Team – Last week during the Thanksgiving Holiday, after I temporarily gave up searching for my early BGS Mess Kit (I still owe pictures to Klaus1989), I read an excellent book on wartime U-Boats called The Battle of the Atlantic by Roy Adkin.
In the course of reading the book, I learned that the BDR raised three advanced wartime boats that were sunk or scuttled for service in the Bundesmarine. See below for an excerpt from Wikipedia about one of these boats, the U-2367, which was recommissioned in the Bundesmarine as the U-Hecht, S-171.
“In 1956, the German Federal Navy raised two Type XXIII boats, U-2365 (scuttled in the Kattegat in 1945) and U-2367 (which sank near Schleimünde following a collision with another U-boat), and recommissioned them as U-Hai (Shark) and U-Hecht (Pike), with pennant numbers S 170 and S 171 respectively.[6] U-Hai sank in a gale off the Dogger Bank in September 1966, taking 19 of her 20 crewmen with her. Her loss is the greatest maritime disaster that both the Bundesmarine and the Deutsche Marine have suffered during the more than 50 years of their existence. The experience gained from the two recommissioned submarines led to the construction of the Type 206 submarine, still in use today.”
The complete article is found at the below link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_...XIII_submarine
The attached Bundesarchiv picture of the U-Hecht was posted with the article.
For an excellent article and picture gallery of another wartime sub that also saw service with the Bundesmarine and is preserved today in Bremerhaven, I would highly recommend this link:
http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/magazin..._uboot_xxi.htm
For our German members, does anyone have any information on the lone survivor of the U-Hai sinking?
I found it interesting that there were no junior enlisted men assigned to these boats. Only volunteers could serve on submarines, thus the entire crew was made up of commissioned officers and petty officers. Is that still true today?
Don’t forget to look over Gordon’s posting on Bundesmarine / Deutsche Marine uniforms if you haven’t already.
Klaus – I’m still looking for that box.
All the best - TJ
In the course of reading the book, I learned that the BDR raised three advanced wartime boats that were sunk or scuttled for service in the Bundesmarine. See below for an excerpt from Wikipedia about one of these boats, the U-2367, which was recommissioned in the Bundesmarine as the U-Hecht, S-171.
“In 1956, the German Federal Navy raised two Type XXIII boats, U-2365 (scuttled in the Kattegat in 1945) and U-2367 (which sank near Schleimünde following a collision with another U-boat), and recommissioned them as U-Hai (Shark) and U-Hecht (Pike), with pennant numbers S 170 and S 171 respectively.[6] U-Hai sank in a gale off the Dogger Bank in September 1966, taking 19 of her 20 crewmen with her. Her loss is the greatest maritime disaster that both the Bundesmarine and the Deutsche Marine have suffered during the more than 50 years of their existence. The experience gained from the two recommissioned submarines led to the construction of the Type 206 submarine, still in use today.”
The complete article is found at the below link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_...XIII_submarine
The attached Bundesarchiv picture of the U-Hecht was posted with the article.
For an excellent article and picture gallery of another wartime sub that also saw service with the Bundesmarine and is preserved today in Bremerhaven, I would highly recommend this link:
http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/magazin..._uboot_xxi.htm
For our German members, does anyone have any information on the lone survivor of the U-Hai sinking?
I found it interesting that there were no junior enlisted men assigned to these boats. Only volunteers could serve on submarines, thus the entire crew was made up of commissioned officers and petty officers. Is that still true today?
Don’t forget to look over Gordon’s posting on Bundesmarine / Deutsche Marine uniforms if you haven’t already.
Klaus – I’m still looking for that box.
All the best - TJ
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