Text 14200, 48 rader
Skriven 2005-10-05 13:18:36 av Raymond Yates (1:3613/48)
     Kommentar till en text av Ward Dossche
Ärende: Morality & Otherwise
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 WD> Raymond,

 >> Ward, you may want to research this some. The U-boat war was all
 >> along the East Coast, and in the Gulfof Mexico as well.

 >> http://uboat.net/maps/us_east_coast.htm

 WD> I know the site ... an excellent-one. It's possible to surf it for
 WD> hours on end and not get bored. Look at the U234 ... that's the one
 WD> Warren Bonner helped capture, quite a story.

 >> We had several sub sightings off our coast here south of Cape
 >> Hatteras..

 WD> Of course ... I never stated otherwise ... it still is a handfull as
 WD> the Germans had only a few subs with the necessary endurance to go the
 WD> distance. Many of their long-range subs didn't make it back from there
 WD> and I think that the majority indeed is rusting near the American
 WD> shores.

 WD> What they never figured is that the turbidity in Northsea and
 WD> North-East Atlantic waters was way higher than e.g. in front of the
 WD> North-American coasts. In plain language this means they could be
 WD> spotted from high-altitude even when well submerged overthere.

 WD> Another problem of theirs was the lack of reliable
 WD> weather-forecasting. In the North East Atlantic this was less of a
 WD> problem as they had put down sort of portable weather monitoring
 WD> stations on Greenland, Iceland and on the pack-ice. Again Warren
 WD> Bonner can talk about this because the Eastwind ice-breaker on which
 WD> he served during that time had to clean-up many of these systems.

 WD> Their main-problem however was that such a sub could not make the
 WD> round-trip voyage and be expected to patrol long enough to inflict
 WD> damage. So a system of strategically positioned supply-ships was
 WD> needed and as the war progressed there were less and less of these.

 WD> It must have been a very tough life for submarine-crews in those days,
 WD> nomatter what nationality they belonged to.

No doubt, and thks for the sdditional info.. I had the opportunity to tour a
late-war-era sub recently, that had been "upgraded" and served until 1975 (USS
Clamagore) Tiny and cramped does not begin to describe.. The galley looked to
be about as roomy as two telephone booths..It was quite an experience to spend
the time wandering around in her.

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 * Origin: Ray's Rocket Shop - Out to Launch (1:3613/48)