Hi Bruce The Dutch and Greek submarines had 21" torpedo tubes and were supplied with modified British Mark X torpedoes. The 55cm torpedo tubes of the French and Polish submarines were modified for taking on 21" torpedoes. Unfortunately I don't know the details of the modifications, but perhaps someone else knows more about it.
Forum: Technology and Operations

Hi Thomas The use of the same torpedo caliber can traced back to the inventor of this weapon, the engineer Robert Whitehead. Whitehead formed several companies all over the world to provide the navies with torpedoes in case of hostilities and other companies just copied the design (for example Schwartzkopff in Germany). Only France kept an own design with Schneider-Creusot. Thats why almost al
Forum: Technology and Operations

Hi Dave "Wunderland II" was a combined operation of the Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe against Soviet ships on the Siberian sea routes from August to October 1943. U-255 was used to refuel a Bv138 flying boat off the unhabitated coast of Novaya Zemlya to recon the Kara Sea. The heavy cruiser LÃœTZOW laid ready in North Norway to operate against sighted convoys, but none were spotted befo
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Dave Well, the most northern longitude reached by U-boats was about 81°N. I think it was U-703 when looking for the pack ice during Operation "Wunderland II" north of the Kara Sea in August 1943. The most southern longitude reached by U-boats was about 47°S, reached in January 1945 by U-862 when rounding Stewart Island, New Zealand.
Forum: General Discussions

Hi In April 1916 the Feldfliegerabteilung 300 "Pascha" was equipped with 6 Rumpler C.I and 1 Pfalz E.I In June 1916 two Rumpler were destroyed and the Pfalz damaged in a British air raid on Beersheba, so they recieved 6 Rumpler C.I and 2 Fokker E.III as replacement and reinforcements in September. There was no need to transport war material by submarine to Palestine, due to the r
Forum: WWI forum

Hi Axel You are right, the aircraft in question was shot down by the German blockade runner WESERLAND off the Spanish coast on 10 September 1942. This was the Catalina AJ162 (RAF Sqdn 202/F), its two injured survivors (Sgts Alan Smith and Harry Long) were taken prisoner by the ship and taken to the Far East, where they were handed over to the Japanese authorities.
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Peter You can find more informations about the attack on 30 June 1943 on our page about U-518: By the way, have you copies of the photos that could be published here on uboat.net?
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Ladislav CAIRNDALE: unescorted from Gibraltar to Curacao in ballast
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Ladislav MARIONGA: Clyde to Takoradi with British government stores
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Ladislav RUPERT DE LARRINAGA: Tyne and Oban to Las Palmas with 7098 tons of coal and general cargo Could you please collect your questions in one post and not open a new one for each ship?
Forum: General Discussions

You can read more about the torpedo crisis here: And about the similar problems of the US submarines here:
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Ladislav SIR ERNEST CASSEL, dispersed from convoy OB-306 on 9 April, was sunk by the German armed merchant cruiser THOR in 38°07N/39°57W.
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Ladislav AURILLAC was en route from Takoradi to Workington with a cargo of 5500 tons of manganese ore and 70 tons of willow.
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Simon You can find more informations on PEISANDER here:
Forum: Warship forum

Hi Ladislav BALTISTAN was en route from Ellesmere Port to Capetown with 6200 tons of military stores. HOLMELEA had been in convoy HX-109, but became a straggler and was en route alone when sunk by U-47.
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Rod You can find more information on RADAMES here:
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Paul On 17 Apr, 1943, U-71 was rammed by U-631 in bad visibility when operating in the patrol line of the wolf pack MEISE. The bow of U-631 hit the starboard diving tank number 2, made a big dent into it, opened the deck plating above and damaged the venting lines and diving rudder starboard aft. These damages forced U-71 to break off its patrol, but U-631 remained operational with a bent b
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Billy The only U-boat that laid mines in 1941 was U-69, which placed mines off Takoradi and Lagos in May 1941. The BEN HANN was lost in an area where German aircraft were not operating, so a marine loss is indeed more likely.
Forum: General Discussions

As far as I know, the machinist was caught stealing coffee and other goods to sell it later when back in the harbour. He was brought to France by U-460 and recieved a long prison sentence. That is all I found about the case.
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Stan Thanks for your informations. I updated our pages about the ships hit in this attack, additions or corrections are welcome: PEDERNALES: ORANJESTAD: ARKANSAS:
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Gareth In WW2 German U-boats were active in the Irish Sea during two phases. The first was in the Winter of 1939/40, when the U-boats laid mines in British coastal waters. They did not operate directly in the Irish Sea, because the area was considered as too dangerous due to the constant patrols by aircraft and escorts. On 6 Jan, 1940, U-30 laid 12 mines off the Bar Lightvessel near Live
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Jim On 26 Sep, 1941, the EMPRIRE MALLARD sank after a collision with EMPIRE MOON in fog near Point Amour, Belle Isle Strait. Both ships were sailing in convoy SC-46. The EMPIRE MOON was damaged, but was 1943 sunk by an U-boat:
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Janus Check out this website about ORP ORZEL:
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Phil I think the most ships did not survive this kind of hit and sank before someone had time to examine the damage, but I found these two cases: This tanker survived such a torpedo hit: This ship was lost after being hit by two dud torpedoes:
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Klaus-Peter and Axel Thank you for your help. I was not aware of this radio message, did they also mention the name of the master of ADELFOTIS?
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Billy As far as I know U-182 only reported the names of the ships sunk, so unfortunately German records show no informations about prisoners taken. Perhaps the documents from Kew will clear up this case.
Forum: General Discussions

Hi John The attack of U-333 on JAVA ARROW happened more than 5 hours earlier than the unsuccessful attack carried out by U-109 on 6 May 1942. Bleichrodt fired a stern torpedo at a tanker, which apparently ran aground in shallow waters and reported that the torpedo malfunctioned because it did not run straight. Due to dawn and an aircraft operating in the area, no further attacks were made.
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Billy I found another case, but on an Italian submarine: MANAAR sunk by Leonardo da Vinci: The Second officer was taken prisoner and was apparently lost with the submarine later on the patrol.
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Billy This list contains all British ships where I am aware of prisoners lost with the U-boats that captured them: ALOE sunk by U-182: Master Angus Maclennan BARON DECHMONT sunk by U-507: Master Donald MacCallum EMPIRE DAY sunk by U-198: Chief officer Robert Courteney Selfe JOHN HOLT sunk by U-66: Master Cecil Gordon Hime and passenger Stanton Hanna Elliott OAKBANK sunk by U-507: Mas
Forum: General Discussions

Hi James BOWLING was sunk by U-13, more can be found here:
Forum: General Discussions