Operation Deadlight

Freiwillige · 02-01-09, 11:06 PM

After the war the Unterseeboots were almost universally dumped off shore in the atlantic and scuttled. Why in the world would they waste all that metal? Why would they sink all those XXI's instead of using them as they were more advanced than any sub in the English navy.

Anyways would it have made more sense to scrap them then to just throw them away like that.

Torplexed · 02-01-09, 11:20 PM

Probably was out of a desire to keep that many surplus subs from ending up on the market and then in the hands of minor navies. After fighting a long drawn out war against the much dreaded and maligned U-Boats it probably would have been a major PR problem for the Allied navies if they had tried to incorporate them into their own navies. However, France and Norway did end up operating a few.

Speaking of salvage, in the late nineties an approach was made to the British Ministry of Defence for salvage rights on the Operation Deadlight U-boats by a firm who planned to raise up to a hundred of them. Because the wrecks were constructed in the pre-atomic age, they contain metals which are not radioactively tainted and which are therefore valuable for certain research purposes. No salvage award was made due to objections from Russia and the USA, and it is now probable that the U-boats will remain under the sea.

bookworm_020 · 02-02-09, 12:47 AM

Many of the boats had suffered damage and were worn out from war patrols. It would also have been costly to keep them in service as there was no supply chain of spare parts.

They did do testing of new ASW weapons on the subs and various results were obtained

harzfeld · 02-02-09, 11:45 PM

well, they could have recycle all those scrap metals instead of rotting them. I guess the order was just being spiteful against Allied from taking them like they did after WW1.

Freiwillige · 02-03-09, 03:22 AM

Operation deadlight was a British operation to scuttle the captured German submarine fleet. It was not the Germans who sunk them but the British! Would not all that metal be put to better use rebuilding England?

Dread Knot · 02-03-09, 09:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Freiwillige

Operation deadlight was a British operation to scuttle the captured German submarine fleet. It was not the Germans who sunk them but the British! Would not all that metal be put to better use rebuilding England?

Why bother? England had no lack of old WWI battleships to scrap for metal. I think the old "R" class quickly found themselves at the breakers not long after the shooting ended. Not mention the all the scrap metal at hand from a fleet far larger than she could still afford. Britian's shortages in the immediate postwar era were mostly food and finances.

Probably would have made sense to scrap the Prinz Eugen too. But with all the surplus warships in the world she ended up at a A-bomb test.

mariuszj1939 · 02-04-09, 03:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Freiwillige

Operation deadlight was a British operation to scuttle the captured German submarine fleet. It was not the Germans who sunk them but the British! Would not all that metal be put to better use rebuilding England?

Polish Navy helped British - ORP Blyskawica sunk first u-boot in operation because she dropped first depth-charges against German u-boot in WWII.

Below some pictures from Operation Deadlight taken by Polish crew :

BTW - Jimbuna nice screenshots - I remember one of these won in screenshots competition !

Faamecanic · 02-04-09, 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by harzfeld

well, they could have recycle all those scrap metals instead of rotting them. I guess the order was just being spiteful against Allied from taking them like they did after WW1.

Keep in mind to the war powers had SO MUCH scrap that they didnt know what to do with it all. Literally 1000's of tanks just rotted away in Germany (both allied and German) because there were so many of them.

harzfeld · 02-05-09, 07:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Faamecanic

Quote:

Originally Posted by harzfeld

well, they could have recycle all those scrap metals instead of rotting them. I guess the order was just being spiteful against Allied from taking them like they did after WW1.

Keep in mind to the war powers had SO MUCH scrap that they didnt know what to do with it all. Literally 1000's of tanks just rotted away in Germany (both allied and German) because there were so many of them.

They could have a place as storage or graveyard for all U-boats, but why scuttled them at sea? Some or many were too deep to salvage rather than scuttle them at harbor like Scapa Flow after WW1. Why didn't U-boats dock at docks and have someone to scuttle or deal with them instead of their crew? Most of them today are probably too rusty to pull out. If we had meth heads back then, most or all of them probably would be salvaged already. Meth heads would do anything for a metal into cash nowadays.

02-01-09, 11:06 PM	#1
Freiwillige The Old Man Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Phx. Az Posts: 1,458 Downloads: 24 Uploads: 0	Operation Deadlight After the war the Unterseeboots were almost universally dumped off shore in the atlantic and scuttled. Why in the world would they waste all that metal? Why would they sink all those XXI's instead of using them as they were more advanced than any sub in the English navy. Anyways would it have made more sense to scrap them then to just throw them away like that.

02-01-09, 11:20 PM	#2
Torplexed Let's Sink Sumptin' ! Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 5,823 Downloads: 43 Uploads: 0	Probably was out of a desire to keep that many surplus subs from ending up on the market and then in the hands of minor navies. After fighting a long drawn out war against the much dreaded and maligned U-Boats it probably would have been a major PR problem for the Allied navies if they had tried to incorporate them into their own navies. However, France and Norway did end up operating a few. Speaking of salvage, in the late nineties an approach was made to the British Ministry of Defence for salvage rights on the Operation Deadlight U-boats by a firm who planned to raise up to a hundred of them. Because the wrecks were constructed in the pre-atomic age, they contain metals which are not radioactively tainted and which are therefore valuable for certain research purposes. No salvage award was made due to objections from Russia and the USA, and it is now probable that the U-boats will remain under the sea. __________________ --Mobilis in Mobili--

02-02-09, 12:47 AM	#3
bookworm_020 Navy Seal Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Sinking ships off the Australian coast Posts: 5,966 Downloads: 1 Uploads: 0	Many of the boats had suffered damage and were worn out from war patrols. It would also have been costly to keep them in service as there was no supply chain of spare parts. They did do testing of new ASW weapons on the subs and various results were obtained __________________ "There is always one person in any organization who knows whats going on, That person must be fired"

02-02-09, 11:45 PM	#4
harzfeld Electrician's Mate Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 135 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	well, they could have recycle all those scrap metals instead of rotting them. I guess the order was just being spiteful against Allied from taking them like they did after WW1.

02-03-09, 03:22 AM	#5
Freiwillige The Old Man Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Phx. Az Posts: 1,458 Downloads: 24 Uploads: 0	Operation deadlight was a British operation to scuttle the captured German submarine fleet. It was not the Germans who sunk them but the British! Would not all that metal be put to better use rebuilding England?