March 20, 2018

Captain Schlitt's S**t Sinks Submarine

What a way to go! :)

A colorful description of German U-Boat toilet training. Captain Schlitt clearly failed to read the User Manual. 

Details of U-1206 the Type VII World War Two U-Boat concerned. 

U-1206 was of the same type as this VII U-Boat on display at the Laboe Naval Memorial near Kiel, Germany.

2 comments:

Ztev Konrad said...

Seems highly unlikely. Yes the earlier boats would have discharged from the head to the ocean without a holding tank ( but definitely not when you are trying to run silently) but the arrangement of levers cant have allowed a direct outlet to the sea. I understand the lever operations was tricky and could result in the compressed air 'blowing back' (as you needed compressed air to counter outside water pressure)

I looked at Google books and found 'Submarine: An anthology of firsthand accounts of the war under the sea, 1939-45'.
No need to cover every detail! but they described it thus ' Even on the surface it was necessary to manipulate 7 valves in sequence to blow the head overboard'

Pete said...

Hi Ztev

Yes the otherwise well made German U-Boats had the complex toilet vulnerability.

Regards

Pete