Dear All, I have very nearly "cracked" the detailed time-line of U-505's War Bond Tours, but there is still a small but important missing piece in the jigsaw puzzle. It relates to U-505's Ist Tour which started in Philadelphia on 23 May 1945 and finished at the New London Navy Base in late June 1945. Whilst in Philadelphia, and then in New York, U-505 was escorted by
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Dear All, In December last year I published an article on “uboat.net” concerning the U-Boats that were allocated to the UK by the TNC. Since then, a lot of interesting information has come to light, and I have therefore produced Version 2 of the article, which Gudmundur Helgason has kindly just published on “uboat.net”. Compared with the 1st version, the 2nd is much more comprehensive, m
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Dear Ken, Ref your query, I note that you have cross-referred to my 1970 article in the INRO Journal "Warship International" that was re-published on uboat.net last year. Might I please suggest that as your starting point you use the updated (2010) version that I wrote and published on uboat.net at the end of last year "The U-Boats that Survived: The Whole Story". It is
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Dear Mark, Thanks for your note and comments - much appreciated. Re the Binoculars, I really wouldn't know where to start - sorry. However, there are lots of other experts at such things who read this website, and I am sure that if anyone knows, then they will only too willing to help. Good luck. Yours aye Derek
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Dear Woody, I wonder if you have yet been able to find out any more about U-505's visit to Baltimore in 1945? I do hope so, but presumably its been the "silly season" with lots of hols (and the hurricane) and other summer diversions. I still can't quite believe that nowhere in the public domain in the USA is there any single document spelling out the details of U-505
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Dear All, During the drafting of my recent paper about the story of the U-Boats in the Royal Navy after May 1945, it became obvious that the Royal Naval base at Lisahally, near Londonderry in Lough Foyle in N.Ireland, played a major role in the process of assembling, testing and disposing of large numbers of the U-Boats which had surrendered at the end of the war in Europe. The first U-Boat
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Dear All, For the past 6 months I have been researching the topic of the U-Boats in the Royal Navy after May 1945, and it has turned out to be a fascinating story. Operation Deadlight obviously took centre stage, as did the activities at Loch Ryan and Lisahally. But there was much more to it than that, not only the assembly of most of the surrendered U-Boats in the UK, but also the publicity t
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Dear Jukka, Might I suggest that you read the reviews on Amazon. There is quite a spead of views. "You pay your money and you take your chance"! Hope this helps. Yours aye Derek
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Dear Blair, Did you ever get the answers that you were looking for re U-858? If not, can I suggest that you go to the website "uboatarchive.net". If you then look under U-858, you will see mention of a tug ATR-57, as well as some pictures. The tug's details will then be in "navsource.org", though in this case there is very little. It does however give details
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Dear Woody, Brilliant, and well done. Wow, you don't waste time do you? I was going to suggest that another source of information might be the City Council archives. They might, for instance, have held a City Reception, etc. You should, by the way, also find that U-505 was escorted by the USS PCE 846 (Patrol Craft Escort) - which was later re-named USS Eunice. If possible, the so
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Dear Woody, Excellent news, and good luck with the hunt. I am sure there will be lots of people looking forward to hearing that you have been successful. Another thought is that your local Museum (or Historical Society) might be able to help - if there is one. Yours aye Derek
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Dear Woody, Thanks for your post. Yes, I believe that U-505 did stop at Baltimore during its first War Bond Tour in May and June 1945. However, trying to find the exact details is very much like pushing water uphill! On the other hand, in view of your interest and request for photos, etc, I wonder if I might make a suggestion? That is, could you possibly please find the time to vis
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Dear Keith, How very nice to hear from you, and what a co-incidence, as it was only yesterday that I received some very useful information from the MSI. I am pursuing two lines of research re U-505. The first concerning the US Navy staff work between 1947 and 1954, and the second concerning the details of the War Bond Tours. Re the first, I have the Theodore P Savas book "Hunt and
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Dear Hans, If they did, it was certainly nowhere near Galveston. I really do think this is a blind alley. Yours aye Derek
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Dear Hans, Sorry to pour cold water on your suggestion, but not a single one of the surrendered U-Boats in US Navy custody after May 1945 could have been involved. They were all met their ends well to the east/north, as follows: U-234 Sunk on 20 Nov 1947 by US S/M Greenfish off Cape Cod. U-505 On display at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. U-530 Sunk on 21 Nov 1947 by US
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Good Morning Chaswes5, And very many thanks for this latest bit of info - another small piece to fit into the jigsaw puzzle. And Happy 4th July - by the way. I am in fact "stuck" as far as defining an accurate timeline for U-505's War Bond Tours are concerned. There appears to be no composite description anywhere in the public domain. On the other hand, I now know where
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Dear All, I am now searching for information concerning the final fate of U-873 and U-1406 in the USA in 1948. These were two of the U-Boats allocated to the US Navy for research purposes in 1945, and which were eventually discarded as being of no further use/interest. The problem is that I am having a great deal of difficulty in establishing exactly what then became of them. The "a
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Dear All, Several Internet sites and books about the Type XXI U-Boats show pictures of U-2502 in a dry dock in the latter half of 1945. One caption indicates that the photos were taken when U-2502 was in the Vickers Shipyard in Barrow, and another even suggests that the photos were taken during U-2502’s original assembly in a German shipyard. However, all the captions are incorrect, and th
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Dear All, Further to my post on 24 April re U-3008, after a trawl of all available sources, including an extract from the daily log books at Portsmouth Navy Yard, I think that I have got the answer to my question. My version of the story is now as follows: "After arriving in Portsmouth Navy Yard on 11 June 1948, U-3008 was placed “out of service” on 18 June, and then used as a sourc
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Dear John, My inclination would be to suggest that you use Axel Niestle's book "German U-Boat Losses during World War II" as your prime source. None of us is right all the time, but my experience is that Axel Niestle is likely to be more right than most (if not all) other sources. It would certainly be a good basis for a forensic analysis in search of the "correct&quo
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Dear Keith, Ref your message of 16 April, I have now had a look at the book "Hunt and Kill" (inc your Chapter),as well as the MSI's DVD "Attach and Capture", but neither - unfortunately - contains any singificent details about the post-War War Bond Tours of U-505 in the 2nd half of 1945. I think therefore that the essential source document must be your "Notes&q
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Dear All, Does anyone know any details of the final 7 years of U-3008’s life after it was placed out of service by the US Navy at Portsmouth Navy Yard on 18 June 1948 and before it was sold for scrap in September 1955? It was apparently used as a test hulk at Portsmouth Navy Yard for several years. It was then scuttled in demolition tests in 1954, before being raised and towed to the US
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Dear Keith, How very nice to hear from you. I had actually been given your name by 3 separate sources, but as Ed has offered to help, I decided to see what he could find first. On the other hand, your information and offer looks good, and I very much look forward to seeing anything that you can discover in your notes. Also, by the way, I can't seem to trace the book to which you ref
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Dear Paul, Just to let you know that I have had a very friendly and positive response from Ed McDonald, and that I am optimistic that - if he can help - then he will do his very best to provide me with whatever information he can track down. So, thanks for this valuable contact - very much appreciated. Yours aye Derek
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Dear Andy, Yes, I too lived in the Portsmouth area - in the 1950s. I remember the submarine well, and always had the impression it was a WWI U-Boat, but I ca'nt remember why. I believe it was either that or an Ex-RN submarine, as all the WW2 U-Boats in the UK post-war are accounted for. It will be interesting to see if anyone else has any memories of it. Yours aye Derek
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Dear Mark, Ref your post at 0940 on 31 March. You said that U-505 was in Philadelphia in June 1945, but do you have any specific dates? I ask because in the book "U-505: The Final Journey" by James Wise, there is a picture of an actual War Bond issued in Philadelphi on 25 May 1945. It maybe that this was U-505's first or second day in the City, and that it stayed there
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Dear Paul, Very many thanks indeed for the info and the kind offer. I will give Edward McDonald a try, and let you know how I get on. In fact from a combination of various sources I am beginning (at last) to get a decent handle on U-505's time line from May to December 1945 - although much of the "evidence" is contradictory. However, I suppose tha's ce la vie when
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Dear All, This is a long-shot follow-up question. It is : "Does anyone reading this "post" live in or near Chicago, and if so could you please possibly contact the Museum's archivist for me"? I ask for 2 reasons. First, it is becoming apparent that U-505 probably took part in several (not just 2) War Bond and Exhibition Tours of the East Coast and Gulf ports b
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Dear Ken, Thanks. Your message about sources of info re U-505 was very useful and much appreciated. Yours aye, Derek
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Dear Nobby, Thanks for your post of 1 April re photos of U-505 on its War Bond Tours. With the kind help of several others, I have found 2 sources of photos so far. They are: First, the website www.navsource.org Go to "submarines", "miscellaneous", "Ex-German U-Boats", and then "U-505". Second, the book "U-505, The Final Journey" b
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