Originally Posted by Aktungbby (Post 2923035)

<This is how loading into the slanted weapon hatch looked at docside....a far cry from doing it at sea in 5" waves and a bobbing rolling hull with ever increasing
threats from enemy aircraft??!! In any case, in all navies it's a miserab le job> [:arrgh!:

Originally Posted by JohnPancoast

Well, they weren't transferred at night anyway for obvious crew safety reasons; tricky enough dealing with a heavy torpedo on a moving platform during daylight, i.e., let alone in the dark.

If you want to follow the historical timeline there should be no externals after 5/43. If not, load 'em up !

Originally Posted by ME

...in another related thread we (Fubar, Pancoast) recently discussed concluded that none of the type IX carried reloads due to air cover and I noted that Hardigan the drumbeater only carried 16 in his American coast raid. Air cover and the particularly miserable weather conditions of the Atlantic precluded convenient loading times -generally 4 hours -to wrangle fresh steam eels below deck. The electric eels were never carried above deck. Also even a near DC attack would render the top-stored eels inoperative and not worth risking an expensive Uboat and crew to find out which ones. The type IX's, in addition to being at 2/3 eel complement, were removed from the Atlantic main convoy routes by '43. Aces Silent Otto and the Bull of Scapa were long gone by then.