U-129 late configuration

[dougie47]

Hi Simon,

The round thing is for, I think, the mast antenna. The bit which protruded out of the tower walls differed between boats.

Cheers,

Dougie

[NZSnowman]

Hi Simon,

The round thing is for, I think, the mast antenna. The bit which protruded out of the tower walls differed between boats.

Cheers,

Dougie

Must be the HF Antenna?

[dougie47]

Hi Simon,

I'm not altogether sure. It looks similar to the telescopic rod antenna that was present on many early boats. Robert Stern says the telescopic rod antenna was used to receive short wave transmissions and was used to supplant the main antenna cable fore and aft of the tower.

Cheers,

Dougie

[Trust_but_verify]

That is some fantastic research, thank you so much for sharing!  Mr Braeuer  was extremely helpful and was able to find the attached photo of 129 abandoned at Lorient in 1945.  unfortunately I haven't been able to find any close ups of the tower to shed light on the configuration of the ammo containers and railings.

[AndrewTSM]

That's a good one! Anymore?

[AndrewTSM]

Well the container's look like D shaped ones and I think they're most like likely 2x2.

[AndrewTSM]

You can also ask the u-boat museum, u-boot recherche if there are any non-digitalised photos of U-129, they have many photos just they aren't all available online, i asked them about this and they are more than happy to look, however amidst Corona noone is there, so you'd have to wait.

[AndrewTSM]

What I can tell is that the railings on the outside of the lower wintergarten are lower than those circular drain holes and the drain holes are higher, this is already a difference from the U-505 and is the same for the U-515. You can see on the U-505 that these railings are above these holes and the holes themselves seem slightly lower.

[Trust_but_verify]

Sadly that was the only one he was able to find of her post war. Good call on the position of the flood holes in relation of the railings.  I also notice that there appears to be a conical support under the upper platform just like on 505, but I cant make out any evidence of a barrel container below it.  Also, what are your thoughts on the dark faring half way up the front of the tower?  Maybe a bracket for a snorkel? 


Another interesting bit is that the railings appear to be painted a different color than the rest of the tower and upper hull.  I havent seen that in other boats.

[AndrewTSM]

Snorkel, probably not. Maybe it was never fitted with a 37mm gun, I can't make out a guard rail that was installed to boats with 37mm's to prevent their traverse. Do contact the museum though when things go back to normal.