r_anderson@clyppr.enet.dec.com (Rick Anderson) (11/16/90)
From: r_anderson@clyppr.enet.dec.com (Rick Anderson)
Does anyone have any information on the German WWII submarine U-700.
This is the submarine that surrendered to a British anti-submarine
airplane(!) on Aug 7, 1941, and contained Germany's top-secret
magnetic exploder torpedo (whose design was improved upon by Navy
experts and used successfully by US and Britain against Germany
and Japan).
The story I read is so bizarre as to be unbelievable. The British
Navy Officer in charge of the investigation of the submarine was
none other than Ian Fleming (of "James Bond" fame). It gets even
stranger when the U-700 First Officer escapes from his British POW
camp, sneaks on board the U-700 (in the middle of Britain's main
submarine base in the midst of WWII!) and manages to take control
of the sub and ultimately destroys the submarine with one of its
own torpedoes.
Does anyone have any information to collaborate this information?
What happened to the U-700 Kaleun Weiner, the U-boot's Captain, after
the war (was he charged with cowardice, dereliction of duty, etc)?
Thanks in advance!
Rick
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**********************************************************mark@motown.altair.fr (11/17/90)
From: mark@motown.altair.fr >From: r_anderson@clyppr.enet.dec.com (Rick Anderson) >The story I read is so bizarre as to be unbelievable. The British >Navy Officer in charge of the investigation of the submarine was >none other than Ian Fleming (of "James Bond" fame). It gets even >stranger when the U-700 First Officer escapes from his British POW >camp, sneaks on board the U-700 (in the middle of Britain's main >submarine base in the midst of WWII!) and manages to take control Right. I think ol' Ian made the whole thing up. Or is it just a coincidence that "U-700" is "007 you" spelled backwards? -- Mark James <mark@bdblues.altair.fr> or <mark@nuri.inria.fr>
military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker) (11/20/90)
From: p0.f14.n391.z1.fidonet.org!Bob.Underdown (Bob Underdown) I think you're looking for information about the U-570. It surrendered to a British bomber after surfacing directly under the bomber. It eventually joined the Royal Navy as the HMS GRAPH. As for the rest of that story, I haven't heard anything except the the Captain of the U-570 was illegally tried for treason by his fellow officers while still in a POW camp in Canada. Otto Kretschmer captain of the U-99 who was captured in 1941, talks of this "trial" in his autobiography.
styer@ms.uky.edu (Eugene Styer) (11/20/90)
From: Eugene Styer <styer@ms.uky.edu> In article <1990Nov17.020851.685@cbnews.att.com> mark@motown.altair.fr writes: >From: mark@motown.altair.fr > >>From: r_anderson@clyppr.enet.dec.com (Rick Anderson) > >>The story I read is so bizarre as to be unbelievable. The British >>Navy Officer in charge of the investigation of the submarine was >>none other than Ian Fleming (of "James Bond" fame). It gets even >>stranger when the U-700 First Officer escapes from his British POW >>camp, sneaks on board the U-700 (in the middle of Britain's main >>submarine base in the midst of WWII!) and manages to take control > >Right. I think ol' Ian made the whole thing up. Or is it just a >coincidence that "U-700" is "007 you" spelled backwards? This looks like a highly modified version of the U-570, which surrendered to British forces off Iceland early in the war after damage from an aircraft attack. They were talked into sailing back to Iceland and scuttled the sub near Iceland. The sub was raised by the British and used for various operations One German did escape from the prison camp they were being held at, but was found (I forget if he was dead or alive, probably dead) not too far from the camp. Reference: Gallery's story of the capture of the U-505 (interesting story also) -------- Eugene Styer styer@ms.uky.edu matstyer@eku.bitnet -- Eugene Styer - 402 Wallace, EKU, Richmond, KY 40475 styer@eku.bitnet "A complex number consists of two parts, a real part and an imaginary part, where the imaginary part is as real as the real part if you can imagine that."
pierson@ggone.enet.dec.com (Dave Pierson) (11/22/90)
From: pierson@ggone.enet.dec.com (Dave Pierson) In article <1990Nov16.054457.24100@cbnews.att.com>, r_anderson@clyppr.enet.dec.com (Rick Anderson) writes, in part: >Does anyone have any information on the German WWII submarine U-700. As noted, the story sounds a bit like that of the U505, or some similar UK incident. One reference (German Submarines/Navies of the Second World War/ Doubleday) lists the number U700 as "projected". It would have been a Type VIIC, 871 ton, 6,500 mi radius, 5 torpedo tubes, etc... thanks dave pierson |the facts, as accurately as i can manage, Digital Equipment Corporation |the opinions, my own. 600 Nickerson Rd Marlboro, Mass 01752 pierson@cimnet.enet.dec.com "He has read everything, and, to his credit, written nothing." A J Raffles
brooksp@hpcc01.corp.hp.com (Peter Brooks) (11/22/90)
From: Peter Brooks <brooksp@hpcc01.corp.hp.com> More on submarine captures and Ian Fleming: In addition to U-570, an important capture occured in May, 1941, of U-110, under Captain (Franz-Julius?) Lemp. This was fairly conventional; the crew got out when the boat appeared to be sinking. The Brits sent a boarding party over to get whatever. Apparently, Captain Lemp saw that the boat was not sinking and he swam over to it. This is speculation, but it is believed that somebody in the boarding party shot Lemp. He was never found. (Nor court martialed :-). The haul included an intact enigma cyphering machine (with the current settings still in place), and more importantly, papers with the Enigma settings for several months. The tactical advantages of a quick enigma decode were enormous. (the RN had figured out the wiring of the Egnima, with some help from multiple sources, but without the current settings it could take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks to decode messages. Thus the advantage from the U-110 papers.) Ian Fleming was in the Naval Inteligence, as personal assistant to the Director. I don't know if he was involved in submarine evaluation. BTW, Lemp had the dubious distinction of sinking the first vessel in WWII, the SS Athenia, a passanger vessel. The resulting propaganda debacle was quite embarassing to Germany. My source for this has been Dan van der Vat's THE ATLANTIC CAMPAIGN. It is pretty thorough, covering mistakes and triumphs on all sides. He mentions several (over 100 subs) by number, but no mention of U-700 captured on august 7, 1941. U-570 was captured August *27th*. Technology transfer went both ways, too. The early magnetic detonators were so ineffective that the Germans used contact detonators copied from a British design. Pete Brooks pb@hpocia.hp.com