A Lathe onboard !

[YellowFin]

The German wikipedia entry for the type XXI said that most of the XXI were equipped with a 'lathe' (didn't know this term, but the tool in the picture is the one mentioned in the article).

The lathe was fitted because the project "Ursel" wasn't ready. Ursel was a weapon system featuring a solid fuel rocket booster torpedo for active defense against destroyers / sub-hunters.

[Leoz]

Very cool Makman94. Thanks for that.
Have seen the 505, but it has been some years. Highly recommended.



Can't remember. Makes sense though.





There is a YouTube video (can't find the link) of a type IX on patrol and they have salvage wet gear. Shows them going over the side to do some welding repairing something.

[John Pancoast]

Interesting. Lathes require a lot of power and room to operate, let alone the pitching/rolling of the sub.
Can be very messy too, what with the cutting oil and scrap metal.

[makman94]

Originally Posted by Leoz

Very cool Makman94. Thanks for that.
Have seen the 505, but it has been some years. Highly recommended.



Can't remember. Makes sense though.





There is a YouTube video (can't find the link) of a type IX on patrol and they have salvage wet gear. Shows them going over the side to do some welding repairing something.

Hi Leoz,

have you took any pics from your visit there? If yes, please show

Originally Posted by John Pancoast

Interesting. Lathes require a lot of power and room to operate, let alone the pitching/rolling of the sub.
Can be very messy too, what with the cutting oil and scrap metal.

Hi John,

this one is a small lathe so, i guess, it wouldn't be so power consuming.It looks that they had it for making small shafts,gears or threads on the fly (really necessery item imo). Cleaning oil and scrap metal, for sure, was not a problem for the...captain...all he said was "clean the lathe"..."yes sir"....

[Leoz]

Makman. Unfortunately no. I was little then. Just remember it was big; in good condition; and I remember the blue checkered bedding on the bunks.

Will go back and get plenty of photos.



They could make an amazing display there if they could ever dig up the proper sit-down attack scope; make duplicates of it and have about 8 of them on a floor where people could sit down and take a spin in it.



I have been on 3 museum U.S. fleet boats (Hawaii, Mobile, Baltimore) I seem to remember maybe they had a lathe on them....


Off topic: thanks for all of the wonderful mod work you have done. Extremely grateful.

[John Pancoast]

Originally Posted by makman94

Hi Leoz,

have you took any pics from your visit there? If yes, please show



Hi John,

this one is a small lathe so, i guess, it wouldn't be so power consuming.It looks that they had it for making small shafts,gears or threads on the fly (really necessery item imo). Cleaning oil and scrap metal, for sure, was not a problem for the...captain...all he said was "clean the lathe"..."yes sir"....

Yeah, even the smaller ones (that one isn't the smallest by far) take a lot of power and the mess on the lathe isn't the problem; the debris/oil gets all over the floor, etc. too. let alone storage for the metal used for any job.


Never would have guessed; thanks for the post and thanks for your modding work !

[makman94]

Originally Posted by Leoz

Makman. Unfortunately no. I was little then. Just remember it was big; in good condition; and I remember the blue checkered bedding on the bunks.

Will go back and get plenty of photos.



They could make an amazing display there if they could ever dig up the proper sit-down attack scope; make duplicates of it and have about 8 of them on a floor where people could sit down and take a spin in it.



I have been on 3 museum U.S. fleet boats (Hawaii, Mobile, Baltimore) I seem to remember maybe they had a lathe on them....


Off topic: thanks for all of the wonderful mod work you have done. Extremely grateful.

hi Leoz,
oh yes....very good idea but they haven't done it allready? i mean looking through the scope is what everyone has in his mind to do first when visiting it...

Take as much photos as you can and share them, it always so time consuming searching for a specific part and realize that may noone ever take a pic of it

Thank you very much for your kind words, i really appreciate them

Originally Posted by John Pancoast

Yeah, even the smaller ones (that one isn't the smallest by far) take a lot of power and the mess on the lathe isn't the problem; the debris/oil gets all over the floor, etc. too. let alone storage for the metal used for any job.


Never would have guessed; thanks for the post and thanks for your modding work !

hi John,
yes there are much smaller lathes (i know) but this one doesn't look to belong to the big ones. Anyway, i am not an expert so what i said was a guess and i read your informing post with interest This one that you said about the metal storage seems so logical and....heavy (i mean heavy with the real meaning of the word).
i have seen lathe working (in fact, once i was operating it under the owner's eye and directions) and i know the mess of oil and debris you are talking about
Thank you too for your kind words John

[Jeff-Groves]

[Aktungbby]

Originally Posted by YellowFin

The German wikipedia entry for the type XXI said that most of the XXI were equipped with a 'lathe' (didn't know this term, but the tool in the picture is the one mentioned in the article).

The lathe was fitted because the project "Ursel" wasn't ready. Ursel was a weapon system featuring a solid fuel rocket booster torpedo for active defense against destroyers / sub-hunters.

https://www.practicalmachinist.com/f...-thing.222545/

The usual lathe on a type VII was a Hommel UWG that´s related to the Astoba. So there are U-boat lathes. The Hommel can even be an U-boat mill and an U-boat shaper.

Even the USS Pampanito, moored at Fishereman's Wharf San Francisco carried one: as even Onkel Neal and his motley Wolfpack crew can attest: all of which gets us to Operation Ursel: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_U-boat and submarine towedV-rockets on underwater barges!!?

Plans for the rocket U-boat involved an attack on New York City using newly invented V-2 rockets; Unmanned and unpowered containers with V-2 rockets inside were to be towed within range of the target by a conventional U-boat then set up and launched from its gyro-stabilized platform. With thoughts of hitting targets in the United States and in the United Kingdom, a 32 m (105 ft)-long container of 500-tons displacement was to be towed behind a submerged U-boat.

This was countered by Operation Teardrop :

Operation Teardrop was a United States Navy operation during World War II, conducted between April and May 1945, to sink German U-boats approaching the Eastern Seaboard that were believed to be armed with V-1 flying bombs. Germany had threatened to attack New York with V-1 flying bombs and rocket U-boats. After the war, it was determined the submarines had not been carrying either. The plan was executed in April 1945 after several Type IX submarines put to sea from Norway bound for North America. Five of the seven submarines in the group stationed off the United States were sunk, four with their entire crews. Thirty-three crew members from U-546 were captured, and specialists among them were interrogated under torture. One destroyer escort was sunk, with the loss of most of her crew. The war ended shortly afterwards and all surviving U-boats surrendered. Interrogation of their crews found that missile launching equipment was never fitted to the U-boats, which was further confirmed after the war. U-546 was responsible for the last combat sinking of a United States Navy vessel in the Atlantic Theatre, during Operation Teardrop. On 24 April 1945 U-546 sank the destroyer escort USS Frederick C. Davis, (133 out of 209 crew lost) but was in turn sunk by combined fire of five other US destroyers.

.... lathes or not, U-boat rocket-towed warfare is deadly business

[Shadowblade]

I didnt know they had them onboard but it could be very useful for repairs.

[Gerald]

Originally Posted by Aktungbby

https://www.practicalmachinist.com/f...-thing.222545/
Even the USS Pampanito, moored at Fishereman's Wharf San Francisco carried one: as even Onkel Neal and his motley Wolfpack crew can attest: all of which gets us to Operation Ursel: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_U-boat and submarine towedV-rockets on underwater barges!!? This was countered by Operation Teardrop : .... lathes or not, U-boat rocket-towed warfare is deadly business

5 year's Vinnie...🤔

[Aktungbby]

Originally Posted by Gerald

5 year's Vinnie...��

...in a forum based on 80+ year-old failed WWII weaponology and tactics no less! How else to mingle operations: Ursel, Teardrop, a foto of Onkel Neal, the Pampanito & lathe ...and the last warship sunk by a U-boat...all in 1 enlightening post!

[Gerald]

Originally Posted by Aktungbby

...in a forum based on 80+ year-old failed WWII weaponology and tactics no less! How else to mingle operations: Ursel, Teardrop, a foto of Onkel Neal, the Pampanito & lathe ...and the last warship sunk by a U-boat...all in 1 enlightening post!

Good riddance!😊