How much food?

[cj95]

Recently took my little Type II for an 18 day cruise around the Baltic in Fall '39.

Only bagged one Small merchant, but during that itme I was wondering realistically how long these canoes could stay at sea.

Since GWX, fuel is no longer a concern :nope:(unfortunately) but Im wondering how much food could really be carried aboard.

Ideas?

I dont want to push things out of reasonable.

[Jimbuna]

There's a list for a Type IX on U-boat net...I'm sure you'd have no problem, simply pro rata it.

[Warhawk]

Watch "das boot" when they 1st left for sea every available cubby hole and nook and cranny was stuffed to the gills with provisions..the 2nd toilet [water closet] (the one nearest the galley) was completely full.

I read that the IXC U-166 on patrol in the Gulf of Mexico stopped a small boat and ended up taking oinions from them before they sank it..so it seems they might have been getting light.

I would bet thier patrol times were mostly dependent on food/provisions rather than fuel or fish. When they expended those (or got close) my bet is they would either start heading for home or try to hook up with a sub tender or milk cow.

I wonder how many ran out of fuel in route to home?

[Torplexed]

I wonder how many ran out of fuel in route to home?

Quite a few came close. Peter Cremer's famous U-333 among them. Due to the lack of specialized tankers a lot of the Type IXC40s were pressed into service as provisional tankers to help the more short-ranged Type VIIs to make it home.

[mookiemookie]

Recently took my little Type II for an 18 day cruise around the Baltic in Fall '39.

Only bagged one Small merchant, but during that itme I was wondering realistically how long these canoes could stay at sea.

Since GWX, fuel is no longer a concern :nope:(unfortunately) but Im wondering how much food could really be carried aboard.

Ideas?

I dont want to push things out of reasonable.

Looking at some of the patrols of Type II boats on uboat.net, it looks like around 4 weeks was the limit of their endurance.

[Jimbuna]

U-510....possibly the last U-boat of the war to run out of fuel.


Alfred Eick began his naval career in April 1937. Later he served for more than a year on the destroyer Hermann Beitzen, and he undertook 16 patrols in the first year of the war. In November 1940 he transferred to the U-boat force, where he accompanied U-176 (http://uboat.net/boats/u176.htm) on her first two patrols.
In May 1943 he became commander of U-510 (http://uboat.net/boats/u510.htm). After a successful patrol in Brazilian waters, U-510 (http://uboat.net/boats/u510.htm) left Lorient (http://uboat.net/flotillas/bases/lorient.htm) on her second patrol assigned as one of the Monsun boats (http://uboat.net/ops/monsun.htm). Eick operated for a few months in the Indian Ocean before heading back in January 1945 with a load of important goods (tin, quinine, etc.) on board. After being supplied with oil southeast of Madagascar by Krvkpt. Oesten (http://uboat.net/men/oesten.htm)'s U-861 (http://uboat.net/boats/u861.htm) (who was short of fuel herself), U-510 (http://uboat.net/boats/u510.htm) ran out of fuel in the North Atlantic, but managed to reach the U-boat base at St. Nazaire (http://uboat.net/flotillas/bases/saint_nazaire.htm) in France at the end of April 1945 (at that time the base was still in German hands).
Alfred Eick was in French captivity from May 1945 to July 1947. He then studied business management at the University of Hamburg and worked later as a tax adviser.