The helmsman

[Jace]

You'll have to forgive me, as I don't know much about uboats to start with, and most of my 'knowledge' tends to come from games and wiki articles about them, and I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask this on here either. However, something that's been bugging me, I don't know where the helmsman would be on one; having played sh3 mostly, I've seen the 2 planesmen and the guy who has all the valves for the ballast tanks (forgot what he's called) but I can't figure out who controls the rudder. Also, I think I saw earlier that someone said when the ship was on the surface, the helmsman was in the conning tower rather than the command room, and I was wondering if that was true too. I can't seem to find a photo of a conning tower for a type vii either.

[Catfish]

Hi Jace, and welcome

In a type VII boat, there are four rudder/helm stations.

During a mission, the helmsman would steer the boat from inside, guided by a gyroscopic compasss (and a magnetic one for backup) following orders of the commander or the officer of the watch.

Even during a surfaced attack, the boat would be steered from within. In action scenarios there would be as few men as possible outside, to accelerate emergency diving.

1. The main inner station is to the right of the front bulkhead in the 'Zentrale', 90 degrees to the left of the dive plane operators, pointing ahead to the bow. The steering mechanism looks like a grey case with two black sticks protruding from the upper side (Controls for the helm and diving planes were generally all electric, with wheels only being used for emergencies).

2. A second station is above the 'Zentrale' in the conning tower, forward of the attack periscope, pointing ahead. Similar box as below.

3. Third station is outside in the front of the conning tower, for navigating by sight e.g. while docking etc.; there is also a gyrocompass of course.

A fourth emergency station for steering is in the aft compartment, near the rear torpedo tube door.

[Sailor Steve]

His usual seat is just ahead of the planesmen, facing at a left angle, i.e. toward the bow. The rudder isn't controlled with a wheel, but with two paddles attached to that box labeled BBC (right behind the Chief). He's not there in SH3, though he is added in one mod (don't remember which one). If you have SH5 you can see him sitting right where I described.

[derstosstrupp]

The tower helm station was the primary helm station.

Das Boot pg 100 of my (German) copy:

The primary rudder station is in the tower, however, but if it is out of action due to the tower being damaged or flooded, the boat can be steered from here [talking about control room station].