German type XXIII - what kind of wood for forward deck planking?

[roedj]

All,

There have been some very nice builds of German Type XXIIIs here, with more to come, but I'm wondering what kind of wood was used for the temporary forward deck planking and, more particularly, how it would have appeared after some usage. Being introduced late in the war, when supplies were becoming hard to find, I'm guessing that the Germans used any wood at hand but I really don't know. I've also seen some models with decking that would have made Chris Craft proud on their line of boats. I can't believe that either. I have to believe that after exposure to sea and sun the deck looked fairly ratty.

So, can anyone help here - perhaps with a color picture (I know they're very rare) or any other source.

Thanks for your time,

Dan

[Albion]

Indonesian teak, which is then aged on Bavarian mountainsides for fifty years before being carved by Swiss clock makers in their spare time.

Many captains were also matchbox collectors and used the matches from their boxes and glued these together to form planks from which they constructed replacements for the teak.

[crazygary]

What? Nothing about the Tibetan holy men???

[MFR1964]

Dan,

Normally they used teak, like other guys mentioned, in the last phase of the war, they used cheaper wood, gave it a tar treatement against the salt water, just to conserve it against rotting.
As for your XXIII, those deck pieces where only used in the harbour, not during active duty, personally i like it more with the decking on it, but if you want to be scale accurate, leave them off, it's all to your personal choice.


Manfred.

[roedj]

Manfred,

Thank you for the answer. I've been on many sailboats with teak decks and it ages to a lovely grey after awhile. Add in the tar treatment and I can only guess what it must have looked like.

Dan

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Bad case of AMS going around this time of year.

Sweat the BIG stuff first!

M

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Bad case of AMS going around this time of year.

Sweat the BIG stuff first!

M

[trout]

I have read (and if I can re-find the source, I will post) that they used pine because as already mentioned things were getting scarce and it was a readily available wood. The wood was treated with Carbolineum (a type of stain). It turned the wood black or very dark brown. On Type VII decks it would eventually lighten up because of sun and salt. On the Type XXIII because they were used dockside and were stored when sub was on it's way, I would hazard a guess it did not get worn away as quickly.

[roedj]

On the Type XXIII because they were used dockside and were stored when sub was on it's way, I would hazard a guess it did not get worn away as quickly.

I would not have guessed that the deck was stored on board the sub while underway as the interior volume of the XXIII was small to begin with. I would have thought that some type of harbor craft came out and installed it as the sub entered the harbor.

I learn something new everyday.

Thanks to all again.

Dan

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

They likely left that thing on the pier.

M

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

They likely left that thing on the pier.

M

[Von Hilde]

the Type of wood used on u boat decks was mostly Skotz pine, after the normandy invasion June 44. All the teak and mahagoney that came from se asia to madagascar and other Vishey French countries like nigeria ect. Skotz pine grows in Prussia and other eastern europe countries and was available for the boats untill the Russians took control of them. By 1945 there wasnt any wood left to be had, or shipyards, for that matter.