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ps249
07-28-09, 01:51 AM
I see there is only one toilet for all 50 men, but was there a shower or bath? Did they have to bath when the boat was surfaced?They really didnt go into detail on that.
d@rk51d3
07-28-09, 02:12 AM
No bathing............. you just peeled the grime from your skin with your fingers.

It rubbed off into little black "pills" that were probably dropped into the bilge, or flicked at other shipmates, like the booger scene.

Although, the opportunity was probably taken when surfaced, to use water. However, seawater doesn't clean that well anyway.
Schöneboom
07-28-09, 02:15 AM
No shower, no bath, except for the few boats with improvised bathing equipment (using hot water from the engines), and the boats sent to the tropics that could let crewmen bathe in the ocean. With the daily water ration, face & hand washing was possible. In the vast majority of U-boats, everyone just stank to high heaven.
karamazovnew
07-28-09, 03:48 AM
I don't know what smelled worse, the crew or the toilet? Anyway, the other toilet soon was emptied of food so they could use that too after a while. By the way, I recommend getting the TV version of the movie, it's more than 2 hours longer. I don't know which came first for me: Das Boot or SH3? Well, they're now linked like glue. As SH4 is with the Run Silent Run Deep movie. Which by the way, as far as documentation movies go, it's almost perfect.
d@rk51d3
07-28-09, 05:22 AM
Although, I may stand to be corrected, I believe the officers had a wee shower off the wardroom.



Golden showers, eh? :doh:
Jimbuna
07-28-09, 06:13 AM
Ah!...the good old days.....when skid marks were a fashion item :DL
Seeadler
07-28-09, 08:39 AM
in the 6h version you can see the crew washing, directly on the bunks out of a bowl
Kapt Z
07-28-09, 09:10 AM
No shower, no bath, except for the few boats with improvised bathing equipment (using hot water from the engines), and the boats sent to the tropics that could let crewmen bathe in the ocean. With the daily water ration, face & hand washing was possible. In the vast majority of U-boats, everyone just stank to high heaven.


Yes, I've seen photos of a jury rigged 'shower' in a boat's engine room. I agree that cannot have been very common. I think they had some sort of saltwater soap for ocean bathing, but as I remember there were very different opinions about it's value.

I know the US boats had showers, but I have no idea how often the crew were allowed to use them.
mookiemookie
07-28-09, 09:45 AM
I know the US boats had showers, but I have no idea how often the crew were allowed to use them.

Once a week, more often for cooks and medics.
Rhodes
07-28-09, 09:57 AM
Do not forget that they had the famous salt water soap! "Teddy" Suren always said that was a marvellous invention! Even if other u-boat crew member didn't...
KeybdFlyer
07-28-09, 01:32 PM
Ah!...the good old days.....when skid marks were a fashion item :DL

Oh dear - are you telling me they're not fashionable any more? Buggerit!
Murr44
07-28-09, 03:51 PM
Yes, I've seen photos of a jury rigged 'shower' in a boat's engine room. I agree that cannot have been very common. I think they had some sort of saltwater soap for ocean bathing, but as I remember there were very different opinions about it's value.

I know the US boats had showers, but I have no idea how often the crew were allowed to use them.


The Germans had a special soap that was designed to be used with seawater but apparently it didn't lather very well and left behind a sticky residue. To mask the smell of BO (body odour) many men used this cologne that I think was called Kolibri.

I've seen a photo of a jury rigged outside toilet that was mounted on the aft deck railing. Looked pretty disgusting too - I think a lot of the guys had really bad aim...:D