That is not what a submarine is like....
Generally speaking, for kit, apart from foul-weather gear, the clothes one stands up in are quite adequate; perhaps in addition one might bring a special little bag with a change of underwear, since in bad weather the sea periodically soaks one through from head to foot. And – apart from a toothbrush – that has to do, and I know that one can manage perfectly well on that, as long as the patrol doesn’t last beyond about 8 weeks.
Also, the crew in the meantime had bonded together as friends. A true ‘U-boat spirit’ reigned between officer and seaman, and each one looked forward to the day when they would see action.
All in good time, however. As already mentioned, training comes first. A U-boat Captain has no intention of going to sea with a poorly trained crew; he would come to regret that bitterly one day when the going got difficult. So the launching of a U-boat isn’t the most important thing; it’s the training of the crew and the testing of the boat that warrants special attention. Anything worthwhile takes a little time – even when time is of the essence.
The boat has now been tested for sea-worthiness, and has been declared ‘ready for the front’; now they wait for the order to go into action. That too soon comes, and I vividly recall the day when our boat, decked out with flowers and fresh greenery, left harbour on its first patrol.
Thoughts of the similarity to the hardy Vikings of old came to us spontaneously as we surveyed our warlike boat, and like the warriors of old took to the water as though to land bedecked with flowers ready for the fray, in hopes of victory and a successful return home.
We found ourselves now on the warpath, and had to use the special tool for breaking through the barrier that the English in the course of the war had placed around our harbour. The boat now makes for the open sea. The land sinks out of sight, and as in such cases the natural world changes for the seaman, so he himself changes equally. On the open sea he becomes another person; something seems to have fallen away from him, he as it were changes gear, his being becomes freer and less self-conscious – in short, he feels and experiences the freedom of the sea, the spaciousness of the ocean and the world.
Further northward goes our journey. Even in the first days the sea pounds against us. The North Western rages and breaks over the boat as though it is trying to hurl us back again into port. The sea gives us a demonstration of its tremendous power. With engines struggling our boat creeps forward, and as the sea towers up at the top of Udsire, off the Southwest coast of Norway, it claims its victims from us. A huge wave knocks three crewmen, an officer, an under officer and an ordinary seaman off the conning tower in the middle of the night, and send them down to Davey Jones locker. They were comrades, they died a hero’s and a seaman’s death, as an example of doing their duty with iron discipline. The sea had its way with them. But the boat had to make good its loss. We leave port again, with undiminished power. The sea has calmed down now. Before long we make contact with neutral steamers carrying contraband, which are to be sunk. The steamers are stopped, the crew take to the boats and in a short time top decks and sides of the ships are blown to pieces by our shells.
It way well be asked by what right steamers of neutral countries can be sunk without more ado, since these countries are not directly involved with the war. To this one can only reply that ships of other seafaring nations cannot travel in the declared war zone of a power, which is waging war, without putting themselves in danger of being destroyed. That applied not only to other powers, which are waging war themselves, but also to neutral nations, which do not consider themselves at war and would like to be able to maintain their overseas trade.
In this connection I mention briefly the government’s decree of 4.2.15 – (4th Feb 1915)
1) The waters around Great Britain and Ireland, including the whole of the English Channel, are herewith declared to be a war zone. From 18.2.15 any enemy merchant vessel encountered in this war zone will be destroyed without it always being possible to ensure the safety of the crew and passengers.
2) Neutral ships are also at risk in the war zone, since, because of the British government’s deliberate misuse of neutral flags and the circumstances of the war at sea, attacks directed at enemy shipping cannot always be prevented from affecting neutral ships as well.
Especially when it is established that the ship in question is a neutral ship carrying contraband, it can be sunk, after rescuing the crew and passengers, even when it is traveling outside the war zone and is on its way to one of the powers waging war.
From what I have just said it is clear that sea voyages for merchant ships in wartime, whether inside or outside the war zone, is always fraught with increased danger, and neutrals can only protect themselves by the strictest possible observation of the regulations affecting them and their conduct when at sea.
The boat now steers northwest to travel round the Shetlands, and so enters the Atlantic Ocean. The weather grows hazy. Bad visibility makes life difficult for our bridge watch. Suddenly there are two English escorts on our bow. The moment they are recognized as such the alarm is given on board and the order given to dive. I have already said that I was able to bring the boat to periscope depth in 45 seconds or less. This was an emergency, when everything hung by a thread and when it was important to vanish from the surface as quickly as possible, since the distance between escorts and boat was so small that as soon as they spotted our position the enemy would have been able to set course to ram us. If in such dangerous circumstances the order “Flood tanks” is given from the central control room without the shout “Hatch closed” being given first, then under the prevailing circumstances the order is given in recognition of the extreme emergency and specified absolutely intentionally. I had the diving manoeuvre so well under control that in the time between the opening of the air-vents and the fastening of the hatch I would have been ready to countermand the fast-flooding of the tanks if the shout “Hatch closed” had not followed at the right time. Basically flooding can and must only take place after the hatch is shut. Sadly there have been unfortunate losses when the hatch could no longer be closed at the correct time.
The dive, started with the order “Flood tanks”, took us in an exceptionally short space of time under water. The boat continued its steep dive to 70m, for we had to expect depth charges. However no attack followed. Our speedy vanishing-trick must surely have been seen by the escorts; however it may well be that the rocking motion of the waves had carried the bridge-watches on the escorts away to the land of dreams.
Our boat makes good its escape under water, and after a little while surfaces again. Visibility has not improved. Increased vigilance will be needed to protect us from being surprised. Fortunately night is drawing on; we continue our way quietly and undisturbed and draw near to the operations area in our orders. In the meantime the weather has improved. In one of the following nights a light catches the eye of one of the bridge-watch, and me as well, across on the starboard bow; it only showed for a split second. We decide that this blink of light must be something like a crewman opening the door of a cabin or some other room on a blacked-out ship, so as to step quickly outside. It is impossible to make out what it is in the darkness. A report is made to the Kommandant. Order: “Full ahead both engines, make for the flash of light!”
Generally speaking, for kit, apart from foul-weather gear, the clothes one stands up in are quite adequate; perhaps in addition one might bring a special little bag with a change of underwear, since in bad weather the sea periodically soaks one through from head to foot. And – apart from a toothbrush – that has to do, and I know that one can manage perfectly well on that, as long as the patrol doesn’t last beyond about 8 weeks.
Also, the crew in the meantime had bonded together as friends. A true ‘U-boat spirit’ reigned between officer and seaman, and each one looked forward to the day when they would see action.
All in good time, however. As already mentioned, training comes first. A U-boat Captain has no intention of going to sea with a poorly trained crew; he would come to regret that bitterly one day when the going got difficult. So the launching of a U-boat isn’t the most important thing; it’s the training of the crew and the testing of the boat that warrants special attention. Anything worthwhile takes a little time – even when time is of the essence.
The boat has now been tested for sea-worthiness, and has been declared ‘ready for the front’; now they wait for the order to go into action. That too soon comes, and I vividly recall the day when our boat, decked out with flowers and fresh greenery, left harbour on its first patrol.
Thoughts of the similarity to the hardy Vikings of old came to us spontaneously as we surveyed our warlike boat, and like the warriors of old took to the water as though to land bedecked with flowers ready for the fray, in hopes of victory and a successful return home.
We found ourselves now on the warpath, and had to use the special tool for breaking through the barrier that the English in the course of the war had placed around our harbour. The boat now makes for the open sea. The land sinks out of sight, and as in such cases the natural world changes for the seaman, so he himself changes equally. On the open sea he becomes another person; something seems to have fallen away from him, he as it were changes gear, his being becomes freer and less self-conscious – in short, he feels and experiences the freedom of the sea, the spaciousness of the ocean and the world.
Further northward goes our journey. Even in the first days the sea pounds against us. The North Western rages and breaks over the boat as though it is trying to hurl us back again into port. The sea gives us a demonstration of its tremendous power. With engines struggling our boat creeps forward, and as the sea towers up at the top of Udsire, off the Southwest coast of Norway, it claims its victims from us. A huge wave knocks three crewmen, an officer, an under officer and an ordinary seaman off the conning tower in the middle of the night, and send them down to Davey Jones locker. They were comrades, they died a hero’s and a seaman’s death, as an example of doing their duty with iron discipline. The sea had its way with them. But the boat had to make good its loss. We leave port again, with undiminished power. The sea has calmed down now. Before long we make contact with neutral steamers carrying contraband, which are to be sunk. The steamers are stopped, the crew take to the boats and in a short time top decks and sides of the ships are blown to pieces by our shells.
It way well be asked by what right steamers of neutral countries can be sunk without more ado, since these countries are not directly involved with the war. To this one can only reply that ships of other seafaring nations cannot travel in the declared war zone of a power, which is waging war, without putting themselves in danger of being destroyed. That applied not only to other powers, which are waging war themselves, but also to neutral nations, which do not consider themselves at war and would like to be able to maintain their overseas trade.
In this connection I mention briefly the government’s decree of 4.2.15 – (4th Feb 1915)
1) The waters around Great Britain and Ireland, including the whole of the English Channel, are herewith declared to be a war zone. From 18.2.15 any enemy merchant vessel encountered in this war zone will be destroyed without it always being possible to ensure the safety of the crew and passengers.
2) Neutral ships are also at risk in the war zone, since, because of the British government’s deliberate misuse of neutral flags and the circumstances of the war at sea, attacks directed at enemy shipping cannot always be prevented from affecting neutral ships as well.
Especially when it is established that the ship in question is a neutral ship carrying contraband, it can be sunk, after rescuing the crew and passengers, even when it is traveling outside the war zone and is on its way to one of the powers waging war.
From what I have just said it is clear that sea voyages for merchant ships in wartime, whether inside or outside the war zone, is always fraught with increased danger, and neutrals can only protect themselves by the strictest possible observation of the regulations affecting them and their conduct when at sea.
The boat now steers northwest to travel round the Shetlands, and so enters the Atlantic Ocean. The weather grows hazy. Bad visibility makes life difficult for our bridge watch. Suddenly there are two English escorts on our bow. The moment they are recognized as such the alarm is given on board and the order given to dive. I have already said that I was able to bring the boat to periscope depth in 45 seconds or less. This was an emergency, when everything hung by a thread and when it was important to vanish from the surface as quickly as possible, since the distance between escorts and boat was so small that as soon as they spotted our position the enemy would have been able to set course to ram us. If in such dangerous circumstances the order “Flood tanks” is given from the central control room without the shout “Hatch closed” being given first, then under the prevailing circumstances the order is given in recognition of the extreme emergency and specified absolutely intentionally. I had the diving manoeuvre so well under control that in the time between the opening of the air-vents and the fastening of the hatch I would have been ready to countermand the fast-flooding of the tanks if the shout “Hatch closed” had not followed at the right time. Basically flooding can and must only take place after the hatch is shut. Sadly there have been unfortunate losses when the hatch could no longer be closed at the correct time.
The dive, started with the order “Flood tanks”, took us in an exceptionally short space of time under water. The boat continued its steep dive to 70m, for we had to expect depth charges. However no attack followed. Our speedy vanishing-trick must surely have been seen by the escorts; however it may well be that the rocking motion of the waves had carried the bridge-watches on the escorts away to the land of dreams.
Our boat makes good its escape under water, and after a little while surfaces again. Visibility has not improved. Increased vigilance will be needed to protect us from being surprised. Fortunately night is drawing on; we continue our way quietly and undisturbed and draw near to the operations area in our orders. In the meantime the weather has improved. In one of the following nights a light catches the eye of one of the bridge-watch, and me as well, across on the starboard bow; it only showed for a split second. We decide that this blink of light must be something like a crewman opening the door of a cabin or some other room on a blacked-out ship, so as to step quickly outside. It is impossible to make out what it is in the darkness. A report is made to the Kommandant. Order: “Full ahead both engines, make for the flash of light!”