UNDER THE SEA

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 221, 4 October 1940, Page 3

UNDER THE SEA

LIFE DOWN IN A U-BOAT Just as in 1914, the German V U J boat menacer* is as much a menace to the unfortunate crews -who man these submarines as it is to the merchant vessels they attack. Life on board a U-bont is never pleasant, and when the order "Diving stations" comes from the "bridge," there begins a nightmare existence that may, end twelve hours lience in sunshine, or may blot out life for ever when the dull boom of a deptli charge from an enemy destroyer is heard; Officers and men on the U-'boats still left on the high seas must by now be undergoing hell. None of the Nazi boats can do more than IB knots on the surface, or nine knots submerged. Escape from a HO-knot destroyer means diving—and waiting When you're waiting, submerged, fearful to proceed at even quarterengines lest the engine noise be pick ed up, the air seems to get as heavy as lead. Recruits are often told before they go or. U-boat that "air bottles" are carried. That is true, but the compressed air is for the hj'droplane tanks, not for breath lng! Worse, in fact, than the air shortage in a U-boat is the lack of space and the extremes of temperature. Few submarines carry enough bunks for the whole crew, and thq men slbcp on the "hot bunk" system —-that is, men turn into bunks just vacated by other members of the crew going on watch. Normal watch is four hours, and a periscope watch is only two hours. Then you're expected to go back to a dirty bunk just vacated by a man and sleep like ah automaton for four hours. You cannot walk upright, and there is no room for proper exercise and no normal hygienic arrangements. Indeed, you have to creep like a mouse when the Unboat is just submerged and "on trim," because the movement of a sjligfe man for more than ten feet upsets the balance of the trim! On North Sea duty you must wear at least three thick underjackets, because there is less than an inch of metal between you and the icecold Mater outside. As no woollen undies are now available in Germany, U-boat service is apt to be cli illy! Three short blasts, like an airraid siren, is the signal for a "crash dive!"—when every man rushes to his station and the ship must be brought under as quickly as possible Perhaps a British destroyer has been sighted, or there, is a merchant vessel on the horizon in a good position for torpedo action. The roar of the Diesel engines die down and the big electric motors start their deafening whine. Jlut even above that you can hear the roar of escaping air as water rushes intd the ballast tanks at hundreds of gallons a minute. At least a dozen men will be watching conti*ol dials. Some will be working the hydroplanes, some the motor controls, some the radio, some the ballast tanks. If any man failed in his job, the ship at this crucial moment might get out of control. Because of their build, U-boats are notoriously difficult to get into good trim. British submarines, for instance, are always fitted with an emergency compressed air control, so that a touch of only one valve is needed to force compressed air into all ballast tanks and rush the ship to the surface; but such a precaution has never been fitted to Nazi U-boats. At probably only quarter-motors, the U-boat must now manoeuvre into such a position that torpedoes can be tired. At any greater speed the periscope cannot b,o used, as the rush of water would smash the glass. If the periscope man has not been keeping a good look-out, the ship may now be surrounded by the vessels of a convoy on the surface. Torpedo action would then be madness and periscope observation impossiiile. A torpedo travels at about 40 knots; but there is always little hope that a U-boat can get safely away after reporting a hit.

If the U-boat commander finds himself surrounded on the surface by 20 or 30 zig zaggfng prows of convoy vessels, his only hope is to dive and trust to luck that the periscope of his ship hasn't been sighted The rear of depth charges will soon tell' him if a destroyer is in the chase. Men will be clinging !;o pipelines, gauges, anything they ca.ii grip to steady themselves as the frail hull rocks under the tremendous shock of the explosion. (Continued at foot of next column)

"Stelfen wir mis unter" (we must go down) shouts the . commander, and once again the warning siren shrills throughout the ship. To rush blindly away Avould be to court certain death. So once more there is the gush of escaping air as the ballast tanks are flooded, trim is altered, and the U-tooat sinks a hundred feet deeper awa3 r from danger. A third of the crew is sent o,fif watch to snatch some sleep—if they can sleep while death hovers so close above them. The rest take their stations at ballast, hydroplane, motor and pneumatic controls, praying that the electric depth sounders of the hunting destroyers above will miss their objective. There is every possibility of the torpedoes exploding in their tubes, which brings disaster even closer.