Benjamin and I built a U boat

For one of Benjamin's home school assignments this year he had to write a research paper on any topic that interested him.  Now back when he was a Cub Scout, we spent the night a couple of times on the USS Kidd, "The Pirate of the Pacific," a Fletcher-class destroyer that is in Baton Rouge, and we learned all about it.  For this research paper topic, he wanted to look at the 'other side' and he selected the German U Boat. Believe it or not, the German U-boat depended on a milk cow just like our family does.  Who would have ever thought? An agricultural reference.  Read below to find out how!  In writing this paper, he learned a lot, but so did I. A few interesting facts about the U Boat:

• U boat stands for "unterseeboote," which is German for Undersea boat
• During WWII, U-boats sank 2,742 ships
• It could only stay underwater for a day
• U-boats hunted in wolf packs (3 or more u-boats together)
• It could travel for very long distances without refueling.
• The U-boat could stay out for a long time because of the 'milk cow.'  A Milk Cow was a very large U-boat that could give other U-boats food, torpedoes, and fuel.
• U-boats were the pride of the German Navy and 35,000 men served in them.

As he researched his topic, I thought it would be a good exercise to actually build a model of the German U-boat so that he could get a better understanding of it by visually seeing it, so I ordered one and when it came in, we'd work each night putting it together.  It was good 'guy-time' and we enjoyed working together and talking about it while we built it.  It was certainly easier to put together than other models that we had worked on.

Following the directions

The Admiral of the German U-boats was Admiral Donitz.  He was very boastful about the success of this craft and considered it an essential attack weapon.  It had a big cannon on it, but also had torpedoes that they could launch from very far away - 8 miles away, to be precise!  The Germans were so proud of the U-boat that at the end of the war, many captains scuttled them instead of surrendering them to Allied forces.

The U-boat on its display stand

I don't think I would have liked being in the cramped quarters of a U-boat and would have likely been claustrophobic.  Probably in an effort to entice men to serve on them, sailors on U-boats were given better rations than any other soldier.  The other fear Benjamin and I talked about was that if you were on a ship or an aircraft, you had at least an opportunity to survive - not so with a U-boat.  You were likely going to a deep undersea grave.

Almost done!

We learned that the most feared enemy of the U-boat was the hunter-killer group, consisting of an aircraft carrier, 4 or 5 destroyers and antisubmarine vessels.  Planes would be launched and U-boats would be located.  Depth charges could be dropped off of ships and would go down to the depth of the u-boat and blow up, sinking many u-boats.

German u-boat

In a interesting twist, we learned that on July 30, 1942, a u-boat U-166 was sunk in 5,000 feet of water not too terribly far away from where we live - 45 miles east-southeast of the lighthouse on Southwest Pass of the Mississippi River.  52 Germans lost their lives that day.  Mr. C.J. Christ, writing in the Daily Comet, explained that U-166 was laying mines in the jetty heads of the Mississippi River.  A few days later the SS Robert E. Lee left New Orleans full of people and was intercepted and sunk by U-166, killing 25 on board.

Mr. Christ surmises that the commanding officer of U-166 was relishing the thrill of sinking a large vessel and did not notice that the Robert E. Lee was being escorted by a Navy ship USS PC 566.  The naval escort vessel was attentive as PCC 566 saw the torpedo wake as it struck the Lee and promptly laid depth charges resulting in an oil slick on the surface and an odor of diesel fuel in the air.  This signaled the end of the lives of Hans Gunther Kuhlmann and 51 other Germans who went to a watery grave deep in the Gulf of Mexico.

Interestingly, in 2001, the wreckage of both the USS Robert E. Lee and the U-166 was located on the floor of the Gulf.  Here is a picture of the gun on the deck of the U-166:

Image Credit

If you look closely, you can see this gun on the deck of the model that we built. Amazingly, the detail of the model exactly matches this photograph, minus the seaweed, of course.  It is really a neat thing when history comes alive like this.  I am a visual person and seeing things helps me to learn it versus just reading about it.

U-boat model that Benjamin and I built

You can read more about what I summarized in THIS ARTICLE by Mr. Charles "C.J." Christ.

Benjamin and his U-boat

Finally, I'll tell you that Benjamin got an "A" on his research paper and we both benefited by learning something about history that happened to have some local significance.  We also learned about how "milk cows" were important to a German U-boat.  Most significantly, we enjoyed some good Father-Son time as well.