Historical Question Regarding U-Boats
 

How long could a U-Boat stay at sea before it ran out of provisions for the crew? I'm trying to figure out a realistic time frame to RTB for my own immersion factor.

One example of food supply on a Type IXC for a 12 week patrol.

http://www.uboat.net/men/foodstuffs.htm

That's for an ocean-going IXB. They could hold enough provisions to stay at sea for months. I'm using a VIIB, and I've been seeing that 14-30 day patrols were the norm for the North Atlantic. I guess that answers my question. Thank you!

7 months! Knight's Cross wearer, Eitel-Fredrch Kentrat; KorvettenKapitän U-196 made 9 war patrols sinking 8 vessels for total of 43,358 tons before leaving his ship at Panang for duty as staff officer in Japan(2 years a POW) and dying in 1974, age 67. His eighth patrol left Kiel 13MAR1943 and returned to Bordeaux 23OCT1943- 225 days: or 7.5 months with two sinkings. The wartime record! His subsequent patrol lasted 148 days. Wolgang Luth's patrol to the Indian ocean lasted over 6 months. The photo of Kentrat having a celebratory after-patrol Beck's beer:()1:(no Hamm's?) shows a very thin, emaciated kaleun indeed!:nope: Scurvy was not unheard of.

Yuck. What awful conditions. How could they stand to live that life?

The second longest patrol was conducted by Wolfgang Luth with U-181 lasting 206 days. the U-boat left on 23 Mar 1943, and returned home 14 Oct 1943. During this patrol Luth would sink 45,331 tons. U-181 returned home under radio silence, since the enigma keys had run out and rather than risk his boat by speaking in Morse Code they remained silent.

Now, U-196 and U-181 were IXD2's and were built for that kind of thing. Most patrols were between 3-4 months long depending on torpedo load and fuel remaining. Sometimes the patrols would get longer, after the Milch Cow's started operating.

I'm actually ordering a book from Amazon which contains the personal accounts of a Kaleun in the Monsun boats that left for the far east. I heard that run was daunting. They lost a few boats with all hands to American ASW's off the coast of west Africa. I think one of their Milchkuh's was taken out also, so they had to run on meager rations and conserve fuel even more so than usual.

I wonder what happened to the Germans who remained in Jakarta when the ceasefire was signed?

My cousin's husband's dad served on a troop ship near the Philippines, and was sunk by a German Monsun boat during the Battle of Leyte Gulf in 1944. People like to say that the Monsun fleet only operated off the coast of India and the Indian Ocean, but there were plenty of war patrols that ventured into the Pacific theater. I often wonder how deep into the Pacific the Monsun boats would go.

I'm big into history, especially the parts of history that aren't well explained or talked about.

I suspect that if you do not something too gamey, such as shutting off engines for a week or something a VIIB is going to run out of fuel before food should be called into question. U-70, a VIIC sunk in 1941 sailed out with 42 days worth of food supply, this could give an idea. Obviously food and fuel could be stretched a bit by rationing. Early in the wari it might be occasionally possible to seize some supplies from captured ships.

Like all the German crews left stranded in the Far East they likely went into internment and their boats were handed over to the Japanese. The U-boats' crews and base personnel in Malaysia were trucked to an ex-British rubber plantation at Batu Pahat in for internment. The ones in Java likely faced a similar predicament.

At the time of the German capitulation the Japanese fleet commander in Singapore politely invited some German officers to an interview before they were interned. In presence of high ranking Japanese officers he stated in all seriousness that the Japanese armed forces would reconquer Germany. This incident revealed to what extent, that either the Japanese were living in a fantasy world, or were just big into telling their guests what they thought they wanted to hear.

I don't know the actual numbers, but I don't recall ever reading about a u-boat that had to return to base due to a shortage of provisions.

Can anyone else confirm this? Did your cousin's husband's dad care to say how he knew it was a Monsun boat?

He said him and the remaining survivors on the lifeboats saw it surface shortly after they had abandoned ship. When the U-boat turned to move away after confirming its kill, they saw a peculiar German marking on the side. When they asked about this later they found out it was a Monsun boat.

Many people think the Germans only stuck to the Indian Ocean. Truth is they did make brief forays into the PTO.

I just looked at uboat.net and there is only about maybe 6 possible boats there were even of the Monsun Gruppe during that time. None have recordings of killings in the area or near the date.

My issue is this. The guy was on a troopship, which is very large. If a boat had such a kill it would certainly be recorded. These are often escorted and are in convoys. Mind you, Leyte Gulf is the LARGEST NAVAL BATTLE IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND (tonnage). So, for just a few survivors to see the uboat, and no other vessels to, is a bit of a phenomenon. And during this very great battle, the uboat captain decided to risk his boat by surfacing.

If my troopship was sunk, I'd certainly want to believe it was done by a uboat in the middle of the Pacific. What a story! :up:
Plus, you get alot of these young GI's together, and stories change and people are influenced over time. They've forgotten, mistaken, coercion, etc..

Do you see where I'm coming from?

Well excuse me while I clean the saliva off my uniform.... :yeah:

He was an old man. Consider the source.