This record was kindly provided by the generous assistance of Tony Cooper.
COPY No. |
|||
|
|||
C.B. 4051 (25) |
|||
"U 138" |
|||
Interrogation of Survivors |
|||
 |
|||
August, 1941 |
|||
|
|||
SECRET |
||
| This book is the property of His Majesty's Government. | ||
| It is intended for the use of the recipients only, and for communication to such Officers under them (not below the rank of Commissioned Officer) who may require to be acquainted with its contents in the course of their duties. The Officers exercising this power will be held responsible that such information is imparted with due care and caution. | ||
C.B. 4051 (25) |
||
"U 138" |
||
Interrogation of Survivors |
||
|
||
August, 1941 |
||
|
||
| NAVAL INTELLIGENCE DIVISION, | ||
| ADMIRALTY, S.W.1. | ||
| N.I.D. 08409/43. | ||
 |
 |
|
| The following report is compiled from information derived from prisoners of war. The statements made cannot always be verified; they should therefore not be accepted as facts unless they are definitely stated to be confirmed by information from other sources. | ||
|
|
|
3 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
TABLE OF CONTENTS |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
_______ |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (C42207) B* | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
5 |
||
REPORT OF INTERROGATION OF CREW OF "U 138, " SUNK AT
|
||
ABOUT 1115 G.M.T. ON WEDNESDAY, 18th JUNE, 1941, IN |
||
| POSITION 36° N., AND 8° W. | ||
________ |
||
I. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS |
||
| Prisoners from three U-Boats were interrogated simultaneously; these men were from "U 138," sunk on 18th June, "U 556," sunk on 27th June, and "U 651," sunk on 29th June, 1941. | ||
| It was decided to include in each report only matter appertaining to the U-Boat concerned and to include in the last of these reports all general information obtained from all prisoners. | ||
| Thus this report is confined to information about "U 138" only. | ||
II. CREW OF "U 138" |
||
| The normal complement of "U 138" consisted of three officers and twenty-four men, but an additional Engineer Sub-Lieutenant under instruction was carried on the last cruise. | ||
| There was some criticism of the officers by the men, and a lack of confidence on the part of the Captain in the reliability of his crew, many of whom he thought too young and lamentably inexperienced. | ||
| The senior petty officers considered the officers inefficient and "Unjustifiably interfering." | ||
| The whole crew had been lectured at frequent intervals on the subject of security, and just before their departure on their last cruise they had been paraded to hear a document read out, which described the place where they would be interrogated, if captured by the British, as well as the process of interrogation and the attendant pitfalls; they were specifically warned not to divulge various items of information. When taken aboard H.M.S. "Faulknor," after the sinking of "U 138," the German Captain, Oberleutnant zur See (Lieutenant) Franz Gramitzky, pretended to be a Petty Officer or rating, and before being identified was able to lecture his men again and repeat the warnings and orders regarding the attitude to be adopted under interrogation. This subterfuge of Gramitzky's forestalled any hopes of obtaining information from the prisoners still feeling the effects of depth charge attack. | ||
| There were some Petty Officers and ratings with naval experience, but many men had only joined the navy during the latter half of 1940, and had received very little U-Boat training and were almost useless in the U-Boat. | ||
| Gramitzky, aged 25 years, joined the Navy in 1936, transferred to U-Boats in 1938, and was promoted Leutnant zur See (Sub-Lieutenant) on 1st October, 1938. He was stated to have served under Kapitänleutnant (Lieutenant-Commander) Schepke in "U 19," the earlier cruises of which are mentioned in C.B. 4051 (19), pages 14 and 15. He was a native of East Prussia, and showed some sense of humour. | ||
| According to his men he behaved in an extremely democratic manner towards them, frequently getting drunk and going to brothels with them. Though appreciating this camaraderie, the older Petty Officers felt such behaviour to be somewhat undignified. | ||
| The Engineer Officer, Oberleutnant (Ing.) (Engineer Lieutenant) Harald Woeckner, just 26 years of age, was born in Bogota, Columbia, remained there, and joined the navy in 1936. During his naval training he visited the Mediterranean, India and the Far East. He had spent most of his naval career in destroyers. He was quite a pleasant, though somewhat dull individual, despite his travels; his political views were Nazi, but not as extreme as those held by most U-Boat officers. | ||
| (C42202) B*2 | ||
|
|
|
6 |
||
| The First Lieutenant, Leutnant zur See (Sub-Lieutenant) Gustav Fricke, 20 years old, a Westphalian, joined the navy in 1938. He was an ardent Nazi, very dull and altogether a somewhat unpleasant person; he had little U-Boat experience, having only joined "U 138" for her last two cruises. | ||
| The engineer officer under instruction, Leutnant (Ing.) (Engineer Sub-Lieutenant) Ulrich Rickmann, aged 22 years, joined the navy in October, 1937; at the outbreak of war he was drafted, without adequate technical training, to the destroyer "Erich Giese," from which he escaped when she was sunk at the second battle of Narvik. He remained at Narvik until the end of June, 1940, and was sent to a destroyer base in Germany, until ordered to proceed to Lorient, where he joined "U 138" for her last cruise. He had never had any U-Boat training, and had he not been made a prisoner of war, he would have been drafted, still without training, to stand by a new U-Boat under construction. Rickmann appeared to be completely ignorant of the U-Boat branch of the German navy, and belonged to a better type of naval officer; he was less security-conscious than the usual U-Boat officer, and also better educated, speaking fair English and some French. | ||
| As "U 138" is believed to have been on a special and possibly dangerous mission, it is interesting to note that of the four officers and twenty-three men, only two men were married, these being the Chief Quartermaster and a senior mechanician. | ||
| While prisoners expressed their appreciation of their treatment in H.M. Ships, they were extremely resentful at the way in which they were handles by the military, especially during alleged interrogation by Army officer. | ||
III. EARLY HISTORY OF "U 138" |
||
| "U 138" was stated to have been built at the Deutsche Werke, Kiel; she had a displacement of 300 tons, and was one of a series of 300-ton U-Boats. This series is believed to include "U 137," "U 139," "U 140," "U 144" and "U 147"; a petty officer claiming to know something of production, stated that this series consisted of 15 300-ton U-Boats. Prisoners added that "U 138" was one of the last U-Boats completed by the Deutsche Werke, Kiel, before the firm ceased to build U-Boats and concentrated on the building of merchant ships. Prisoners denied all knowledge of the approximate date on which "U 138" had been laid down. | ||
| Members of the crew of "U 138" were drafted to stand by during the final stages of construction from about the middle of April, 1940 onwards. | ||
| The Captain was Oberleutnant zur See (Lieutenant) Wolfgang Lüth, the First Lieutenant was Oberleutnant zur See Franz Gramitzky, and the engineer officer was Oberleutnant (Ing.) (Engineer Lieutenant) Brüggemann. | ||
| The U-Boat was said to have been completed on 27th June, 1940, and to have proceeded into the Baltic to do trials. She went first to Danzig, then to Gotenhafen, and finally to Memel, where she carried out torpedo practices. | ||
| After completing her trials, "U 138" was said to have been used for training purposes for several weeks, returning to Kiel at the end of August or early in September, 1940. | ||
IV. EARLIER CRUISES OF "U 138" |
||
| (i) First Cruise of "U 138" | ||
| "U 138" was stated to have left Kiel on her first war cruise on a date before the middle of September, 1940. It was claimed that she sank by torpedo three ships in a convoy on one day during the hours of daylight and one ship, also in convoy, on the following day; these four ships were said to have totalled 29,000 tons. | ||
| The German High Command communiqué of 23 September, 1940, announced that the small U-Boat under Lüth's command had shared in the successes announced two days earlier, having sunk four merchant ships totalling 29,000 tons. | ||
| (N.I.D. Note. The ships "New Sevilla," "City of Simla" and "Empire Adventure" were sunk between 2025 and 2045 on 20th September, 1940, in position 55° 54 N. and 7° 24 W., and may have been sunk by "U 138." No ship was sunk on 21st September, 1940, in this area.) | ||
|
|
|
7 |
||
| An unconfirmed statement was made to the effect that "U 138" was attacked during this cruise by torpedoes from a British submarine which only just missed. | ||
| This cruise ended at Lorient, according to prisoners, having lasted about fourteen days. | ||
| Note. A British submarine made an unsuccessful attack on a U-Boat on 28th September, 1940, in Lat. 47° 31' N. and Long. 03° 38' W. | ||
| (ii) Second Cruise of "U 138" | ||
| "U 138" was said to have left Lorient on her second war cruise early in October, 1940, probably during the second week of that month. Prisoners claimed that all five torpedoes carried were fired, and that two tankers totalling 20,000 tons were sunk, while a third ship carrying timber was hit and damaged by one torpedo, but was missed by another torpedo. | ||
| (N.I.D. Note. S.S. "Blairspey," 4,155 tons, carrying a cargo of timber, was hit by three torpedoes and missed by two about 2330 on 18th October, 1940; two or more U-Boats were known to be operating in this area at this time, and "U 138" may have been one of them. | ||
| Sixteen ships in Convoy S.C.7 were torpedoed in the same area about this date; one of them was the tanker "Thalia," 5,875 tons, sunk on 18th October, 1940, in position 57° 27' N. and 11° 10' W.) | ||
| This cruise was said to have lasted about fourteen days, and "U 138" returned to Lorient during the third week of October, 1940. | ||
| On 28th October, 1940, the German radio broadcast an announcement that Lüth had been awarded the Knight Insignia of the Iron Cross, having sunk, with his "small U-Boat," 12 armed merchant vessels, with a total tonnage of 87,236 tons and a British submarine, these successes having been achieved partly in the Atlantic and partly in the North Sea. | ||
| It is believed that Lüth formerly commanded the older 250-ton "U 9," in which he carried out several cruises; the claims of having sunk 87,236 tons and a British submarine seem to refer to his career in "U 9," and probably refer to the North Sea operations of that U-Boat. | ||
| Shortly after "U 138" returned to Lorient Lüth left by train for Germany, and Kapitänleutnant (Lieutenant-Commander) Peter Lohmeyer took over the command of "U 138" temporarily; this was the first occasion on which Lohmeyer had commanded a U-Boat. The other officers were still Gramitzky and Brüggermann. "U 138" remained about two weeks at Lorient, according to prisoners. | ||
| (iii) Third Cruise of "U 138" | ||
| "U 138" was said to have left Lorient early in November, 1940, on her third war cruise, which was uneventful and lasted about four weeks, and during which the U-Boat sank nothing, although she remained in her patrol area for a long time. One steamer was said to have been sighted, but escaped. Prisoners statements to the effect that "U 138" arrived in Kiel at the end of November, 1940, the Lüth's U-Boat had returned to her base. Prisoners said that "U 138" went to the Deutsche Werke, on her arrival in Kiel. | ||
| The entire complement was entertained at the "Kolonialschule" at Flensburg, an institution for the training of women as wives of the future colonists when German will have acquired colonies again. | ||
| Lohmeyer and the engineer officer left the U-Boat, the latter being succeeded by Oberleutnant (Ing.) (Engineer Lieutenant) Schulz. | ||
| Prisoners stated that "U 138" remained in Kiel until the end of December, 1940, when she proceeded to Gotenhafen under the command of the First Lieutenant Gramitzky, the only other officer on board was the engineer officer. | ||
| At Gotenhafen she arrived in time for New Year; the crew lived in the "Weichsel," the depôt ship of the U-Boat training flotilla. "U 138" was attached to the 2nd Training Division (2.U.L.D.) and was used as a training U-Boat until late in March, 1941. Practice dives were carried out during this period. At the end of March "U 138" was stated to have proceeded to Memel for about eight days for torpedo practice; here the crew lived in the "Nordland." | ||
| (C42202) B** | ||
|
|
|
8 |
||
| No instructor was on board "U 138" and the torpedo practices were carried out just outside Memel, the target being a large ship. | ||
| Schultz was succeeded by Oberleutnant (Ing.) (Engineer Lieutenant) Harald Woeckner and Leutnant zur See (Sub-Lieutenant) Gustav Fricke was appointed First Lieutenant. | ||
| "U 138" was stated to have left Memel shortly before Easter and, after returning to Gotenhafen to fetch the crew's gear, spent Easter Sunday, 13th April, 1941, in the Baltic, arriving soon afterwards at Kiel. | ||
| Stores and torpedoes were then loaded in readiness for "U 138's" fourth cruise. | ||
| "U 140" was apparently also in Kiel preparing to put to sea, and orders were received that the first of the two U-Boats to be ready should leave immediately. | ||
| (iv) Fourth Cruise of "U 138" | ||
| Prisoners stated that "U 138" left Kiel on her fourth cruise about 21st April, 1941, passed through the Kiel Canal in company with another small U-Boat. | ||
| Two days after leaving Brünsbüttel, piston trouble occurred, according to prisoners, the oil having become overheated; it appears that the pistons became very hot through friction. The U-Boat was said to have dived immediately and to have carried out repairs while lying on the bottom; prisoners said that she remained submerged for forty-eight hours, and that, on surfacing, it was observed that the exhaust valves had become defective. Therefore, "U 138" put into Bergen. She was escorted into Bergen Fjord by one minesweeper. "U 138" was said to have been delayed for about three weeks waiting for a spare part to come from Germany for the repairing of the defective exhaust valves. The work was carried out by German workmen. | ||
| During their stay some of the crew went on an excursion to Nordheimsund by motor bus, and nearly had a serious accident on the journey, which they attributed to attempted sabotage. | ||
| Prisoners claimed to have seen one 500-ton U-Boat in Bergen. | ||
| On leaving Bergen, before the middle of May, 1941. "U 138" was said to have been escorted by one minesweeper for a short time. The U-Boat carried, as usual, five torpedoes. | ||
| She was stated to have passes north of the Shetlands. | ||
| One prisoner stated that the U-Boat passed submerged "through a gap in a line of mines stretched between two islands"; he added that this gap was guarded on each side. | ||
| The only event of interest on the cruise was stated to have been the sinking of a ship variously described as a tanker or a freighter and as having had a displacement of 8,000 to 12,000 tons; the date was given as 18th May, 1941. Prisoners added that other ships were in the vicinity further away, and that one or two destroyers were present. "U 138" was described as having proceeded under water and to have fired three torpedoes from periscope depth, of which one or even two hit the target. | ||
| (N.I.D. Note. No ships were reported to have been torpedoed and sunk on 18th May, 1941, in any area in which "U 138" could have been operating.) | ||
| It was claimed that two convoys were sighted later on the cruise, but that "U 138" could not get within range. Prisoners said that they heard explosions of aircraft bombs in the distance. | ||
| The approximate date of arrival at Lorient was given as 28th May, 1941. "U 138" was said to have lain off the former Arsenal, now renamed the Saltzwedel Barracks, during her stay in Lorient, except for a short time when she had to charge her batteries. Prisoners added that torpedoes were brought in a lighter to the U-Boat and she did not proceed to a torpedo depôt. | ||
| Among other U-Boats at Lorient was "U 556," Kapitänleutnant (Lieutenant-Commander) Herbert Wohlfarth. | ||
|
|
|
9 |
||
V. LAST CRUISE OF "U 138" |
||
| Prisoners stated that "U 138" left Lorient on 12th June, 1941, on her fifth and last cruise. In addition to her normal complement she carried an Engineer Sub-Lieutenant under instruction. | ||
| It was stated that the U-Boat had three torpedoes in her tubes and two spares in the forward compartment. Prisoners denied that mines were carried. | ||
| From the diary of one of the officers it was established that "U 138" had a special duty to perform; but only the Captain knew the nature of this task, and he would not divulge any information. | ||
| Other officers ridiculed the suggestion that they might have intended getting into the Mediterranean; after some discussion it appeared that their main reason for denying the Mediterranean suggestion, was that such a course would have encroached upon the Mediterranean sphere of operations. They became confused when it was pointed out that they were sunk and had presumably been operating in what was admittedly also the Italian U-Boat area. They did not deny that "U 138" had some special task, but professed complete ignorance of the nature of this; they believed that the Captain may have had sealed orders from the Admiral U-Boats, but may not have opened them by the time "U 138" was sunk. One prisoner voiced vague suspicions about the possible intentions of sinking a British aircraft-carrier, but did not really possess any actual knowledge. According to a further statement "U 138" was to relieve another U-Boat patrolling in that area. | ||
| By piecing together various remarks and admissions some indications of "U 138's object were obtained. It was established that Gramitzky knew some details before leaving Lorient, as he dropped vague hints to the crew about going to a warmer climate. After leaving, harbour charts of the Mediterranean and Gibraltar were produced, and the crew were told that the Admiral U-Boat's orders had included an injunction to "proceed slowly but surely, and to make every effort to return." | ||
| It was stated that the "Spanish Agency" had reported H.M.S. "Renown," H.M.S. "Furious" and a second aircraft-carrier in Gibraltar. | ||
| According to one petty officer, "U 138" was to proceed at night fairly close inshore along the coast of the Bay of Algeciras, and to enter Gibraltar harbour from the north, remaining on the surface across the minefield where mines were believed to have been laid at a depth of twenty feet; it appears that, failing "Renown," "Furious" or the second aircraft-carrier, they were to torpedo any ship from a cruiser upwards, but nothing smaller than a cruiser. | ||
| One petty officer stated that ships in Gibraltar had riding lights, and that the Germans did not anticipate any great difficulty in locating their victims. | ||
| If "U 138" could not escape after her attack on the British ships, the crew was to scuttle her and try to swim to Spanish territory, where they expected to be fitted out with civilian clothing and to be sent back to Lorient or to Germany. | ||
| During this cruise the U-Boat spent much time on the surface, but nevertheless dived on several occasions when aircraft were reported. | ||
| An entry in a diary for Tuesday, 17th June, 1941, stated that the crew was in a state of suspense, as "U 138" was nearing her destination, and the carrying out of her special task. | ||
| It was stated that "U 138" could have attempted her attack a day or two earlier, but that the Captain, bearing in mind the instructions to be "slow and sure," was taking his time. | ||
| Prisoners stated with apparent sincerity that they sank no ships on this cruise, nor did they sight any merchant ships. | ||
VI. SINKING OF "U 138" |
||
| At dawn on 18th June, 1941, a man on watch saw a dark shape in the sector astern and to port; the shape came nearer, and all the look-outs strained to make out what was approaching. Suddenly the Germans decided that it was a cruiser and crash-dived. The Captain ordered the crew to don their escape apparatus. As he spoke the U-Boat was at a depth of 40 metres (131 ft.) when three depth charges | ||
|
|
|
10 |
||
| exploded very close and caused extensive damage; broken glass and pieces of wrecked gear seemed to be everywhere, and water came pouring in from a number of leaks; tools and spare parts were scattered by the explosions. The oil consumption gauges were smashed, and the bursting of a bottle containing compressed air caused excess pressure inside the U-Boat. Neither the main pumps nor the hand pumps would work and water entered the exhaust, which had apparently been inadequately repaired at Bergen on the previous cruise. The port electric motor ceased to function, but the starboard electric motor was still running, and the lighting system did not fail. | ||
| According to prisoners the U-Boat sank on two occasions to a depth of about 210 m. (689 ft.). The presence of chlorine became increasingly oppressive. There were still 50 kg. of compressed air available. "U 138" rose to a depth of about 30 m. (98.4 ft.) and would have attempted to torpedo the "cruiser," but for the fact that everything in the U-Boat was flooded, and the pumps could not be made to work; the U-Boat went down by the bow and then by the stern alternately as water rushed from one end of the boat to the other, but later the U-Boat went down markedly by the bow. | ||
| Prisoners stated that two further depth charges were dropped near "U 138." | ||
| The Germans considered that the batteries must have been almost exhausted by being run continuously in the effort to keep the submerged U-Boat horizontal, while more and more water entered. | ||
| After a period estimated by prisoners as anything from 30 minutes to one hour, "U 138" was obliged to surface, was fired on by the British, and the crew abandoned ship. | ||
| When the conning tower hatch was opened, the Captain was ejected by the air pressure in the U-Boat. | ||
| The Germans complained that, after they were already swimming in the sea, the "cruiser," which they now recognised as a destroyer, dropped further depth charges. Prisoners believed that the British had "wrongly" assumed that other U-Boat's were present. | ||
| The entire complement was picked up by H.M.S. "Faulknor." | ||
| The German officers seemed to have no knowledge of the use of scope of Asdics and to have thought that "Faulknor's" attack had been carried out as a result of having seen "U 138's" periscope, and with the intention of frightening the Germans. | ||
| In fact, "U 138's" periscope was not sighted by "Faulknor," who made contact and attacked by Asdics with a single pattern of six depth charges set to 100, 150 and 250 ft. | ||
| An attack was carried out later by "Forester" after the U-Boat had surfaced, charges being dropped alongside the hull. | ||
| The Petty Officer Telegraphist was of the opinion that the British "electric rays" were effective only to a depth of 100 m. (328 ft.) and became dispersed at a greater depth. | ||
| The Engineer Officer professed to attribute the loss of the U-Boat to surprise in bad visibility, but a Petty Officer believed that she had been located by R.D.F. | ||
| Most prisoners stated that the U-Boat was scuttled, but others said that this was not necessary, as she was rapidly filling with water when they abandoned ship, and was obviously about to sink. | ||
| Some prisoners believed that the maximum depth to which British depth charges could be set was 170 m. (558 ft.). | ||
| Prisoners admitted that, when "U 138" was sunk, they had not reached their objective or carried out their special task. | ||
| Prisoners said that had Gramitzky succeeded, he would have received the Knight Insignia of the Iron Cross. | ||
| Normally this decoration is awarded only when a U-Boat Captain has sunk at least 100,000 tons of shipping, or has carried out some notable feat. It is known that Gramitzky claimed to have sunk only about 12,000 tons of shipping, and the fact that he would have received the decoration mentioned above is a further indication of the objective having been an important one. | ||
| Prisoners added that "U 138" was expected to have returned early in July. | ||
|
|
|
11 |
||||||||||||||||
VII. DETAILS OF "U 138" |
||||||||||||||||
| (i) General Remarks | ||||||||||||||||
| "U 138" had a displacement of 300 tons. She had three bow tubes and carried five torpedoes on each of her war cruises. It was stated that she was one of the last U-Boats to be built by the Deutsche Werke, Kiel, before this firm ceased to build U-Boats. She was armed with one 20 mm. machine-gun. A note-book taken from a Mechanician, 2nd Class, gave the following dimensions. | ||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
| The complement was usually three officers and twenty-four men, but an additional officer under instruction was carried on the last cruise. | ||||||||||||||||
| The officers and men lived in the forward compartment which was not subdivided in any way; the next compartment was the control room and contained on the starboard side a small apace used as the W/T and "listening" cabin. Aft of the control room came the galley, then the engine room, and the after compartment housed four men of the engine room personnel. | ||||||||||||||||
| Prisoners stated that no special precautionary measures had been taken with the two top rows of plating on the hull, in order to render them less vulnerable to bombs or gunfire. | ||||||||||||||||
| It was stated that a rubber raft or dinghy was not carried. | ||||||||||||||||
| The main difference between the 300-ton type U-Boats and the earlier 250-tonners was said to be the fact that the former were fitted with saddle-tanks. This increased their endurance to about four or even five weeks. | ||||||||||||||||
| (ii) Engines, Motors and Speeds | ||||||||||||||||
| "U 138" was stated to have had two Diesels of 350 H.P. each, built by Motorenwerke, Mannheim (M.W.M.), and two Siemens electric motors; prisoners said there was a direct engagement clutch between the Diesels and the motors and between the motors and the shaft. | ||||||||||||||||
| "U 138's" speeds were given as follows: | ||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
| A Mechanician estimated that the motors did about 200 revolutions when the U-Boat crash-dived. | ||||||||||||||||
| (iii) Compartment Spacing | ||||||||||||||||
| From a notebook of one of the survivors of "U 138," a 300-ton U-Boat, the compartment spacing appears to be: | ||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
| (iv) Batteries | ||||||||||||||||
| Prisoners stated that two batteries were carried, and that these were stowed forward and each had 62 cells, each of which was in a hard rubber container, the cells being ventilated individually. | ||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
12 |
||
| (v) Tanks | ||
| Prisoners stated that "U 138" had one forward and one after trimming tank, three internal diving tanks and a pair of saddle-tanks, the latter capable of being used for additional oil fuel. | ||
| (vi) W/T Aerial | ||
| Prisoners said that the W/T aerial was brought through the deck alongside the conning tower and into the W/T office. | ||
| (vii) Diving Depth | ||
| The guaranteed diving depth wa said to have been 150 m. (492 ft.), but "U 138" was stated to have gone, obviously involuntarily, to 210 m. (689 ft.) twice during the attack by H.M.S. "Faulknor." The depth gauge was marked to read to a depth of 200 m. (66 ft.), and prisoners claimed that "U 138" had a second, smaller depth gauge which measured depths greater than 200 m. From this aspect of the conversation the impression was gained that diving to any great depth was no usual event. | ||
| (viii) Fuel Stowage | ||
| "U 138" was said to have been able to carry 38 to 40 tons of oil fuel and 1,000 k.g. of lubricating oil. | ||
|
|
|
13 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
APPENDIX |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
List of Crew of U "138" |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (C42202) B25 8/41 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
Click the icons to view the associated records |
|||||
 |
|||||
 |
Return to the British Interrogation Reports page | ||||
 |
|||||
|
|||||
|
|||||
