SEA > TYPE VII

Tores mailbox VIIC and VIIC/41 operation and technical details

(1/910) > >>

tore:
Upon requests and for my own convenience I am opening this thread if I can (within the limit of my capacity), be of any help to you who are taking interest in  the VIIC and VIIC/41 boats. My experience is primarely based upon my 2-3 years as the (EO) engineering officer, on the norwegian version of  U-995  KNM Kaura and U-926   KNM Kya to a lesser extent U-1202  KNM Kinn in the periode 1953- 1956.

tore:
Christopher
Your question on snorting.
Snorting was in general a challenge to the people on watch. Trim and correct handling of the hydroplanes was very important.
If the snortvalve shut,  the big diesel would suck out the air in the sub in seconds and the people would suffer. The cook had a hard time, one minute the kettles simmered in a second it could start boiling like crazy. In my day snorting was a novelty and in order to get experience we were ordered to test out the boat by sailing submerged from the westcoast of Norway passing Iceland to Greenland and back some 27 days submerged, which at that time was a record (in the norwegian navy).
We got a lot of experience and ideas for improvement. One of the main problems was the garbage of which 46 men produce substancial in the course of 27 days. Rottening garbage is not a pleasant thing and particulary not on board a sub. We got desperate and decided to put it in bags ( before the plastic ages) and load the torpedotubes whereupon we fired. Of course the bags bursted and the torpedopeople didn`t like it much
tore

tore:
Christopher
Painting the casing
No we didn`t let the crew do any painting, we usually docked the sub every 6 month and the yard did the painting. Howewer we had a can of paint for patching up minor rustspots. Remember space was limited. It was more important to have place for some cases of whisky. Some times I wonder if the popular weathering of the modelsubs is a little overdone allthough the wartime uboots did looked a little weary after a warpatrol. The blackening of the casing at the exhaustoutlet in the casing is overdone.
Tore

NZSnowman:
Tore, have you seen this web site?

http://www.kubische-panoramen.de/index.php?id_id=5373&p=

tore:
Unbelievable! I have never seen it, you can really see every detail. I shall definetely study the pictures a little closer.
I see they have done a little fancy painting on the engines since  my time and unfortunately even painted parts which shouldn`t be painted f.i. the fuelcontrolrods of the fuel pumps. Great! I shall have interesting days ahead of me. Thanks.
Tore

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page