Sunk

 

   On this day in 1946, The British Royal Navy sank the last of the 116 German U-boats that had surrendered at the end of WWII. The U-boats had been a fearsome weapon during the Battle of the Atlantic, almost cutting off Britain's supply routes. Churchill said the U-boats were the only thing that frightened him during the war.

   In 1943 the tide against the U-boats began to turn. Thanks to the development of sonar, radar, and destroyer escorted convoys, life became much riskier for U-boats and their crews. Out of an original fleet of almost a thousand U-boats, 793 were lost, taking about 28,000 submariners with them. This 75% casualty rate was the highest of any German force during the war. The casualty rate for U.S. submariners was 20%, also the highest percentage of any American force.

   After the war the surrendered U-boats were taken to a port in Northern Ireland and, over a three month period, were towed 100 miles out to sea to be used for target practice by the Navy and Air Force. Of the 116 subs, 20 either sank on the way or broke their tow cables. If the cable broke, the navy ships fired at the sub till it sank.

   Before I throw anything away, I think long and hard whether I might want it in the future. I'm a functional hoarder. The Royal Navy should have been more like me. In the 1950s and 60s, war museums began springing up all over and those near the sea would have loved to have had a real German U-boat.

   Only four U-boats have survived, one of them being U-505 which is displayed outside the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. The U-505 was captured by the U.S. Navy off the coast of Africa in June, 1944. The German crew had attempted to sink the sub as they abandoned it. A crew of eight U.S. sailors entered the sub, closed valves that were flooding the sub, and disabled the explosive charges set to blow holes in the sub.

   The crew removed invaluable information on German codes.  Even at this point the sub was still in danger of sinking. A U.S. officer went aboard and found more open valves. He managed to get the battery powered engine running to pump out the sub and fill the ballast tanks with air.  A Navy tug towed the sub 3,000 miles to Bermuda where experts studied it thoroughly. 

   The Navy did not want the Germans to know one of their subs had been captured for fear they would change their codes. The 58 German submariners were isolated in a special POW camp in Louisiana. After the war, the sub made a tour of East Coast cities. Then the navy planned to tow the sub to sea and use it for target practice. The navy captain who had overseen the capture convinced the Navy  to give the sub to his home town of Chicago. 

   The museum and the citizens of Chicago came up with the money to refurbish the sub and have it towed through the Saint Lawrence Seaway and the Great Lakes to its new home. Openings have been cut in the side of the sub to let the tourists in. 

   I was on the tour of the sub one time and there were a couple of German girls along. Someone asked them what the sign under a switch said. The girls spoke English, but were having trouble translating. Then someone pointed to a little sign in English further down. It said something like "Main engine inboard exhaust valve." The girls seemed embarrassed by their failure. "Don't worry," someone said. "We don't know what it means in English either."

Sleeping with torpedoes aboard U-505