Dear VEK and all! Merry Christmas and very happy and successful New Year to all of you! Have a calm sea! Funkmeister
Forum: General Discussions

Hello! It could be HF (High Frequency) transmitter, but they had few very good HF transmitters in the vicinity, like Kootwijk, Borkum, Norddeich and Kiel, so I am not sure it was "ordinary" HF transmitter, but I am not sure, of course. There were many intercept radio stations of German Navy radio intelligence service, B-Dienst. And, the each station had its own DF (direction finding)
Forum: Technology and Operations

Hello Robert and all! About the bearings: You may find information of another particular subjects, just go to: Best regards! Funkmeister
Forum: Technology and Operations

Hello Eric and all! Alan Turing did his best in the war, thanks to him and many other known and unknown people, men and women, the allies won! And the "grateful country" did wrong, although by those days existing law. Alan Turing deserves posthumous knighthood, and it was nice of the PM when he said the apology. By the way, if you wish to see Bletchley Park Commemorative Badge, go t
Forum: General Discussions

Dear Sir and all! You can check the facts about U-701 on: You know that especially in wartime newspapers are never 100 % correct. Of course, especially in wartime they used some real facts and add something et voila Sometimes it is necessary to publish such semi-fictional articles, especially in wartime. In the U-701 documents you will find many interesting facts, including the letter to
Forum: General Discussions

Hello all! On 22 January 1944 the B.d.U. ordered to U-boats to make experiments, testing of possibilities of direction finding in the Atlantic. The U-boats had to take bearings of Very Low Frequency (VLF) coastal transmitters located on the both sides of the Atlantic and to fix the U-boats positions, and to check the accuracy of such obtained positions by means of dead reckoning and astronom
Forum: Technology and Operations

Hello all! I wrote that the wolfpack were not the perfect answer on the allies' convoy system, but the best possible. The German navy hadn't its own airplanes, although some German naval officers served in the Air Force before the war. Later they were sent back to the Navy, and I realized that they used radio navigation often and better than their colleagues without air force exper
Forum: Technology and Operations

Hello all! These days I was preparing an article about U-552's action in the wolfpack Endrass, in June 1942. As a main source I used the submarine's war diary (http://www.uboatarchive.net/KTB552-9.htm). There is not any doubt that Kptlt. Erich Topp was great submarine commander, capable and brave, and he sank 5 ships from the convoy HG-84. Other submarines from the wolfpack sank nothi
Forum: Technology and Operations

Hello Gummi! I see you have added many good new stuff on the site recently! Hope you and the family are ok! I think that in the next few months you will not sleep much, so you will have opportunity to work all nights on the site Sorry for the little joke Best wishes to all of you! Funkmeister
Forum: General Discussions

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen! I wish Happy New Year to all of you! Best wishes to the new sailor and his parents, I wish that the little one will become good and happy man one day! Best regards! Funkmeister P.S. Every time when I have a question or when I needed information, I knew that this place is the best to find an expert, and I got the answer. Thanks! And thanks Gummi and the crewmembers
Forum: General Discussions

Dear Gummi! Best wishes to you and to your family! I wish that your dreams become reality! The best Christmas present I have ever heard! Funkmeister P.S. If I may use this opportunity... Merry Christmas and happy New Year to all visitors and participants of this forum and this great site!
Forum: General Discussions

Hello all! How one year passed so fast? Mr. Barry Scully was important part of this forum and this site, and I am sorry he is not with us. Or, he is? I changed few e-mails with him, he always answered on each my e-mail, on very kind way! He didn't like some myths, like "German U-boat men in Dublin pubs", etc etc. I sent few documents to him, about the truth, and he was happy
Forum: General Discussions

Hello Glider1 and all! I wrote that codes could be broken more easy than ciphers, and actually it is the truth. But, the human factor in any codebreaking is the most important. We have to know that the codes in merchant marine were used by not always the high trained specialists, but with "ordinary" wireless operators. Mistakes were possible, of course. Please, don't think tha
Forum: General Discussions

Hello again! I am afraid that I made two mistakes... Today I watched on TV a lady, her name is Vera, she tried to find out destiny of her husband... And, sincere condolence to the families of died submariners and shipyard workmen! Funkmeister
Forum: General Discussions

Hello MPC and all! I am agreed with you! Today I remember the families of the Kursk crewmembers, and how bad they were treated. And they just asked what measures would be taken in rescuing. I watched on TV today one lady who tried sind out destiny of her husband... Sincere condolence to the families of died submariners! Funkmeister
Forum: General Discussions

Hello all! Actually, it is not possible to compare enlisted ranks in different navies. Matrose, or seaman, was member of the Navy without rank. Another example is when you try to compare deck officers in the Iperial Navy with warant officers in the Royal Navy and (for example) the USN. You may compare rank of Deckoffizier with the rank (wartime only) of Offizier stellvertreter and Feldwebell
Forum: WWI forum

Hello! Well, you have to know that HF DF (High Frequency Direction Finding) is little bit more complicated than ordinary, MF (Middle Frequency) DF. First of all, the antennas for HF DF are more complext, in order to abolish the ionosphere efect. Simply, all nations had chains of HF DF, and few DF's, at least three, could to fix a submarine position, when she used her HF radio transmitter,
Forum: Technology and Operations

Hello MPC and all! I am agreed that the Party membership doesn't mean anything. Some people joined the Party (and I have very bad opinion about the Party, just to explain) because situation after WW1 was so terrible and hopeless that the Party and its leader looked like the light on the end of a tunnel... So, in 1933 the Reichmarine, and very soon the Kriegmarine had different kind of p
Forum: General Discussions

Hello! You can go to: And search for W/T, and you will find some information. Best regards! Funkmeister
Forum: Technology and Operations

Hello! You can go to: then click on the "English version" and finaly on the "Tracing request". And you can fill the request, the most important things are name and family name and date of birth, and if they have your grandfather's file, they will send it to you. Best regards! Funkmeister
Forum: WWI forum

Hello MPC! I am glad you found the link interesting. Anyway, the first attack of a submarine to a warship, it is important. Perhaps Turtle and late CSS Hunley were simple, but they were submarines, and men aboard them were submariners! Best regards and take care! Funkmeister
Forum: General Discussions

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen! Today is an anniversary, in the night of 6th to 7th September 1776, the first American submarine, Turtle, under the command of Sergeant Lee, attacked HMS Eagle, the Royal Navy 64-gun, the flagship of Admiral "Black Dick" Howe, the ship lay moored with the rest of the large British squadron to the north of Staten Island, New York. Although the attack on the
Forum: General Discussions

Hello Kevin and all! Thanks for the kind words about my English! Actually, I am not German, just have rank more or less equal with the rank of Funkmeister. Every time when anybody post a question on this forum, a lot of people get their answers, and it is amazing how much one can learn! Best regards! Funkmeister
Forum: General Discussions

Dear Sir and all! You are right when you say things were not black and white. But, they were not even so simple. For example, there are differences between codes and ciphers. The codes are relatively simple, and used on tactical levels. For example, communications between ships in one convoy, and between escort carrier and the planes etc. Sometimes even better radio interceptors could to bre
Forum: General Discussions

Hello! Very interesting question, why the B-Dienst isn't so known like the Ultra. Perhaps it is because the Ultra, and the Allies in general, won, and the B-Dienst didn't? But, it is important to say that the B-Dienst actually was excellent service, with all limitations they had. They had chain of radio intercept stations, and also chain of direction-finding (D/F) stations. Also,
Forum: General Discussions

Hello! One of the very best sourse, with a lot of original documents is Just type in the search machine "tankers" or "supply ships" and you will see all documents about the matter. Best regards! Funkmeister
Forum: Technology and Operations

Dear Sir and all! Just found this in one book, Zvonimir Freivogel's "Austro-Hungarian Submarines in World War I". The Austro-Hungarian Navy had four "Havmanden" class submarines, Ub. 20, Ub. 21, Ub. 22 and Ub.23. Two of them were build in Pula, the other two in Rijeka. They were laid down in 1915, and commissioned in 1917. The submarines were outdated and not very use
Forum: Technology and Operations

Hello Gunther! Very good source of documents is You just type "U-977" in the site's search machine, and all documents will be listed. For example, interrogation report of crewmembers of U-977: And so on. Best regards! Funkmeister
Forum: General Discussions

Hello MPC and all! It is well known that Gurkha soldiers have been one of the best soldiers ever! And, although non-British, they did their best in defending the UK. When the enemies knew that Gurkha soldiers were in the vicinity, it was enough to produce panic! Yes, the Gurkha soldiers, fought in trenches, jungle, desert, mountains, and were highly respected by their British officers. Some of
Forum: General Discussions

Hello Vernichtet_maschinis! Well, you may visit the following pages: ( look for oberfeldwebel shoulder board) Ok, the Obermaschinist has shoulder boards with two pins, between the pins was engineering branch mark. So, one pin, engineering branch mark, and one pin. Please, make difference between Stabsmaschinist (two pins at the bottom of the shoulder board, engineer mark is
Forum: Technology and Operations