Page 64 - All About History - Issue 19-14

The Deadly Wolfpack

HMS Vanoc unleashed a depth-charge attack that underdeveloped British sonar systems and it was
forced Kretschmer to surface and to eventually only when radar came into play that the Allies
abandon ship. He saw out the remainder of the began to put up some effective resistance against Periscopes 1 and 2
Theboat’stwoperiscopescrestedthe
conflict in a Canadian prisoner-of-war camp. The the U-boats. Indeed, the Allies owed the fatal conningtower,whichformedthemain
U-boat Waffe was deprived of its greatest warrior. 17 March strikes against Kretschmer’s boat and station for spotting Allied shipping.
Back home in Germany, men like Kretschmer U-100, which was commanded by another deep- Thecontrolroomwaspositioned
immediately below. Men on the bridge
were celebrated as great heroes and service in sea ace, Joachim Schepke, to the use of radar. The
were issued with special waterproof
the U-boat Waffe was sold to the public as a U-boat Waffe developed a response but the U-boat clothing, but this provided little
glamorous life of high adventure. However, the campaign now entered a transitional phase. The protection from the waves crashing
over the boat.
truth was different. The life of a U-boat crewman Battle of the Atlantic was in the balance. From the
was extremely perilous, and it became even more late summer of 1941 when the now-famous code-
fraught in the aftermath of the first Happy Time breakers at Bletchley Park cracked the Enigma-
attacks, such as the pounding of convoy SC-7, encrypted radio communications between Admiral
which forced the British high command to rethink Dönitz’s headquarters in France and his vessels
its wholly inadequate anti-submarine tactics. out at sea, the tide eventually began to turn in the
The surface attacks perpetuated by Kretschmer Allies’ favour. It was not long before the hunters
and his fellow commanders bypassed the became the hunted.

anatomy of a

Type VII U-boat

The main points of interest from the most common
type of German attack U-boat

Radio room
It was here that U-boats received their orders,
especially important when hunting in wolfpacks.
The installations featured both short and long-
wave equipment.
Deck weapons
The88mmdeckgunwas
oftenemployedagainst
merchant shipping,
especially if the ship
wasaloneandaneasy
target. The anti-aircraft
gun mounted behind the
conning tower tried to
fightoffAlliedairattacks.

Forward torpedo
room Toilet
A Type VII carried 14 torpedoes, which ThoughaTypeVIIhadtwo
were stored in every available nook toiletsonboard,onewas
andcranny.Thetorpedoroomcrew Battery compartments usually decommissioned to
slept either in the smattering of bunks Thebatteriespoweredtheelectricityonboardthe allow for further storage,
wedged between the missiles and vessel,andalsotheelectricmotorsthatwereused meaningacrewofover40men
equipment,orsimplynappedonthe to propel the boat underwater. The diesel engines, hadtoshareoneworkingtoilet.
floor. The four torpedo tubes were the meanwhile, were used when the boat ran on the surface. The queues were long and the
vessel’s main weapons. flushing system highly complex.

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