Historically Speaking.... a Question!

[Kpt. Lehmann]

What is your favorite ACTUAL historic U-Boat?

Inquiring minds want to know. ;)

[Sailor Steve]

U-977 (I think). I have Schaeffer's book, and it's a fun read. He took his type VII all the way to Argentina, and was later accused of smuggling Hitler out. Anyway, it's a good boat and he was a good captain.

[Crash Dive]

U-564 Reinhard "Teddy" Suhren he started off as the WO for the U48 (one of the most sucessful boats of the war) what a way to train for command. He went to sink a good amount of tonnage in his own right.

[ronbrewer]

Definitely U-571. The way the Americans commandeered that boot and quickly learned how to operate it to defeat that German DD with just one fish left, well... that was just simply amazing. Not to mention finally getting access to a German Enigma machine so that the Allies could turn the war in their favor.

[Sailor Steve]

He asked for favorite HISTORICAL boat. Do you know anything about the REAL U-571? If not, try here: www.uboat.net

[Kaleun]

U-203,

The only boat to have killed it's own commander whilst he was attempting to go swimming!

Kptlt. Rolf Mützelburg died on 11 September, 1942 in a freak accident. Taking the opportunity to go swimming in the Atlantic southwest of the Azores, he dived from the conning tower and struck the deck with his head and shoulder when the boat lurched suddenly in the swell. The doctor from the Milk Cow U-462 arrived the next day, but too late, and Rolf Mützelburg was buried at sea on 12 September, 1942 in position 36.14N, 31.21W.


Ok - and it was also pretty succesful:
21 ships sunk for a total of 94.296 GRT
3 ships damaged for a total of 17.052 GRT

It's emblem was the coat-of-arms of the city of Essen and it was one of a handful of Type VIIC boats that had no stern tube (U-203, U-331, U-351, U-401, U-431 and U-651)

kaleun

[Seeteufel]

SM U-35

Kptlt. Lothar Eugen Georg von Arnauld de la Perière sank 189 ships for a total of 446 708 BRT plus two gun-boats (brit. Primula and french Rigel á 2500t), while he commanded this boat.

Most succesful mission from 26.07.1916 to 20.08.1916, sinking 54 trading-ship at a total of 90 350 BRT. :rock:

[Happy Times]

Definitely U-571. The way the Americans commandeered that boot and quickly learned how to operate it to defeat that German DD with just one fish left, well... that was just simply amazing. Not to mention finally getting access to a German Enigma machine so that the Allies could turn the war in their favor. :huh: If this wasnt a joke its shows how powerful Hollywood is.

[Kpt. Lehmann]

Definitely U-571. The way the Americans commandeered that boot and quickly learned how to operate it to defeat that German DD with just one fish left, well... that was just simply amazing. Not to mention finally getting access to a German Enigma machine so that the Allies could turn the war in their favor. :huh: If this wasnt a joke its shows how powerful Hollywood is.

Maybe he's young and doesn't know any better. Let us educate Mr. Brewer. :know:

RonBrewer sir! Your assignment for the day is to research the REAL story of U-571 and report back here with your findings. We further suggest reading up on U-110 and U-505.

In all seriousness... I'm willing to bet that you will find facts to be far more interesting than fiction. We aren't giving you a hard time. It's just that when you find one diamond... you have to find another... and another. Next thing you know you are addicted and soak up everything about U-boats you can find, as fast as you can.
This forum is one place to learn quite a bit. :ping:

Check out these sites... you'll love'em.

http://uboat.net/
http://www.ubootwaffe.net/index.html

Happy Times... your assignment is to tell me which is your favorite historic U-Boat as well sir. :arrgh!:

Happy Hunting!

[ronbrewer]

I tried uboat.net but I just find the Hollywood version sexier...

Just kidding, the original post was an attempt at poking fun at how the movies slant history toward the intended audience (in this case it was for American movie goers). I do enjoy the real thing better (Werner's "Iron Coffins" and the U-505 story). I also enjoyed learning how the Polish broke Enigma messages from poor German coding operations like "AAA" on the wheels. I didn't learn that in high school.

Hey, but you can't beat McConaughey's handling of that boot. Too bad Hollywood didn't have Prien there to take notes.

[pampanito]

Probably Hartenstein's U-156 for the efforts in saving people in the infamous LACONIA incident.

And if I could choose an Italian boat, Salvatore Todaro's CAPPELLINI for the extremes to which he went to assure the rescue of crews of sunken ships.

[Kobal2]

Same here, U156. In the middle of a dangerous warzone, he broadcasts his position (in clear) so that other ships in the area can help him rescue the crew from the Laconia, which he thought was a freighter, but really was a POW transport.

Taking such a risk (and time proved how dangerous that was - the US forces, having seen the convoy of U-boote wearing red crosses and with a hundred people on deck, tried to sink them anyway) to save the lives of the men he'd sunk, now *that's* honor.

[lafeeverted]

Using "the real thing" and Werner's Iron Coffin's in the same sentence is not always a good thing to do :lol:

[ronbrewer]

Really? Barnes & Noble had it in the non-fiction section. It must have been a placement error by one of their part-time employees.

[CCIP]

U-124 (http://uboat.net/boats/u124.htm) - the Edelweiss boat, commanded by remarkable commanders and knight's cross winners Georg-Wilhelm Schultz and later Johann Mohr; this is largely thanks to the book "Grey Wolf, Grey Sea" (highly recommended!). :)

She was the 4th most successful boat of the war (and behind the 3rd most successful, U-123, by a mere 748t).

It would seem that her loss on April 2nd, 1943, should largely be attributed to Mohr's tragic underestimation of allied radar technology (which, combined with his daring surface tactics, ended up in a grave miscalculation on his part...)

[martes86]

U-38, definitely. Quite a nice skipper surname and sub emblem, would have been nice if I had it for real... :D :D :D

[ICBM]

I like U-99, one of Otto Kretschmer's boats:

"Especially notable was the sinking of three British Armed Merchant Cruisers, Laurentic (18,724 tons), Patroclus (11,314 tons) and Forfar (16,402 tons) in November 1940 for a total of more than 46,000 tons. At that time Silent Otto became the "tonnage king" among U-boat men, never to be dethroned.

On his last patrol he was also very successful and attacked 10 ships. He was captured after scuttling U-99 at 0343hrs on 17 March, 1941 (Schepke was lost in the same battle) south-east of Iceland in approximate position 61N, 12W after depth charge damage inflicted by the British destroyer HMS Walker. Kretschmer managed to surface his badly damaged boat and save 40 out of his 43-man crew (his chief engineer died) before the boat sank again for the last time."

POW but still impressive. I also like his style, nightime up and close between the convoys wreaking havoc.

[Ginger Beer]

U-530, a type IXc. She carried her crew to Argentina at the end of the war, where many of them married local girls and settled down to live. A rare happy ending for a U-boat crew.

[Ducimus]

Unfortunatly im not historically articulate enough in the area of Uboats to have a favorite. My WWII sub intrest, somehow got sparked, and it focused on US subs in the pacific for the most part.

But if i could pick a US sub, it would have to be the USS Wahoo. (of course most everyon would say that :-j Most colorful historical submarine of any theater during WWII i can think of. Ranging from machinegunning survivors in the water for 2 hours, to messages to ComSubPac like, "Another runnning gun battle today, destroyer gunning, wahoo running".

Maybe the real U-96 because of the movie. Some glimpse of facts can be seen. It really did try to run through gibralter for example. Was in the war from 1940 through 45. A survivor despite being sunk in Wilhelmshaven in 1945 by US bombs.

[Syxx_Killer]

For me it would be U-556. It was commanded by Herbert Wohlfarth. It had an ironic and sad career. For more info you can visit these sites:

http://www.uboat.net/boats/u556.htm

http://www.bismarck-class.dk/bismarck/miscellaneous/special_bond/specialbond.html

[Kpt. Lehmann]

Thank you fellow Kaleuns! Please keep 'em coming and keep in mind I am asking for your favorite GERMAN U-boats.

I take note of each one. :up: [/i]

[Sailor Steve]

SM U-35

Kptlt. Lothar Eugen Georg von Arnauld de la Perière sank 189 ships for a total of 446 708 BRT plus two gun-boats (brit. Primula and french Rigel á 2500t), while he commanded this boat.

Most succesful mission from 26.07.1916 to 20.08.1916, sinking 54 trading-ship at a total of 90 350 BRT. :rock:
AND on that most-successful mission he only used four torpedoes.

I didn't think of WWI! :88) Of course we should love Otto Weddigen's U-9, which sank the three British armoured cruisers Abokir, Cressy and Hogue in one sitting. He later died in U-29 when attempting to attack the British Home Fleet. His sub was spotted and rammed by HMS Dreadnought, making her the only battleship ever to sink a U-boat.

[U-552Erich-Topp]

:) U-552, Erich Topps boat

[Beery]

:huh: If this wasnt a joke its shows how powerful Hollywood is.

I'm pretty sure he's joking.

Anyway, my favourite has to be U-267.

[Happy Times]

:huh: If this wasnt a joke its shows how powerful Hollywood is.

I'm pretty sure he's joking.

Anyway, my favourite has to be U-267. Apparently he was.Are you? U-267? ;)I think U-123 had some interesting missions :hmm:

[ICBM]

:huh: If this wasnt a joke its shows how powerful Hollywood is.

I'm pretty sure he's joking.

Anyway, my favourite has to be U-267. Apparently he was.Are you? U-267? ;)I think U-123 had some interesting missions :hmm:

U-123 sure had one interesting misson, see my SIG :D

[Beery]

:huh: If this wasnt a joke its shows how powerful Hollywood is.

I'm pretty sure he's joking.

Anyway, my favourite has to be U-267. Apparently he was.Are you? U-267? ;)

Definitely not joking. U-267 was, in my opinion, the greatest U-boat of WW2. It did an average number of patrols (7) and managed to keep all of its crew alive and succeeded in killing absolutely no one. That is a great accomplishment in wartime - especially so for a weapon that is built to kill hundreds.

[Bort]

Definitely U-47, which in my opinion pulled off the most spectactular feat in all of WWII!

[Dead Mans Hand]

I would have to go with a British sub I heard about via the History Channel, it was one of the(ir) first and unfortunately durring testing succesfuly dived but never resurfaced. I believe it's name was Lucifer, as I remember a qoute about a crew member saying it was bad luck to name a ship after the devil.

Or if you want to reaaaalllllyyyyy go back I do believe the first subs were American made and used in the Civil War - along with the first armored warships. :rock:

[1916]

U-47 for sure.... two words explain why : Scapa Flow. Brilliant commander. Although my favorite one that survived the war was U-48. Just the tonnage. I feel really sorry for the boats that survived their last patrol just to be sunk moored in port.

[Barbarossa]

U-66
Type

IXC

Laid down 20 Mar, 1940 AG Weser, Bremen
Commissioned 2 Jan, 1941 Kptlt. Richard Zapp (Knights Cross)
Commanders
2 Jan, 1941 - 21 Jun, 1942 KrvKpt. Richard Zapp (Knights Cross)
22 Jun, 1942 - 1 Sep, 1943 Kptlt. Friedrich Markworth (Knights Cross)
6 Aug, 1943 - 1 Sep, 1943 Oblt. Paul Frerks
2 Sep, 1943 - 6 May, 1944 Gerhard Seehausen
Career 9 patrols 2 Jan, 1941 - 30 Apr, 1941 2. Flottille (training)
1 May, 1941 - 6 May, 1944 2. Flottille (front boat)
Successes 33 ships sunk for a total of 200.021 GRT
2 ships damaged for a total of 22.674 GRT
2 warships damaged for a total of 64 tons
Fate Sunk 6 May, 1944 west of the Cape Verde Islands, in position 17.17N, 32.29W, by depth charges, ramming and gunfire from Avenger and Wildcat aircraft of the US escort carrier USS Block Island and by the destroyer escort USS Buckley. 24 dead and 36 survivors.

* U-66 was on her 10th Patrol when she was attacked on 3 Aug, 1943 by aircraft from the US escort carrier USS Card. The II WO was killed and the Commander, the I WO and 7 other men were wounded. On 7 Aug, 1943 they met the oil supply U-boat U-117 and the WO Oblt. Frerks from that boat took over the command. Immediately afterwards the U-117 was sunk with all hands, U-66 was still along its side at the time of the attack but managed to escape.

U-66 brought no luck to the supply-boats. On the night from 25th to 26th Apr, 1944 they were planning to be supplied from U-488, but the Milk Cow was sunk during that night, 4 days before U-66 herself was also sunk.

U-66 was hunted by aircraft and surface escorts of the escort carrier USS Block Island from May 1. Several attacks were made, including 3 Fido homing torpedoes that were dropped on the boat. Finally on the morning of the 6th U-66 was seen by the destroyer escort USS Buckley. After exchange of gunfire the escort rammed the boat at 0329 and many Germans climbed on the escort's forecastle. The Americans believed they were being boarded as some Germans carried small arms and a small brawl ensued. The escort backed away from the U-boat leaving 5 armed Germans on the escort who were promptly subdued and taken below. The U-boat started to draw ahead but then turned and hit the escort near its engine room and for the second time the boat was raked with gunfire. The boat then finally sank after a final salvo from the escort's 3in gun after one of the longest fights in the war.

U-66 was one of the five boats that started Operation Drumbeat in Jan, 1942.

On 20 January, 1943 this boat landed espionage agent Jean Lallart on the coast of Mauritania near Cape Blanc. Lallart and the two crewmen who rowed him ashore (Bootsmaat Wagner and Matrosenobergefreiter Daschkey) were immediately captured by the French. After waiting in vain for over 13 hours for the crewmen to return, Kptlt. Markworth was forced to abandon his crewmen to whatever fate they had suffered. Ten days later Markworth learned of the capture of his men.