Any real-life U-boat veterans see SH3?
 

I wonder if any real-life U-boat veterans survive that have been able to see SH3. I wonder what they think about it?

My friend's grandfather saw it once, he was a u-boat navigaton officer. His eyes got all misty, then got interested in it, after that he narrated his experiences and memories for about 3 hours. I always remember the expression of his eyes. With every word he seemed to remeber even the last detail of the experience he was narrating. of course, he couldn't believe it. He said it was almost real looking at it in the screen.
CapZap

Wow, what I would give to have been able to listen to his stories in person and watch his reaction to SH3.

I would have been most interested in his view on the TDC component of the simulation and how close it is to the real thing. I'm going to visit U505 in July and I hope to be able to spend some time looking over the TDC. From a picture of one a year or so ago it looked like SH3 is missing a dial that makes small gyro angle adjustments based on if you are using the attack periscope versus the observation periscope. Something to do with the observation periscope being closer to the bow tubes.

Germany had some remarkable engineering on these Uboats.

And let's not forget that Jurgen Oesten was a historical consultant for this game. I think you can still find some videos of him talking to the developers on the official SHIII website (I really loved his Malaya story, the way he told it).

I found the URL to his videos:

http://www.silent-hunteriii.com/uk/videos.php

I just watched all of his videos. It's chilling. I wonder if the guy is still alive.

I can't imagine having a conversation with someone that I torpedoed during the war. Even with all the years in between and the understanding of duty and all that how could you not think back to the terror and rage you felt during the war and not feel torn looking at your past enemy now across from you.

It is amazing listening to this guy talk. I wish there were hours more footage like that. I wish they had footage watching this guy watching the simulation play, or better yet, footage of him playing the actual simulation.

Can you imagine watching this guy set up and execute an attack?

Damn.

Some more about Oesten here:

http://uboat.net/men/oesten.htm

It seems the man is still alive...what great stories he could tell by the fireplace...

I remember reading a dev interview where they talked about Oesten. The guy is amazing! He's well into the 10th decade of his life, but his health seems to be really good. He drives and travels all on his own, uses the PC and apparently even plays games (I think I need to bring back a quote into my signature where he talks about how a real mission of his modeled in a sim that he played was a lot harder in game than in real life), and still has very detailed memory of his war experiences. People like him are really a goldmine of human knowledge, I think - and he's definitely a testament to the U-boat men's cold toughness, too.

I was elated to see a picture just last month of the famous Reinhard Hardegen attending the commissioning of a new German sub which coincided with the 100th anniversary of the U-boat fleet. The guy also looked to be in top shape and was enjoying a drink with currently-serving officers (looking quite natural in the company)!

I wonder if it is possible to get in touch with Herr Oesten. Does anyone have any contact information? Google didn't turn up anything.

Nice:up:, the Eric Topp interviews on the SH2 disc were one of the better things about that game.

RDP

I checked out Rem's link WOW!!!

I don't care if he fought for the Axis. What an AMAZEING career.:yep:

i've lost my SH2 cd could anyone upload the videos?

In the Command Aces of the Deep CD there were fanstastic videos of interviews with many U-Boot commanders, even Otto Kretschmer:D , and of course Hardegen, Topp, Östen....

Another good reason to get it if you haven't already:rock:

Really? Gonna dust it off right now....

Nice:up:

RDP