Helmsman mod

[Kptlt. Neuerburg]

I've been reading Buchhiems book The U-Boat War and was wondering if anyone at all has tryed to develop a mod that ads the area where the helmsman sits in the boat, which is inbetween the Control Room and the part where the attack periscope is inside the Conning Tower?

[Raus]

You mean to the left and behind the bow planesman? And I don't think there is.

[GoldenRivet]

The planesmen are in the control room, the helmsmen who controls the rudder sits up in the conning tower IIRC. with nobody occupying that station you kinda have to wonder who is driving the boat!?

on the other hand i think it might get quite lonely up there .

[Jimbuna]

Not as far as I am aware

[Sailor Steve]

I'm pretty sure there were two helm positions. The one in the conning tower was used when running an attack, but there was also one at the front of the control room.





A mod has been done to move the observation periscope to its proper position, but no-one has yet made the attack 'scope housing in the control room.



Photos are from U-boote Westvarts (1941) which (I think) was filmed inside an actual boat.

[mr chris]

U-boote Westvarts was filmed aboard U124 or 123 i belive.

[SquareSteelBar]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

I'm pretty sure there were two helm positions. The one in the conning tower was used when running an attack, but there was also one at the front of the control room.

Hi mate,

that's not quite right.
The one helmsman in the conning tower was operating the rudder [port/starboard] - not only when attacking but always.

The helmsmen in the control room were operating the dive planes.

Greeting,
SquareSteelBar

[Sailor Steve]

Look again at the first picture. The guys on the planes were called 'planesmen', and you can see both of them side-by-side, right behind the helmsman on the rudder wheel.

It wouldn't make much sense under normal conditions to have the captain in the control room and the helmsman a deck above him where orders have to be shouted to be heard.

[SquareSteelBar]

Ah, I know what you mean. The rudder wheel in the control room is the emergency manual rudder.

In normal case the rudder station really was in the conning tower, hydraulic operated like the dive planes.

Pics of U995 Note the texts above the pics.

More

[Jimbuna]

Surely the helmsman wasn't locked in the conning tower alone during an emergency situation ? :hmm:

[3Jane]

In his book 'u-boat war' Lothar-Gunther Buchheim describes being given a brief stint at the helmsman's position in the conning tower during a quiet period. Presumably there must have been a helm position in somewhere in the rest of the boat for other times. Wouldn't be a nice place to be during a depth charge repost. But there again, no place in the boat would be
In another book (I forget the title, must try to find it again sometime) describing coastal command's campaign against the u-boats in the bay of biscay. One u-boat helmsman was the only one of the crew, other than the flak crews on deck, to survive when the boat suddenly went down after sustaining damage from a Dutch bomber. One of ten aircraft circling the three boat group at the time. So he was in the tower position during surface action at least. Two of the boats were sunk at the time, the third being sunk by depth charges later by a hunter-killer group tasked to head towards the scene.

[Kptlt. Neuerburg]

Originally Posted by 3Jane

In his book 'u-boat war' Lothar-Gunther Buchheim describes being given a brief stint at the helmsman's position in the conning tower during a quiet period. Presumably there must have been a helm position in somewhere in the rest of the boat for other times. Wouldn't be a nice place to be during a depth charge repost. But there again, no place in the boat would be
In another book (I forget the title, must try to find it again sometime) describing coastal command's campaign against the u-boats in the bay of biscay. One u-boat helmsman was the only one of the crew, other than the flak crews on deck, to survive when the boat suddenly went down after sustaining damage from a Duth bomber. One of ten aircraft circling the three boat group at the time. So he was in the tower position during surface action at lest. Two of the boats were sunk at the time, the third being sunk by depth charges later by a hunter-killer group tasked to head towards the scene.

See now this is what I'm talking about!! From what I read Buchhiem said that there was in the type VII-B VII-C's had a helmman in the conning tower and and emergancy rudder control in the aft of the where the e motors where. Found in the chapter called "test dive".

[Jimbuna]

Wouldn't be a nice place to be during a depth charge repost. But there again, no place in the boat would be

Too bleedin right!!

[jcalonso]

Just to clarify things about the helm's position in a VIIC, i attach some pictures I found on uboat.net which clearly show the helmsman position inside the conning tower very close to the attack periscope (as per accompanying text, the photographer was pressing hard his back against the scope). I also have found some schematics of the VIIC type showing an emergency wheel for rudder control just before the aft torpedo compartment and after the battery status panel. I wonder if the big red wheel that partially shows after the panels in the photos is this emergency wheel. May some of the experts out there could further clarify these things. Here is the link to the photos: http://uboat.net/gallery/index.html?gallery=U995C . Best Regards.

[Spytrx]

According to Hartmann it is so too - there is an excerpt from his book in another thread here that talks about it...