which only carried diesel fuel. In this case the BV 138 performed air reconnaissance for U-255 which was hunting the Russian convoys. This type of cooperation was fairly rare though.
Forum: General Discussions

Hi WilhelmGustloffMuseum, You have a Private Message.
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Don, see the post at: for info on photos on the forum. meanwhile you have a Private Message.
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Cape Crusader, Actually, you just proved my point - the site can be updated & the books can't.
Forum: General Discussions