Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Stolen U-boats and other psubs (was: U-571)

["D. Blake" <dblake@bright.net>]

-----Original Message-----
From: Michael B Holt <michaelbholt@juno.com>
To: personal_submersibles@psubs.org <personal_submersibles@psubs.org>
Date: Sunday, April 30, 2000 6:45 PM
Subject: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Stolen U-boats and other psubs (was: U-571)


>On Sun, 30 Apr 2000 13:57:11 -0400 "D. Blake" <dblake@bright.net> writes:
>>...a really good plot.  For instance, how about
>>using a captured U-boat to infiltrate a German held port and wreak all
>>sorts of havoc.
>
>Read "His Majesty's U-Boat," by Douglas Reeman.   There was a
>movie about the idea, in the early 50s (I think).    Those special
>effects were pretty cheap: the "u-boats" were models of British T-class
>boats.   On the other hand, there aren't many movies about British
>submarines.

I'll have to check around for that one.  While I'm at it, I think I will try
to locate the email addresses for all the usual cable movie channels.  Maybe
if we could flood them with requests they might be compelled to have an all
submarine movie day.  Now that would be great!

>I'd like to see a documentary about the capture and operation of
>the U-570, which really did happen.   If I hit the lottery, let's talk
>about that.

Oh yeah, the truth is stranger than fiction as they say, and as such very
entertaining.

>Speaking of the British, do they ever build psubs?   I see a lot of
>Americans
>and Germans, but the rest of the world appears under-represented.
>Or is that just my impression?

Don't know.  But I do know the British (not the Americans) with help at
first from the Poles were the ones wholly successful at capturing the first
enigma and fully deciphering it's coded messages.  Check this out:

Codebreaking and Secret Weapons in World War II
By Bill Momsen
U-110
Capture of the weather ship keys was shortly overshadowed by a far more
significant event. In an ironic twist of fate, the same Kapitän Lt.
Fritz-Julius
Lemp who had torpedoed the British passenger liner Athenia in 1939 was to
play a
major part. Lemp, now in command of type IXB U-110, attacked west-bound
convoy
OB-318 near Iceland. On Friday, May 9, 1941, his torpedoes hit Esmond and
Bengore. The Escort Group's Aubretia depth-charged the sub, which was forced
to
the surface.
Cdr. A. J. Baker-Cresswell, aboard destroyer Bulldog almost rammed the
submarine, but was able to stop short when he realized he might be able to
capture the U-boat intact.
The scuttling charges failed to explode, and the British were able to board.
Radioman 3C Heinz Wilde, indoctrinated to believe that Enigma was
unimpregnable
even if captured and, under the impression that the vessel was about to
sink,
had made no provisions to destroy the Enigma machine or the keys. The
British
recovered everything - the Naval Enigma with its rotors, the vital keys
through
June, and position charts. There are two versions of what happened to Lemp.
In
one, realizing that he had given the British a vital key to Kriegsmarine
operations, he committed suicide by drowning himself. In another, he was
shot by
the British as he attempted to reboard his ship in an attempt to sink it
himself.
An attempt was made to tow the captured sub back to England but it sank the
next
day. This was fortuitous; to Dönitz it appeared that U-110 had vanished
without
a trace, and there was no reason to believe that the Kriegsmarine codes were
no
longer secure.
Using the captured keys for May and June, the British were able to locate
and
sink cargo ships and tankers supplying U-Boats working the South Atlantic.
By the winter of 1940-41, England was perilously close to defeat. Knowing
every
detail of the enemy's plans was not enough. There were not enough men,
machines
and supplies.
Ultra may have tipped the balance in the Battle of Britain, but there were
to be
other trials ahead. Her vital supply lines were in danger of being severed,
and
the United States was complacently ignoring the whole affair.
It was going to be a very close shave, indeed.

>
>
>
>Mike Holt
>--
>
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