kiel canal question

[cobalt]

Did the uboats of ww2 even take the Kiel Canal out of Kiel?

simple question ;]

[Corsair]

Am reading a book about the story of U 69, written by its Kapt. Jost Metzler and he writes about sailing through the Kaiser Wilhelm Kanal on their first trip out of Kiel in Feb 1941. The families of sailors are waiting for them when they go through the lock into the Kanal at Holtenau for a last farewell to the crew.

[JScones]

Absolutely!

Perhaps anecdotal, but from http://www.uboatarchive.net/U-162INT.htm comes this quote:

USE OF KIEL CANAL

Heretofore it has been considered the general practice of U-boats setting out on their first cruise to proceed from Kiel through the Great Belt, the Kattegat, and the Skagerrak into Norwegian waters of the North Sea and thence into the Atlantic. From prisoners' statements and other sources, however, it appears that U-162 and a number of other U-boats sailing from Kiel in the winter of 1941-1942 returned through the Kaiser-Wilhelm Canal to Brünsbüttel, making an overnight stop there and entering the North Sea the following day. These boats then proceeded across the North Sea into the Atlantic without stopping at a Norwegian port.

There's many examples of u-boats travelling the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Kanal (as it was called then), particularly "new" boats which travelled from Hamburg to Kiel via the Kanal for acceptance trials.

Then of course, who could forget U-47's trip to Scapa. ;)

[Genghis Khan]

Hey Kaleuns!:) Could anybody tell me how much time is saved if you use Kiel Kanal,rather then sailing around Denmark?

I am asking because,I have tried to sail Kiel Kanal once,when was operating with 7th/13th Flotilla.

The thing I noticed is that the Kanal is rather narrow and has enough of traffic in order not to allow Kaleun sail on,let's say,15-18 knots speed,as it's possible sailing through Kattegat and Skagerrak.Very big risk of accident.

But Kiel Kanal enviroment is just great in GWX.All those bridges,nice banks,that looks just amazing.So,I think the spectacular view is the most admiring feature of Kiel Kanal.:D :up: