Ah, OK. That makes sense -- thanks to both of you. I remember seeing the captain and part of his bridge watch wearing goggles (red, I think) before going aloft, presumably to help guard their vision, and even to make things illuminated by red lamps more visible?
The porcelain thingies I wrote of are different from the speaking tubes, I believe; those seem to be represented by screened funnels at the end of individual conduits, f'r instance at the navigator's station, and a couple of places on the bridge.
The porcelain (?) devices seem to be out of mouth's reach in panels that hold 30 or 36 or so in a close-spaced grid, which was what made me think that perhaps they were fuses. If I remember correctly from the movie, there are similar arrays in either the engine room or maneuvering, but I never remember seeing any replaced, even when some in the control room got broken during an attack.
Maybe when I grow up and decide what I want to do, I'll learn German. Or at least how to download a version of Das Boot with English subtitles....
-- Zygoma --
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If it's long and dark green and its bite makes you scream, that's..... a Moray. 
7/5 of adults don't understand fractions.
I'm told that two things can be reliably predicted to fail with increasing age. The first is memory. I can't remember the other right now.
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