How did real-life U-boat captains work?

somedude88 · 12-12-16, 12:17 PM

I brought a few books about real U-boat captains and experiences but just to gather as much info from as many sources as I could I would like to ask any resident expert on the matter of how real U-boat captains operated during WW2.

And this is mostly off the cuff-train of thought- knee jerk questioning so they won't be particularly well thought out questions, but it's more out of curiosity than just plain research.

How did captains perform evasive maneuvers during depth-charge attacks? Did they stand by the Hydrophone operator and give out orders from there whenever the operator heard the signature splashes of the depth charge? I know they didn't use periscopes to spot the charges like you could in SHIII because the water was so murky in the Atlantic. Did they solely depend on the hydrophones to evade depth charge attacks? Did they start performing the maneuver before the charges were dropped? What did they do if the hydrophones became damaged and no longer usable? Later in the war when Destroyer escorts were equipped with those listening devices that were so powerful, they could hear someone on the U-boat coughing or sneezing, how did the captain or the crew for that matter, communicate? Hand signals?

Thanks for answering.

12-12-16, 12:17 PM	#1
somedude88 Torpedoman Join Date: Dec 2010 Posts: 120 Downloads: 54 Uploads: 0	How did real-life U-boat captains work? I brought a few books about real U-boat captains and experiences but just to gather as much info from as many sources as I could I would like to ask any resident expert on the matter of how real U-boat captains operated during WW2. And this is mostly off the cuff-train of thought- knee jerk questioning so they won't be particularly well thought out questions, but it's more out of curiosity than just plain research. How did captains perform evasive maneuvers during depth-charge attacks? Did they stand by the Hydrophone operator and give out orders from there whenever the operator heard the signature splashes of the depth charge? I know they didn't use periscopes to spot the charges like you could in SHIII because the water was so murky in the Atlantic. Did they solely depend on the hydrophones to evade depth charge attacks? Did they start performing the maneuver before the charges were dropped? What did they do if the hydrophones became damaged and no longer usable? Later in the war when Destroyer escorts were equipped with those listening devices that were so powerful, they could hear someone on the U-boat coughing or sneezing, how did the captain or the crew for that matter, communicate? Hand signals? Thanks for answering.