IRL (dumb?) question

[deamyont]

Did U-boats bring any few small arms with it on a patrol, such as an MP-40 or so?

[Morts]

i think they did
and they had 2 mg34s in the conning tower

[Brag]

They carried a few Schmeisers, some pistols and a few rifles. LOL the MP 40s wouldn't be produced for another 40 or so years.

At the beginning of the war boarding parties would inspect neutral ships for contraband cargo. This practice was soon discontinued.

[melnibonian]

They had fire arms and sub-machine guns to protect themselves from boarding parties and to give them protection when they boarded enemy ships. I don't know how many they had but I doubt there were enough for the whole crew.

[dcb]

I remember in Das Boot, when the chief machinist (Wolfgang IIRC) goes crazy, Der Alte comes with a revolver ready to shoot him.

[Morts]

Originally Posted by dcb

I remember in Das Boot, when the chief machinist (Wolfgang IIRC) goes crazy, Der Alte comes with a revolver ready to shoot him.

it wasnt a revolver
it was a walter p38

[Henri II]

Originally Posted by Brag

They carried a few Schmeisers, some pistols and a few rifles. LOL the MP 40s wouldn't be produced for another 40 or so years.

Just a nitpick, but the thing that is usually called a "Schmeisser" was the MP 40, curiously Schmeisser himself was not even involved in its development.

[deamyont]

Originally Posted by Brag

LOL the MP 40s wouldn't be produced for another 40 or so years.

LOL yourself, this is what I ment.

[kurtz]

Thanks to that superb anthology 'Destroyer' (edited by Ian Hawkins) I have an answer;
on the 9th May U101 (Kapitanleutnant Julius Kemp of the Athenia infamy) was brought to the surface by HMS Bulldog and boarded by a party led by Sub-Lieutenant Balme RN. This was the truning point in the Altlantic war as an enigma machine and 6 week's worth of settings was captured... any way from Balme's report, "one tommy gun was found in officers clothes drawer, another was found in the lower control tower with an anti tank type of rifle."

The tommy gun may have been a schmeiser/MP40 or perhaps less likely that rather nice assault rifle some german units had (can't remember the name I'll repost when I do) and as for the anti tank rifle I've no idea perhaps for disposing of mines? however the RN used Lee-enfield .303s for this.

Hope this helps a bit the original document as well as being in the above book is also in HM's Public records office ref ADM/1/1113377151 and has apparently only been declassified comparatively recently.

Mike

[rb4door]

seems there is different opinions on that - I have watched documentary material and WWII experts talk about the Kriegsmarine Enigma, and while it definately aided things, it wasnt the "turning point" of the war alot of people think it was.

[Morts]

Originally Posted by kurtz

Thanks to that superb anthology 'Destroyer' (edited by Ian Hawkins) I have an answer;
on the 9th May U101 (Kapitanleutnant Julius Kemp of the Athenia infamy) was brought to the surface by HMS Bulldog and boarded by a party led by Sub-Lieutenant Balme RN. This was the truning point in the Altlantic war as an enigma machine and 6 week's worth of settings was captured... any way from Balme's report, "one tommy gun was found in officers clothes drawer, another was found in the lower control tower with an anti tank type of rifle."

The tommy gun may have been a schmeiser/MP40 or perhaps less likely that rather nice assault rifle some german units had (can't remember the name I'll repost when I do) and as for the anti tank rifle I've no idea perhaps for disposing of mines? however the RN used Lee-enfield .303s for this.

Hope this helps a bit the original document as well as being in the above book is also in HM's Public records office ref ADM/1/1113377151 and has apparently only been declassified comparatively recently.

Mike

it was U-110 and fritz-julius Lemp not kemp

i couldn resist correcting it:rotfl:

[Brag]

Originally Posted by deamyont

LOL yourself, this is what I ment.

I gotta apologize