How did you get into U-boats (everyone please post)

[Grrbob25]

i came across silent-hunter iii while looking at the website for Lock On Modern Air Combat (another ubisoft game) and i saw sh3 in related games so i checked it out and then i was like "omfg a uboat sim!" I wasnt around for most of the real old ones, Aces of the Deep came out when I was two after i found sh3, i learned as much as i could about it, and i had a copy the same day (got it from gamestop for 39.99, but this was when it was new) had truble running it on my win98 pc, but managed to smooth all things out........now waiting for winxp so i can play GW! well after i started playing sh3, and then it was uboot.net, and now I have the history of the Ubootwaffe memorized

[Ducimus]

I think the primary reason i got intrested in U-Boats, was due to a lack of sub sim's that had the same level of immersion, but in a US Fleet boat.

What got me into WW2 sub's in general? I have no idea. It's just something that happened. I suppose i saw some old black and white film as a kid. Infact, it may have been "Run Silent, Run deep". I really don't know.

I remember as a kid playing, "silent Service" on my NES. Later on in highschool i read a few books written by Edward Beach. (sp). Later on i started playing Aces of the deep, because there wasnt any sub games with American boats. Silent Hunter I was an utter dissapointment to me. Too cut and dry, didnt have the feel like AOD did.

Later on while overseas, i read a few more of Beach's books and some other books on US subs. I read the tales about the Wahoo, harder, Seawolf, Tang, Toutog, Trigger, the list goes on.

Then oneday i read about Sh3. Looked really cool, shame it wasn't with US fleet boats, but i figured i wasnt about to let that stop me from enjoying a good WW2 diesal electric sub sim. After playing SH3 awhile, i grew to want to know more about the German Uboats and their crews, and started reading books about them as well.

Now i feel i know about as much about Uboats as i do Fleet Boats, although i think im probably still more familiar with the Gato then i am with the type VII or type IX. I toured a Gato once, and i sort of knew where everything was before i ever set foot onboard. Once onboard, i wasn't lost, and knew exactly where i was, and had a damn good idea what i was looking at. Talk about a geek. I can't say that about German Uboats, but then again, ive never gotten the chance to see one either.

[IronOutlaw]

I have always had a passion for the German Navy, and to a lesser degree the Royal Navy, of the 20th century, mostly focusing on the battle fleets of WW I and the capital ships of WW II.

However, a few years ago I got to meet, and subsequently becomes friends with, the II WO from U-1105, Heinz Sonnenrein and his lovely wife Ursula. Heinz and Ursula both died back in 1999, within 10 days of each other, but my interest had been fired up.

As a consequence of meeting Heinz, I immediately began, through letters, and later the net, making friends in Germany who also shared the U-boat interest. One friend actually works on U-995. When I visited in 2000, he took me to Laboe and showed me around U-995. We later went to Bremerhaven where we saw U-2540, and also to Wilhelmshaven where we had lunch on board the frigate Emden. Also visited the Peter Tamm collection in Hamburg, the U-boot Archiv in Cuxhaven-Altenbruch, and later I went to Freiburg im Bresgau to visit the Navy Archives where I spent far too much money on photocopying.

Another friend is currently a Kapitänleutnant in the Deutsches Marine.

Last year I discovered a U-boat veteran, Herman Meyer, living very close by who was a torpedo mechanic on U-409, and survived her sinking. He has been able to help me with some technical stuff about the Torpedo Firing Report, so that I can complement my SH III KTB's with the correct forms for any targets I engage. Unfortunately, Herman is not so good these days, but I still see him from time to time.

Then there was SH II, and by the time SH III came out, it was too late, I was addicted to U-boats, and beyond help. Maybe there is an SH III Anonymous group out there for guys who are so afflicted and may be able to help me kick the habit, but I doubt it! I bet there is a Partners of SH III Addicts group though!

Anyone interested to see how bad the addiction is, let me know as a recent patrol finished and the KTB, FTB and Shooting Report are nearly ready, and I can send you a copy.

[torpcatcher]

When I was 5 years old my father took me to see DD ORP. Blyskawica(Lightning) in port town of Gdynia. The Polish destroyer served protecting convoys under British command during WWII (more info about the ORP. Blyskawica on Wiki).
Than after that we took the tour of the harbor and that’s when I saw it… it was the last of the Polish ORP Orzel submarines was tied to a pier and awaiting its doom. The decommissioned sub was being prepared for scrap.
The second I saw the sleek hull and coning tower an instant flame of curiosity burst in side of me. Since that day I always were interested in how the subs work. What makes them go under and what makes them surface and I so badly wanted to see how it looks inside. Since that day I became fascinated by submarines. When I became older my father got me Commodore 64 and with it I got Silent Service game. I remember spending hours playing that sub sim. Soon I upgraded to Commodore Amiga 600 and 1200 and than I laid my hands on Silent Service II, and Red Storm Rising. I was hooked on those games for weeks never ending playing them. And than became many other sub sims that I played and enjoyed. When SH3 came out and gave players the experience of war from the perspective of a German submarine commander. I fell in love with that game and I’ve been playing it ever since I got it.

[Shaffer4]

Probably stems from the fact that my dad was Supposed to have been a Submariner after he joined the navy in 1968 he was assigned to the USS. Guitarro and well, that assignment never came to pass. http://www.history.navy.mil/library/...l/guitarro.htm

So he wound up on the Carrier USS Midway ( Which is much cooler, in my eyes, being apart of the history of such an honored vessel. )

Other than that, I have always thought that Submarines where neat *shrug*

[RedHammer]

1994, got a DX50 with 16 mb ram, 4 mb v card(later upgraded to 8), 32 mb ram, 1 gig hard drive.
1995, came over Silent Service, which made me read through a game magazine and i found Das Boot(The game) which made me see the movie, which made me get Silent Hunter (didnt understand squat, and still not understanding squat of TDC, I developed a sense of getting just about any ship at any distance without using tdc) . Later on I found out about Aces of the Deep, and i found Silent Service 2 in some diskette.
and from there and on it just sparkled, U-571, Silent Hunter 2, and now Silent Hunter 3.

I just love the VII and IX uboats, their streamlined body and shark-like look beats the crap out of any atomic-junglybungly round ugly uboats today. My dream is to go to see the U-505 in Chicago and take pictures of absolutely evrything.

Silent Hunter 3 kicks ass, I wish I could say the same about IV, but its about american uboats so I dont think il like it much.


RH

[Biggles]

I started my study on WW2 history in the 3rd grade, and I had a keen interest about everything that involed the war, which included U-boats.

SHIII, is however, my first (and ONLY) U-Boat sim, but I read somewhere it could be easy for the non-U-Boataholic so I bought it, and by jove, I loved it.

[DanBiddle]

I started getting interested in submarines when my cousin served in the Royal Navy. He served in resolution and Trafalgar class subs, and I wanted to know more about what he was doing, and it all started from there really. I found SH3 by typing Submarine sims into some search engine, and never looked back!

[WilhelmSchulz.]

I bought the Game and I was hooked.

[Mauser KAR98K]

Hunt For the Red October did it for me. Then came the forth grade. I bought a small submarine book and loved the look of the German U-Boat. I also grabbed what the school library had for sub books, but mostly modern ones. Checked out "Run Silent, Run Deep" and was hooked! Then my dad brought home Red Storm Rising for computer. I sat in class memorizing the different Russian Sub Classes. I loved the Seawolf. Sometime later he brought home Silent Service II. That got fun using "straight shot" Torpedoes. I was used to working with homing torpedoes with safety systems from RSR. Then Later Das Boot, and U-571. Pirated off SHII from Mourphous and haven't looked back since. I was floored when I saw SHIII and made a note to grab it. Now I want to find novels and probably get into R/C boats now. Amazing what a game will do to you.

[Crawlerz]

my first experience w/sub games was when i saw AOTD in BJ's about 11 years ago. at that time i had $40 in my pocket and couldn't part with the necessary 20. but got it later (and now there is an ancient computer my brother plays it on) obviously i play SH3 on my brand-spankin'-new DELL. not really it's 2 yy old. but 3.0GHz fast. (my only bottleneck is the video card - 128mb only )

[THE_MASK]

Through the hatch usually:rotfl:

[IronOutlaw]

I met the II WO from U-1105, Heinz Sonnenrein, about 10 years ago after a friend of a friend knew I was interested in German Naval history.

Heinz, and his wonderful wife Ursula, and I became good friends, and with a friend I have in the modern German Navy, I was able to help heal a few old wounds. I did begin to understand the dreadful stress that all WW II German veterans had to endure, being a Vietnam vet helped.

As I grew to know Heinz, my passion for battleships gradually slipped into second place behind U-boats. Now it has become an obsession about all submarines as I had the good fortune to take some Navy cadets on a sea ride aboard HMAS Sheean in February 3 years ago.

I have visited U-505, U-995, U-2540, and worked as a volunteer guide on board HMAS Onslow, as well as getting quite close to U-1 at the Deutsches Museum in Munich. I have spent far too much money on photocopies of U-boat KTB's whilst visiting Germany.

Back in 2003 I attended a U-boat Veteran's Association meeting in Munich and met one of the crew from U577, and the guy who wrote the book on U-boat emblems.

Like I said, it's an obession!!!

Recently I discovered a veteran from U-409 who lives near me. He was a torpedo mechanic.