Slightly off topic perhaps, but the Kriegsmarine did operate what could rightly be described as submersible off-licences during World War 11. Type 1XC/40 U-1231, when escorted into Loch Eriboll for formal surrender to British forces was found to be carrying extensive stocks of French brandy, wines, spirits, tobacco, cigars and cigarettes and luxury foodstuffs for distribution to active U-boats
Forum: General Discussions

See Derek Waller's explanation of 10 January 2011 titled 'The U-Boats that Surrendered', available in the Articles file above. Identifies each of the ten U-boats surrendered/allocated to USA. Tells you all you need to know. An authoratative source.
Forum: General Discussions

See David M Hird's 'The Grey Wolves of Eriboll' pp 224 - 234. ISBN 978-1-84995-165-4. Whittles Publishing, Dunbeath, Caithness. Also available as an e-book
Forum: General Discussions

No U-boat was destroyed in Loch Eriboll. A total of 116 U-boats was destroyed under Operation Deadlight between 25 November 1945 and 12 February 1946. All were destroyed in the north Atlantic at or near to the prescribed scuttling point of 56.10N 10.05W. Eighty-six were towed from storage in Loch Ryan, south-west Scotland commencing 27 November 1945 followed by the remaining thirty stored in L
Forum: General Discussions

U-3514 was the final U-boat destroyed under Operation Deadlight, on the morning of Tuesday 12 February 1946. Destruction by HMS LOCH ARKAIG employed 5 inch shells and strafing with close range weapons followed by the then still secret SHARK projectiles. The target remained on the surface. Deployment of the then also still secret SQUID missiles was decided upon, but before they could be brought
Forum: General Discussions

There is much information and detail, gleaned from original and contemporary documentary sources, concerning HMS Fitzroy's crew recolections, U-826 and her commander Ktlt Lubcke, and the entire narrative of the Loch Eriboll surrenders in the updated and revised second edition of the book 'The Grey Wolves of Eriboll' (ISBN 978-184995-165-4), Whittles Publishing, Dunbeath, Caithness.
Forum: General Discussions

Please, is anyone able to provide assistance towards firm documentary evidence (KTB, file records, contemporary reports, messages and/or intercepted radio traffic, etc) showing how U-1231 came to be carrying such vast stocks of Wehrmacht liberated French booze when the boat surrendered into Loch Eriboll on 13 May 1945? The boat was evidently engaged in a conventional patrol across the north At
Forum: General Discussions

I have no crew data but much on the vessel's activities at the time of the surrender.
Forum: General Discussions

The ship's bronze bell from Aviso Grille - complete with cast-in NSDAP eagle, swastika emblem and ship's name 'Grille' - survives and is preserved as a revered memento in the family of a previous owner of the vessel post war, together with Hitler's bed, and crockery and cutlery, all from Grille. Please share your knowledge of the item(s) to which you refer. I would
Forum: General Discussions

Operational orders for the Loch Eriboll procedure (LEP) were in effect transferred to Scapa Flow (SLEP) when the possibility of further surrenders from sea was perceived to have ended. I am not sure that we are micturating in the same receptacle on Scapa numbers. The figures emanating from my search of original source documentation indicate 64 U-boats processed at Scapa rather than the 55 to
Forum: General Discussions

No Sir ! Just three U-boats surrendered to Portland and U-825 was not one of them. U-825 surrendered to an aircraft of Coastal Command in the north Atlantic on 10 May 1945 and entered Loch Eriboll, escorted by HMS BYRON of 21EG, on 13 May. U-825 was escorted to Loch Alsh, again by BYRON, arriving that same evening.
Forum: General Discussions

'Grey Wolf; The Escape of Adolf Hitler' Simon Dunstan and Gerrard Williams. ISBN 978 1 4549 0304 8. Sterling, New York, 2011. A controversial theory founded on an escape by aircraft to the Canaries and from there by U-boat to Argentina. This website is quoted as a research source, though the authors ignore and contradict the data given here. Very many reviews on Amazon wit
Forum: General Discussions

I have to report the peaceful passing, last Sunday, of Erich Voges, in Australia. Erich was a youthful volunteer for the Kriegsmarine in July 1940. After basic training and radio operative training he was assigned to the heavy cruiser PRINZ EUGEN and two weeks later was posted to the heavy cruiser TIRPITZ. He was present as a crew member when the vessel was commissioned on 25 February 1941.
Forum: General Discussions

Hi Greg, You have a private message from 2nd February.
Forum: General Discussions

KK Teddy Suhren's memoirs describe an interesting but rather oblique incident involving U-107 when he was in command of U-564. On 13 February 1942 when off Cape Hatteras, USA, Suhren (then Kptlt) and U-564 contrived to ram and seriously damage U-107 commanded at the time by his friend Kptlt Harald Gelhaus. One of the side fuel tanks on U-107 was holed and drained, which necessiatted Suh
Forum: General Discussions

HMS SANDHURST did not so far as I am aware, either on arrival or thereafter, escort any surrendered U-boat into or away from Loch Ryan. The events the subject of this post took place in British waters under the close scrutiny of British naval personnel and would therefore be fully recorded and reported to the British naval authorities. Those contemporary reports are preserved in British publ
Forum: General Discussions

Something clearly incorrect with the details relating to U-255 in the individual U-boat data on this site. If the boat entered Loch Eriboll on 17 May 1945 it cannot have been transferred from there to Loch Ryan on 14 May. I suspect that the confusion arises from the boat's surrender, at sea, on 14 May 1945. The boat was escorted into Loch Eriboll during the early morning of 17 May, w
Forum: General Discussions

Does any forum contributor have, or have access to, the above-mentioned series of thirteen volumes compiled and self-published by Herr Pfefferle during the 1980s and 1990s ? Herr Pfefferle collated the first-hand recollections of a wide range of Kriegsmarine personnel, including former U-boat crew members. My interest is in a particular small group of U-boats. U-313 is included in that gro
Forum: General Discussions

Yes. Many sources refer to the raising and scrapping of the wreck. And equally other sources maintain that the French do not raise warship wrecks, preferring to revere them as military graves. And Sharpe (and Wynn) state the loss of 17 lives in the accident, whereas there were 19 deaths. The boat carried senior naval personnel, engineers and technicians in adding to the normal crew compl
Forum: General Discussions

This is grossly unfair, no ? Surely it is unacceptable to criticise an allegedly inaccurate or misleading or incomplete article in a public forum and then follow up with a private message. Bad form. Present your evidence publicly, and let forum contributors decide on your accuracy or the accuracy of your sources.
Forum: General Discussions

Left as a war grave, methinks.
Forum: General Discussions

This photograph of U-2326 was taken in Victoria Dock, Dundee (note the Customs House in the background) on 15th or 16th May 1945, the boat having put into King George V Wharf, Dundee on the 14th. At this time the boat's two electric torpedoes remained aboard. They were expended on the morning of 17th May, in the minefield off the east coast of Scotland. (Torpedoes could be off-loaded o
Forum: General Discussions

The British DID NOT 'steal' Hitler's Yacht, but the Americans DID scrap it.
Forum: General Discussions

The loan question was intricately and inextricably tied into international negotiations at the Postdam Conference and the Tripartite Naval Commission constituted thereunder. High politics was the underlying cause, international diplomacy the solution. It was an extremely complicated matter. The loan period for U-2518 was extended again in the early 1950s, and only then was the boat given a Fr
Forum: General Discussions

Was U-2326 ever assimilated into the French Navy ? When the boat was lost on 6 December 1946 was it not still on loan from the British Admiralty ?
Forum: General Discussions

U-483 and U-1301 were towed out on 14th December, by HM Tug Enchanter and HM Tug Bustler respectively. The two U-boats were sunk, by gunfire, on 16th December, at 5610N x 1005W, which was the scuttling datum point prescribed in the Deadlight orders. It seems to me, therefore, that neither U-boat foundered on the way to destruction and that each was destroyed at the specified location. Gunf
Forum: General Discussions

I have carried out no detailed research on those Deadlight boats the subject of initial unsuccessful tows to destruction, and I doubt if anyone else has. A quick trawl through my notes indicates that U-294, U541, U-1010 and U-2506 (twice !) were each returned to Lough Foyle when their tows parted, and were shortly thereafter towed out and destroyed succesfully. It seems to have been the pol
Forum: General Discussions

Nothing regarding Kplt Muller's post-war career, but his fleshed-out Kriegsmarine service career was :- WO (Watch Officer) U-Flotilla Emsmann May to December 1939; U-boat school, Neustadt December 1939 to October 1940; Baubelehrung (boat familiarisation) October & November 1940. 2nd Watch Officer U-69 November 1940 to January 1941. Instructor, Torpedo School Flensburg-Murwik J
Forum: General Discussions

In the original operational DEADLIGHT orders distances between the laying up ports and the disposal point were stated as being 130 miles from Moville (Lough Foyle) and 180 miles from Loch Ryan. This is how Moville (the nearest point on land to the mouth of Lough Foyle) makes its appearance. U-boats under tow were assembled off Moville prior to the final voyage. Lisahally was/is the port for
Forum: General Discussions

U-668 was towed out from Lisahally on 31 December 1945 by HMS BLENCATHRA (L 24) for destruction under Operation Deadlight. The tow parted on 1 January 1946 . U-668 was sunk by gunfire from HMS ONSLAUGHT (G 04) that day at 5603N x 0924W.
Forum: General Discussions