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On using the periscope; "The periscope is my biggest concern. To be sure, with an improvised arrangement, I can raise and lower it, but that goes so slowly that it is easier to steer the whole boat higher or deeper so as to look out of the water with the periscope or to submerge it."
A crewman on the boats engines; "Sir, I must call your attention to something. The boat is old and worn out. We have tried again and again, but it is impossible to get the engines tight, and exhaust and gas fumes come into the boat. For example if we submerge now without ventilating the boat, in half an hour half the crew will be unconscious. Men will fall like flies, and we will be able to revive them only after we surface and bring them into fresh air." The crew calls this "Gasoline Stupor" Later in the book there is a passage where they're caught on the surface by a cruiser and have to submerge before they can ventilate the boat, by the time they can surface there are only four men still conscious!
On life aboard; "Below everything is in one room, an entanglement of pipes, valves, levers, and engines. Everything is damp. Water drips incessantly from the ceiling overhead, which is finished off with small cork pieces. Those off duty lie on woolen blankets on the deck, there are no berths. They cover their faces because of the water drips."
Officers quarters; "Beside the torpedo tubes two air mattress's lie on the deck. They are the berths for the two officers; they date from 1908 and are not airtight anymore. It makes no sense to try and keep them inflated because the air inside does not last very long. Seffertitz (1st officer) lies down by the mattress and begins to inflate it; thirty five breaths is the tested amount. Then the air lasts until you are asleep, provided that you can do it quickly."
Getting a tour of German U-boat U-21; "She has an enormous conning tower, with large safety walls behind which you can stay dry in the heaviest weather. Two periscopes and an 8.8-centimeter gun. I go on board the German ship and welcome the commander Lieutenant Hersing, who at this time had sunk the Pathfinder, an English cruiser-the first warship of this war to be sunk in the North Sea. I am welcomed very cordially and enter the boat. What this boat has is unbelievable! Powerful diesels, the engine room seperated from the other parts by bulkheads. The men have proper berths, the commander even an honest to goodness cabin with an electric lamp next to his bed. A dining table for for the officers and a mess table for the crew. It is like being in wonderland and the Germans don't even know it. With difficulty I invite Hersing to visit. There is not much to explain. With one glance a U-boat man can comprehend the whole room" Hersing looks around. "I would refuse to travel in this crate."
Later in the war things get a bit better for von Trapp and his crew as they receive a captured French submarine the "Curie". Captured in 1914 in nets while trying to enter the port of Pola, a port on the Adriatic.
Georg von Trapp died of lung cancer on May 30th 1947, it's felt that his cancer can be partially blamed on inhaling the fumes of his U-boat.
This post has been edited by Hagen: July 08, 2008 - 08:06 PM
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