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View Full Version : How did DDs know they got a Submarine?


Packerton
05-31-07, 03:12 PM
Like Really would they just chase after it until they were outta DCs or something?


Would they keep Depth chargeing a Neutralized sub?

EDIT: Sorry Title should of been "Killed" a Submarine

Crimguy
05-31-07, 03:29 PM
IRL the following would happen:

They'd look and listen for signs of a kill. Debris is the most obvious symptom. There was a sub, for example, that was sank in March '42 off the coast of the US. The DD crew found a human heart and lungs (!). Clothing, wood, and supplies/provisions might float to the surface. An extremely large oil slick is another symptom (don't remember if diesel leaves an oil slick).

Sometimes the passive sonar operator would hear the crushing noises on their gear.

Sometimes there would be no symptoms. On many occasions, the uboat got "lucky" because the DD erroneously thought he got a kill and took off.

Much of what happened involved a decent amount of guesswork. On the flip side, the uboat skippers were wrong to the tune of about 40-50% as to how much tonnage they sunk. Frequently, the tanker they thought was going down got the fires under control and limped back to port.

Packerton
05-31-07, 05:17 PM
Thanks, very good info.

Ugh I would lose my stomach if i saw a human heart or innards float up.

Puster Bill
05-31-07, 06:00 PM
Thanks, very good info.

Ugh I would lose my stomach if i saw a human heart or innards float up.

Better that than your heart and lungs...

;)

Steel_Tomb
05-31-07, 06:53 PM
Lol, I think we could all agree with that. Begs the question though, what happened to the rest of the poor bloke :huh:. I could understand perhaps a limb or two, but internal organs? Explosive decompression or something like that maybe?

DrMilton
05-31-07, 08:52 PM
Lol, I think we could all agree with that. Begs the question though, what happened to the rest of the poor bloke :huh:. I could understand perhaps a limb or two, but internal organs? Explosive decompression or something like that maybe?

Maybe he got REALLY personal with an exploding bulk head or something... :dead:

Brag
05-31-07, 09:23 PM
Thanks, very good info.

Ugh I would lose my stomach if i saw a human heart or innards float up.

Stay underwater, looking down :roll:

ReM
06-01-07, 01:52 AM
Here are some nice examples......no hearts or lungs though...

There was no contact, but instead we were rewarded with sounds. First of all I was told that my listeners could hear a noise as though someone was banging metal with a hammer. That went on for a few minutes and then followed a sharp crack, two more muffled explosions came next and then silence. We had heard what submariners call breaking up noises which came from a ship as she sinks after disappearing from view. It seemed fair to assume that what we had heard were breaking up noises from a U Boat. And, as other ships present had also heard them and none of us had a contact it was decided to hunt no further. We formed up and went away, at 5pm we were back and what a sight met our eyes! An oil patch covered several square miles and in the middle was a large quantity of debris. "The U Boat is sunk", signalled the Starling "You may splice the mainbrace".


Debris and oil in sufficient quantity appeared and that was the end of the hunt.


When she had contact there were two of us on the job and matters could proceed properly. She ran in for the attack dropping her depth charges and the contact disappeared. Up came Starling and was directed to the spot. "Come over here" Walker signalled to Pryce (Woodpecker), "and look at the mess you have made". I circled round them whilst they examined their handiwork and then we dispersed to our station again.



The pattern produced no evidence of damage, but we picked up the trail after our attack and followed it without trouble as the U Boat made no real effort to shake us off. The Boss turned up at 6.30am and between us, we put in two Extra Specials. The first one winged her and after that she laid a trail of oil wherever she went, the second one got her. Again, we got debris, but no survivors


All this from: http://www.mikekemble.com/ww2/walker4.html

Jimbuna
06-01-07, 05:30 AM
The DD crew found a human heart and lungs (!).

Recently read that in volume one of Clay Blair 39-42 :yep:
Don't recall the sub number off the top of my head though :nope:
IIRC the heart had dozens of wood splinters in it and resembled a pin cushion :arrgh!:

Crimguy
06-01-07, 08:44 AM
Recently read that in volume one of Clay Blair 39-42 :yep:
Don't recall the sub number off the top of my head though :nope:
IIRC the heart had dozens of wood splinters in it and resembled a pin cushion :arrgh!:

That's where I got it from. Those books are the u-boat bible.:know:

Crimguy
06-01-07, 08:55 AM
Checked up on it (the book is permanently housed in my bathroom ;-D) and it was U-252, sunk around the Denmark strait, Spring of '42. My location was a bit off . . . er, 5000 miles off.

Jimbuna
06-01-07, 08:59 AM
Checked up on it (the book is permanently housed in my bathroom ;-D) and it was U-252, sunk around the Denmark strait, Spring of '42. My location was a bit off . . . er, 5000 miles off.

No prob....you were just a couple of heartbeats out :lol:

If you've any interest in the Pacific theatre....you should read his book 'Silent Service'....another jewel :up:

Steel_Tomb
06-01-07, 09:03 AM
Checked up on it (the book is permanently housed in my bathroom ;-D) and it was U-252, sunk around the Denmark strait, Spring of '42. My location was a bit off . . . er, 5000 miles off.
No prob....you were just a couple of heartbeats out :lol:

If you've any interest in the Pacific theatre....you should read his book 'Silent Service'....another jewel :up:

lol thats just bad dude :rotfl:

Crimguy
06-01-07, 09:09 AM
Checked up on it (the book is permanently housed in my bathroom ;-D) and it was U-252, sunk around the Denmark strait, Spring of '42. My location was a bit off . . . er, 5000 miles off.
No prob....you were just a couple of heartbeats out :lol:

If you've any interest in the Pacific theatre....you should read his book 'Silent Service'....another jewel :up:

I have to get through Vol. 2 first. I think I should get SH IV to get me in the mood as well, or should I just stick with WiTP?

Jimbuna
06-01-07, 09:28 AM
I didn't suggest it as a means of getting interested in SH4 (look at my sig) ;)

I just meant it's a bloody good read for anyone who is interested in submarine warfare in the Pacific :up:

ReM
06-01-07, 10:53 AM
Recently read that in volume one of Clay Blair 39-42 :yep:
Don't recall the sub number off the top of my head though :nope:
IIRC the heart had dozens of wood splinters in it and resembled a pin cushion :arrgh!:

That's where I got it from. Those books are the u-boat bible.:know:

Gotta have them! In fact I just ordered.....

I guess they will spend a lot of time in my bahtroom as well.....:88)

BigBadVuk
06-01-07, 03:18 PM
Here are some nice examples......no hearts or lungs though...

There was no contact, but instead we were rewarded with sounds. First of all I was told that my listeners could hear a noise as though someone was banging metal with a hammer. That went on for a few minutes and then followed a sharp crack, two more muffled explosions came next and then silence. We had heard what submariners call breaking up noises which came from a ship as she sinks after disappearing from view. It seemed fair to assume that what we had heard were breaking up noises from a U Boat. And, as other ships present had also heard them and none of us had a contact it was decided to hunt no further. We formed up and went away, at 5pm we were back and what a sight met our eyes! An oil patch covered several square miles and in the middle was a large quantity of debris. "The U Boat is sunk", signalled the Starling "You may splice the mainbrace".


Debris and oil in sufficient quantity appeared and that was the end of the hunt.


When she had contact there were two of us on the job and matters could proceed properly. She ran in for the attack dropping her depth charges and the contact disappeared. Up came Starling and was directed to the spot. "Come over here" Walker signalled to Pryce (Woodpecker), "and look at the mess you have made". I circled round them whilst they examined their handiwork and then we dispersed to our station again.



The pattern produced no evidence of damage, but we picked up the trail after our attack and followed it without trouble as the U Boat made no real effort to shake us off. The Boss turned up at 6.30am and between us, we put in two Extra Specials. The first one winged her and after that she laid a trail of oil wherever she went, the second one got her. Again, we got debris, but no survivors


All this from: http://www.mikekemble.com/ww2/walker4.html



I must ask...during the reading of this page i bumped few times in "Extra Special" so what is extra special??:huh:

Jimbuna
06-01-07, 03:57 PM
Recently read that in volume one of Clay Blair 39-42 :yep:
Don't recall the sub number off the top of my head though :nope:
IIRC the heart had dozens of wood splinters in it and resembled a pin cushion :arrgh!:

That's where I got it from. Those books are the u-boat bible.:know:

Gotta have them! In fact I just ordered.....

I guess they will spend a lot of time in my bahtroom as well.....:88)

They most probably will :yep: :up:

ReM
06-01-07, 04:42 PM
Here are some nice examples......no hearts or lungs though...

There was no contact, but instead we were rewarded with sounds. First of all I was told that my listeners could hear a noise as though someone was banging metal with a hammer. That went on for a few minutes and then followed a sharp crack, two more muffled explosions came next and then silence. We had heard what submariners call breaking up noises which came from a ship as she sinks after disappearing from view. It seemed fair to assume that what we had heard were breaking up noises from a U Boat. And, as other ships present had also heard them and none of us had a contact it was decided to hunt no further. We formed up and went away, at 5pm we were back and what a sight met our eyes! An oil patch covered several square miles and in the middle was a large quantity of debris. "The U Boat is sunk", signalled the Starling "You may splice the mainbrace".


Debris and oil in sufficient quantity appeared and that was the end of the hunt.


When she had contact there were two of us on the job and matters could proceed properly. She ran in for the attack dropping her depth charges and the contact disappeared. Up came Starling and was directed to the spot. "Come over here" Walker signalled to Pryce (Woodpecker), "and look at the mess you have made". I circled round them whilst they examined their handiwork and then we dispersed to our station again.



The pattern produced no evidence of damage, but we picked up the trail after our attack and followed it without trouble as the U Boat made no real effort to shake us off. The Boss turned up at 6.30am and between us, we put in two Extra Specials. The first one winged her and after that she laid a trail of oil wherever she went, the second one got her. Again, we got debris, but no survivors


All this from: http://www.mikekemble.com/ww2/walker4.html



I must ask...during the reading of this page i bumped few times in "Extra Special" so what is extra special??:huh:

It is a certain amount of depth charges preset at different depths.....

ReM
06-01-07, 04:44 PM
Recently read that in volume one of Clay Blair 39-42 :yep:
Don't recall the sub number off the top of my head though :nope:
IIRC the heart had dozens of wood splinters in it and resembled a pin cushion :arrgh!:

That's where I got it from. Those books are the u-boat bible.:know:

Gotta have them! In fact I just ordered.....

I guess they will spend a lot of time in my bahtroom as well.....:88)

They most probably will :yep: :up:

Last night the wife asked: 'what the hell are you doing in there?'.....
I was reading Battle of the Atlantic, a quick look at the clock revealed that I had been locked in the bathroom for about 45 minutes reading....:hmm:

Crimguy
06-01-07, 09:31 PM
I didn't suggest it as a means of getting interested in SH4 (look at my sig) ;)

I just meant it's a bloody good read for anyone who is interested in submarine warfare in the Pacific :up:

I meant the opposite. SHIII definitely gets you in the mood to read something like Hitler's Uboat War. I was plowing through Foote's Civil War when I re-installed SHIII. Got me to pick up where I left off in Blair's book.

Jimbuna
06-02-07, 06:59 AM
I didn't suggest it as a means of getting interested in SH4 (look at my sig) ;)

I just meant it's a bloody good read for anyone who is interested in submarine warfare in the Pacific :up:

I meant the opposite. SHIII definitely gets you in the mood to read something like Hitler's Uboat War. I was plowing through Foote's Civil War when I re-installed SHIII. Got me to pick up where I left off in Blair's book.

Rgr that :up: