Recent uboat pictures

[greenman407]

[greenman407]

U1407. Captured at wars end and successfully tested and studied. With great effort it was not shared with the Russians. It was named HMS Meteorite. It was powered by a Gas Turbine powered by HTP(hydrogen Peroxide). It was designed to have two such turbines aboard. Here is some good reading material on it.http://www.rnsubs.co.uk/Dits/Articles/meteorite.php

[greenman407]

[Von Hilde]

Ive been a little slow at the scrutinising of all these new pictures lately. "Every picture tells a story" so they say. The wide assortment of unusual weapons placement and guns has caught my attention. I have been researching the smaller calibre crew defense weapons that were on board. They had a small arms armory such as automatic pistols, a few Mauser bolt action rifles and some MP 40 SMGs for boarding partys and port security. The picture of U 601 with the guy in the arctic hat on the bridge shows the tower mounted MG-15 light machine gun. Thats an old WWI gun used early in the war. 600-800 round, single or twin Drum magazines They were upgraded to MG 42s in 1942. Most boats had at least two in water tite cans up on the tower with several, various mount placements. As the war progressed, they were found not effective for anti aircraft, and were discontinued as standard armorment. I am pondering putting one on my 1/24 type II since there are some available in 1/24th from military miniatures Armor accessories. I believe there are some in 1/35th as well altho on my type VII, I just mocked up the containers and put them in the corners of the ducting for the air intakes on the tower bulkheads. I didnt want to spend the money on a bunch of accessories for one little resin machine gun a whopping inch and a quarter long, with limited detail.MG-15

[greenman407]

The Laubie was the U766 taken up in French service after the war. Here is a link for some more info:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_..._Laubie_(S610)

[greenman407]

[Von Hilde]

that yellow stripe just means it is being used as a training boat at the time of the picture. Since most of the pictures are in B&W the stripe was mistaken for white or light grey by many people begining with Alied inteligance during the war up to present day modelers. Every type boat was used in the training flotilla, altho the Type II's were primarily the brunt of the force. Most training boats were only temporaraly assigned to training command, and once the crew was proficient they were re assigned to "front boat" positions or wolfpacs from various flotillas area of operations, with their new boat. The stripe was sort of a warning as well as an identification that there are "Student Drivers" aboard "Watch our for suddon stops or turns" stay clear ect. In other words School Bus

[greenman407]

In these pictures I have included some small ones of U511 and the rocket program initiated starting with her.Theres that yellow stripe again.

[greenman407]

[greenman407]

The results of todays search:

[Von Hilde]

Today in 1942 there were two ships sunk near Key West. U84 sank the MV Baja California just 80 miles north west and the same time U 129sank the MV Port Antonio about 90 miles SE. The Key West Citizen publishes a segment "Tody in History" of significant news from their archives. These last few weeks have been full of U boat activity. The most sucessful of all of them in this area was Mohelman's U 571

[Von Hilde]

Dave, How hard would it be to build a small rover to penetrate the wreck and manuver without disturbing the silt. Taking in lighting and optics requirements as well as pressure? Just a thought. I dont know what kind of funding these guys have or even considered anything mini to peek around with. Dont want to tip my hand untill I find out about fesibility. If they start tossing Lira around, I want to be like the guys following around the money guy on the Gieco commercial with stickey stuff on my hands. Good thing I learned to speek Turkish when I was a kid, You never know when that kind of shat will come in handy some day.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Sign me up!

M

[Von Hilde]

Not quit published yet. Im working on a couple books pertaining to U boats, and a semi autobio. Most likely will go E Book first to test the water with publishers. I think thats the norm these days. Too many irons in the fire right now. I have set aside my Navy adventures stories to be a chapter in a more encompasing book about post navy experiences. Focusing on U boats presently, particularly the Black sea boats that were scuttled at the end of the war. My friend Selcuk Kolay, director of the Turkish maratime museum in Istanbul, found 3 a couple miles off shore at different depths, ranging from 80m and beyond. Another Turkish friend Tanner Aksoy, Turkish Navy marine engineer and diver/photographer has surveyed and took pictures of U20. Those guys want me to fly to Istanbul and check out the wreck. I said I would like to go when the send an ROV to the U23 and help identify the boat. As it is I had already mentioned to Tanner that the some of the captions on the U20 pictures were incorrect. No fault of his, the translation from turkish to greek to english, by the time the pictures got published. But he assumed the two watertite ammo cans ahead of the magnetic housing was the Torpedo room access hatches. Mostly because the gun and mount were taken off before scuttling and nothing else was on the fordeck ahead of the tower. The visibility at the wreck is quite poor. It sits on a sandy bottom at the mouth of a river and its always murkey. It has been damaged over the years by fishing boat traffic. Sardeen nets all fowled in the periscopes and the top part of the tower gone. The 23 however is off the ledge and deep and apparently intact. The big problem is money of course. The Turkish Govt. is having financial problems just like everywhere, and raising an old wwii u boat just isnt on the platter at this time. I sugested an ROV recon, privately funded, would be cost effective. which gave me their attention. I found a guy in Sweeden who has an ROV already sitting in Turkey. I havent been able to contact him yet. Another friend of mine in the US State Dept, tells me now is not the time for me to go to Istanbul. My wife says that too, and she overrides the state department roun heah bubba!!

[greenman407]

Hes our History Guy. He fills in the blanks.