10-24-06, 02:33 AM
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#2
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Rear Admiral 
Join Date: May 2005
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Quote:
These boats, designed in 1941, were primarily built as torpedo transports and were never fitted with the typical 88mm deck guns found on other VII type boats. They had 5 torpedo tubes (4 at the bow and 1 at the stern) and as attack boats they would carry 14 torpedoes but in their transport role they would have up to 39 torpedoes onboard.
Two of them, U-1062 and U-1059, were sent to support the Monsun boats in the far East waters. They were the largest and heaviest type VII boats built
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http://www.uboat.net/types/viif.htm
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The Type VIIF came about as it was found that patrolling U-boats frequently returned to port after expending their supply of torpedoes – rather returning because they were low on fuel or provisions. Thus, the VIIF was a specialized boat designed for a torpedo supply role.
A new section was inserted forward of the control room which contained 24 torpedoes, arranged in four layers. An additional hatch with a system of pulleys was fitted to enable these torpedoes to be transferred between U-boats while at sea. The upper deck was also widened to further accommodate the laborious task of transferring torpedoes.
Although sounding good in theory, in practice the physical transfer of torpedoes at sea seldom worked. This involved two u-boats secured to each other at sea, unable to dive and practically vulnerable to enemy fire until the transfer was complete. The task was slow and laborious and the practice was quickly discontinued. Instead, these U-boats were relegated to transport duties, with U-602 delivering a load of torpedoes to their Japanese ally in Penang in 1944.
A total of four Type VIIF were commissioned and quickly relegated to transport duties.
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http://www.uboataces.com/uboat-type-vii.shtml
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Again he decided to use the trusted Type VIIC basic design and followed the example of the VIID, adding a 10.5 metre section aft of the conning tower. Inside this new area would be enough storage for twenty-four torpedoes to be carried, stacked in six columns of four, three columns each side of the boat's centreline. An additional torpedo loading hatch aft of the storage space allowed access to the stored weapons for loading and removal. Like the Type VIID, the VIIF also benefited from the additional space by having two extra bunks added and a pair of refrigerated food lockers. Again, like the VIID, there was also additional fuel and ballast bunkerage within the extended saddle tanks and main hull. The first four VIIFs (U1059 - U1062) were ordered from Germaniawerft on 22 August 1941 and U1059 was launched on 12 March 1943. However, by that stage of the war the U-boats had lost their advantage and the idea of tortuously long surface transfers of torpedoes was unrealistic in the face of smothering Allied air power, covering the entire Atlantic. The VIIF had retained the original weaponry of the Type VIIC and was soon put to work on long-range supply missions. Their performance was improved over the Type VIID as the boat's beam had been increased to match the extra length, raising its seaworthiness. Originally the boats were used to run supplies around Norway, before three of the four (U1059, U1060 and U1062) were earmarked during 1944 for torpedo transport missions to Penang to supply the large Type IXC/40 and Type IXD2s that had formed a Far Eastern U-boat presence there. Only U1062 survived the journey, delivering thirty-nine torpedoes to Penang (twenty-four stored plus its crammed-in weapon load of fifteen). She was sunk on her return voyage in September 1944. Only U1061 survived the war, damaged by grounding in February 1945 and surrendered in Bergen at the war's end.
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http://www.uboatwar.net/VII.htm
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