KM Kriegsmarine (ball) whistle on the lanyard U-Boat Officers

[compressore]

Hi,
I always ask myself when I see such photos:
What do they wear at the end of the cord ?
A watch ?
The cord seems many times to be a standard boatswain whistle cord.

Thanks
Christian

[John R.]

My bet is a stopwatch.

John

[Norm F]

I wondered the same thing when I saw this photo in the thread on the plaid shirts.

Best regards,
---Norm

[Mike C.]

My bet is a stopwatch.

John

Exactly what I was going to suggest. Used to time the run of a torpedo!

[compressore]

Stopwatch

Exactly what I was going to suggest. Used to time the run of a torpedo!

I will not rule this out. But I thought about that: An attack with torpedoes was a rare occasion. Why should they wear a stopwatch at the occasions of coming back to harbor with no chance to attack someone at all ?

Maybe a "normal" watch ?

[amiklic1]

Whistle does not make sense, as well as torpedo stoppwatch.

I vote for a normal pocket watch, that was used usually not only for ordinary time following but also during writing the logbooks, reports etc.

Many times duriung the day the Captain was using his watch, I am pretty sure.

[km-spain]

Andjelo, that sounds very correct, agree with you

[Michel]

It's for a whistle.

.

[compressore]

What are the commandants doing with the whistle, what is the purpose ?

[Michel]

Better sound/power when the weather is not good, and more efficient.

.

[John R.]

Thanks to all the posters on this thread. I asked my friend Jak Showell what he thought and he said the following:

Dear John,

Yes almost certainly - usually a bosun's whistle.
The person with the lanyard is Erich Topp
The other chap in the photo on the right looks like Engelbert Endrass.
Hope you are keeping well.
With best wishes
Jak

Jak P.Mallmann Showell

[Michel]

Variant...

.

[John R.]

Very nice, thanks. John

[Petrus]

It's for a whistle.

.

I agree!

//P

[compressore]

Still questions.....

Thank you all very much having contributed to answer my questions.
But still I want to elaborate a bit more on this:

What kind of commandos a commander was giving with the whistles, especially when using so different ones as shown in the photo above ?
Is there any regulation about this, especially using a "thunderer whistle" ?

Attached a part of a pic I bought on E-Bay. I struggle a bit with thinking he has a whistle at the end of the cord. What sense does it make to have a whistle at such an occasion (he is sitting with colleagues and a lady on a bench) ?
I would have bet it is a watch......

Thanks
Christian