All, You may be already aware, but saw this on BBC and thought I'd pass it along for those interested: Best Regards,
Forum: General Discussions

Ken & Akerberg, Thanks for the quick response. Looking at the index for the book, I assumed he didn't cover the large number of sinkings in great detail based on the number of pages devoted to U-159, but thought he might have expanded on the famous 'safe voyage and good liberty' wishes. I'm actually in touch with the 3rd Mate he questioned and hope to have an some
Forum: General Discussions

Greetings, Has anyone read the German book about Helmut Witte and U-159 "Ursprünglich wollte ich nur die Welt seh'n" (Originally I just wanted to behold the world) by Witte, Lothar / Bavendamm, Dirk - ISBN: 978-3-00-020645-0 and know whether there are any plans to re-release in English? Can you tell me how much detail it goes into of the the sinking of the Coloradan? Any i
Forum: General Discussions

Billy, As others have mentioned, it would help a great deal to know the year the sinkings took place. Otherwise it's the proverbial 'needle in a haystack'. Since this information is so easily lost with the passage of time, some pieces of information the family would have a better chance of knowing, such as an approximate date and place of birth, and perhaps what his position
Forum: General Discussions

Rainer, Thanks for clearing that up. Those sections of the passenger list did identify them as "survivors", but considering the rest of the list, it must have been a simple clerical error. I will update my site accordingly. If you don't already have it, let me know if you need a copy of the list. Best Regards,
Forum: General Discussions

All, I recently came across a passenger list of survivors repatriated to the US in July of 1942 aboard the SS George Washington. The passenger list was comprised of regular passengers plus survivors from 17 odd vessels that had been sunk from March through June of 1942, primarily in the Caribbean, but also those latitudes of the Atlantic. All the survivors appear to have been collected in T
Forum: General Discussions

Chris, It looks like you have accumulated quite a bit of information already. Nice job. I checked a couple sources and struck out as well. One more thing you might try is try posting on the ubootwaffe.net forum, specifically for Hubertus Weggelaar who is working on the crew list for that site. Other than that, then yes, as per Ken's post on June, 28th, 2003 WASt and the Uboat arc
Forum: General Discussions

John and Gerard. I had looked into Beucke several years ago as part of my research into his replacement, Hans-Adolf Schweichel (IWO and TO of U-126 when it sank the Arkansan). If you search on his name (Beucke) you'll find several old posts of mine on the forum. Here is his career information from Markus Hofmann's www.u-boot-archiv.de/mannschaften website: Daten Gebu
Forum: General Discussions

All, I'm looking for specifics on how American merchant ships were marked prior to our official entry into WWII. Generally speaking I know this involved painting one or more large American Flags on the side of the hull, sometimes supplemented by the the name of the ship and/or U.S.A painted in large white letters. 1. Was there a specific date this practice started? September 1st, 19
Forum: General Discussions

Michael & Ken, Thank you both. I was just trying to determine whether she was running through that area (Not just Dassen, but a lot of low-lying islands that would be difficult to spot in fog) because she was routed that way to avoid a threat (real or perceived) or simply because her position was off. Just an illustration of one of the many dangers these men faced, even when they wer
Forum: General Discussions

All, On July 7, 1942 freighter SS Oklahoman (Not to be confused with the Battleship USS Oklahoma) Sank 1nm West of Dassen Island, South Africa. After a review of the database here, it does not appear that any U-boats were in the vicinity at the time, so was this a simple case of bad weather, human error, mechanical issue or something else? The area looks pretty treacherous, so would this h
Forum: General Discussions

Rainer, Thanks. I heard from Rodger at Miramar in the mean-time as well, which I think ties in nicely with your info. He gave me permission to post his response here: "Hello Eric, What an interesting question!. The website data under ownership is still being set up for registered as opposed to "main" ownership, so my entry on COLABEE is not entirely correct. The ownership re
Forum: General Discussions

Rainer, Thank you. Two excellent sources to be sure. I found a site linking Colabee Steamship Co and American Range Lines together as plaintiffs in a lawsuit. In fact when you Google "Colabee SS Co" you get nearly two pages of lawsuits (some duplicates) and nothing else. Illinois Atlantic Corp was a good clue. It led to the following site that includes a nice picture of Colabee
Forum: General Discussions

Hello everyone, I have been researching the shipping company 'American-Hawaiian SS Co.' for some time now as part of my SS ARKANSAN research, and I was thinking of adding a list of their ships and what became of them to my site (as far as WWII is concerned). As I was compiling the list I noticed that my two favorite sites on the subject disagree on the COLABEE: uboat.net lists
Forum: General Discussions

D. Brewer, Have you tried writing to the National Archives ? They should have reports on this incident and even his military service record. Just be patient as it can take several weeks for a response. You say he shows as listed as dying on the USS Chester on October 20, 1942, which coincides nicely with the information Robert found, so I'm not clear how much more detail you are lo
Forum: Warship forum

All, Very interesting story on what became of the man, Alan Turing, credited with breaking the enigma code: Regards,
Forum: General Discussions

Mark, I'm afraid I can't help on the KTB, but have you attempted to get U-435's Torpedo Report (Schußmeldung) from the Library of Contemporary History in Stuttgart, Germany for this action? Their postal address is Bibliothek für Zeitgeschichte Postfach 10 54 41, 70047 Stuttgart Germany Telephone: 0711/212 4523 and 0711/212 4516 Fax: 0711/212 4517 E-mail: bf
Forum: General Discussions

Sorry,forgot to include the link:
Forum: Warship forum

Hello, Just passing along info that a NOAA expedition has found and surveyed the wreck of YP-389 sunk by U-701. Best Regards, Eric Stone www.ssarkansan.com
Forum: Warship forum

Shella, U-560 was a Type VIIC assigned to 24th Flottille (training) based in Memel (present day Klaipėda, Lithuania) at this time. The conning tower was the main entry/exit point of the U-boat, but it sounds like as the U-560 sank the water came rushing down the hatch preventing escape, and since the collision and main leak occurred in the engine room which is behind the conning to
Forum: General Discussions

Grimbarian, If you click on "The Allies" from the top banner, then "Allied Warships" from either the left pane or center pane, then type "Nordhav" in the "Warship Finder" search window, then click the link on the search result you'll find your answer on armament. There is a bit more overall info in the Conning Tower section, but it's looks l
Forum: Warship forum

Gentlemen, The Herring attack probably didn't happen according to John's recent post on the General Discussions forum: I just happened to read the post just before getting to yours. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Eric
Forum: Technology and Operations

John, Thanks for the info. I don't have all my records at hand, but after Schweichel was promoted off U-126 as 1WO I believe he went to commander's school, then took "command" of U-105 for a month to oversee her extensive repairs, with the idea of commanding her on patrol when complete. U-173, which wasn't in great shape either was finished with repairs first, and
Forum: General Discussions

John, No problem. Schweichel was my main focus, but as so often happens with this type of research, I went on a bit of a tangent on Beuke because the circumstances seemed so extraordinary. Yes, it seems Schweichel was destined to get someone else's damaged boat one way or the other. Both U-105 and U-173 were so heavily damaged they were lucky to come back. Another enigma (no pun intend
Forum: General Discussions

John, I have studied Beuke in some detail as I have a particular interest in U-173. He's an interesting guy. In a nut shell, Beuke was apparently an excellent staff officer, but not a very good u-boat commander. He was reprimanded in a very harsh letter (of which I have a copy - part of U-173's KTB microfilm) for not being aggressive enough when attack opportunities presented the
Forum: General Discussions

Barry, Good to hear from you. Yes, I visited the former display as well, and although any opportunity to get up close to one of these amazing vessels is good, there is no comparison between the two displays. The new exhibit is in a class by itself. Not to mentioned the critical restoration and preservation work Keith Gill and his team performed to make sure the U-505 was as authentic as pos
Forum: General Discussions

All, Just an update on the latest article (this time from AP) I've seen concerning the new luxury hotel in Boston that used to be the infamous Charles Street Jail: This time they actually refer to "a German U-boat captain who was captured in 1945 and killed himself with shards from his sunglasses". There have been many posts over the years on the Friedrich Steinhoff (U
Forum: General Discussions

Paul, Thanks for the update. I'm afraid I have no contact info for anyone who served with KL Steinhoff, so I will wait patiently for one of the networks to step up. By the way; "glut of WWII stories"? who are they kidding? Especially as it relates to uboats? You are probbaly already aware of this, but some on the forum may not be (including me until tonight while watching
Forum: General Discussions

Paul, Hopefully Manfred will be able to confirm, but looking at the crew info, although Steinhoff left U-511 before the fourth patrol during it's voyage with LI Staab to Kure, Staab is listed as being with U-511 since 1941, probably at the beginning of her career and definately while Steinhoff commanded her first two patrols. You don't suppose U-511's engineering officer (Sta
Forum: General Discussions

Bruce, Per the glossary on ubootwaffe.net S-Gerät German: Sondergerät: Aktives Unterwasserschall-Ortungsgerät der dt. Kriegsmarine zur Entfernungs- und Richtungsbestimmung von Unterwasserzielen English: Echo-ranging equipment of the German Navy Also, a quick google search resulted in a hit from here: Which states: "Sondergerat Fur Aktive Schallortung (S-Gerat) T
Forum: Technology and Operations