Hitler's 'lost fleet' of U-boats found in the Black Sea

[bijou]

For years, German submarines U-19, U-20, and U-23 were a terrifying presence beneath the waves, preying on British and Russian shipping. Then, 60 years ago, they suddenly vanished to the bottom of the Black Sea.


Now the hulk of one of the lost submarines has been found by divers who are confident they can pinpoint the other two boats too.

The fate of "Hitler's lost fleet" was the talking point of a conference on international shipwrecks at Plymouth University at the weekend, when the Turkish marine engineer Selcuk Kolay described his painstaking search for the missing wrecks.

The search began along the Turkish coast near the town of Zonguldak in 1994, after the Turkish navy complained that it was having difficulty conducting minesweeping operations. Local people had known for years that the submarines were out there under the water somewhere, though the remarkable story of the U-boats is one of the lesser known episodes of the war.

The three submarines were originally part of a six-boat flotilla harassing Allied shipping around the North Sea. U-23 had patrolled the Spanish coast during the civil war, under the command of a young Sea Lieutenant, Otto Kretschmer, who was to become Germany's top U-boat ace. He was known as "Otto the Silent" for his mastery of silent running and his reluctance to make radio contact with Germany while he was at sea.

His career almost finished before it had properly begun when a British submarine spotted U-23 off the Danish coast in October 1939 and fired three torpedoes at it. All three missed. Before he was transferred to another boat, Kretschmer scored his first hit of the war in U-23 when he sailed into the Moray Firth and sank a 10,000 ton Danish tanker on 12 January 1940.

...

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/europe/hitlers-lost-fleet-of-uboats-found-in-the-black-sea-780701.html

[franksolich]

It wouldn't surprise me if there was much more than just this, there.

The socialists were very sensitive to the lives and safety of the people, and I'm sure they treated the military as tenderly as they treated the civilians (of course, I'm being sarcastic here; I'm not sure, I know it for a fact).

In one of the diaries of my father, who was in his early 20s at the time, and medical director at Todd Shipyards in New York City, there is a description of a "trip" he took with maritime guys (I don't know if it was the U.S. Navy or some other agency) in 1943 from New York out into the North Sea, to rescue, and if possible, salvage a crippled ship, if possible towing it back to New York City.

On the way, they encountered a Soviet vessel, which wasn't in trouble or anything, but once they learned there was "medical personnel" aboard, they requested assistance.

My father went on board, and was immediately appalled.  The whole "medical facilities" on this 400-man ship was little larger than a closet (i.e., no sick bay or anything), the "doctor" a slatternly Russian woman, the instruments rusted, and the ubiquitous human excrement laying all around.

If a Soviet sailor was sick beyond the most rudimentary cure, he was simply tossed overboard.

That's "free medical care for all," folks.

I'll bet the Soviets lost a lot of things, and the people never knew.

[Lord Undies]

If a Soviet sailor was sick beyond the most rudimentary cure, he was simply tossed overboard.

That's "free medical care for all," folks.

I'll bet the Soviets lost a lot of things, and the people never know.

Well, Frank, just knowing they were covered under Universal Health Care is what matters.  The outcome is secondary. 

[Chris_]

If a Soviet sailor was sick beyond the most rudimentary cure, he was simply tossed overboard.

That's "free medical care for all," folks.

I'll bet the Soviets lost a lot of things, and the people never know.

Well, Frank, just knowing they were covered under Universal Health Care is what matters.  The outcome is secondary. 

Yeah, "free" healthcare.  You get what you pay for.

[djones520]

If a Soviet sailor was sick beyond the most rudimentary cure, he was simply tossed overboard.

That's "free medical care for all," folks.

I'll bet the Soviets lost a lot of things, and the people never know.

Well, Frank, just knowing they were covered under Universal Health Care is what matters.  The outcome is secondary. 

Yeah, "free" healthcare.  You get what you pay for.

I just got an email from my soon to be step-mom.  She's Canadian, but she was telling me about a new job she's about to get in Vancouver.  She made mention about how after you've been with the company for a few years, they've got a really great medical plan.  This caused me to pause and scratch my head for a moment.

I'm not going to ask her about the whole health-care issue, because my dad tells me politics is a sensitive issue with here, so it's best not to cause any problems there, but I am rather confused about their whole system now...

[Duke Nukum]

Did anyone here ever see the movie Shock Waves?  It's a movie about Nazi zombies that were sunk off the coast of some deserted island.  Whenever I hear a story like this, I always wonder if there are Nazi zombies involved somewhere.

Anyway, it's a good low budget movie with Peter Cushing.

[franksolich]

Did anyone here ever see the movie Shock Waves?  It's a movie about Nazi zombies that were sunk off the coast of some deserted island.  Whenever I hear a story like this, I always wonder if there are Nazi zombies involved somewhere.

Anyway, it's a good low budget movie with Peter Cushing.

Damn.

Somebody already made a movie about Skins's island?

[djones520]

Did anyone here ever see the movie Shock Waves?  It's a movie about Nazi zombies that were sunk off the coast of some deserted island.  Whenever I hear a story like this, I always wonder if there are Nazi zombies involved somewhere.

Anyway, it's a good low budget movie with Peter Cushing.

Damn.

Somebody already made a movie about Skins's island?

 

[franksolich]

Well, I was thinking about when I win the Powerball lottery, having P-J Comix write a musical comedy about Skins's island, with Charles Henrickson doing the music and lyrics and Freeper being the idea man.

But apparently the idea's already been used.

[Duke Nukum]

Well, I was thinking about when I win the Powerball lottery, having P-J Comix write a musical comedy about Skins's island, with Charles Henrickson doing the music and lyrics and Freeper being the idea man.

But apparently the idea's already been used.

In a lot of ways, Shock Waves is just like Skin's Island.  I started to say more but it's a good little cult classic and I don't want to spoil the movie for those who like such movies. 

It isn't that well known, maybe you could buy the rights to it and have PJ and Charlie add some musical numbers and voilà!

You know, a few years ago, they did that to Reefer Madness, to no great effect, IMO so there is room for a good trial.  And after, why reinvent the wheel?  Since Shock Waves is already a minor cult classic, there is a built in audience.

I've always seen zombie movies in general, George Romero's original trilogy in particular, as perfect metaphors for the modern Democrat party.  Night of the Living Dead as a reenactment of the 1960 election.  Dawn of the Dead as the 1968 convention riots.  And Day of the Dead as the Carter years.  So, don't despair.  Your idea could work even better now.

[DarkHalo]

When I was stationed in europe with the USAF Aggressor Squadron in '79-'81 we spent a lot of time on the island of Decimomannu (sp?) off the coast of Italy in the med. We would often use the USAF buses to go spend a day at the beach. One time when we were coming back our bus driver wasnt as careful as he should have been (too many good Ital brews I suspect) and we went off of a cliff, luckily it wasnt a long drop, maybe 20 feet.

But at 50+ MPH we flipped 1 and a half times and landed upside down. We were lucky as the worst injuries were a guy whose foot was slightly crushed when his leg went out a window (school bus so no seat belts) and myself when I landed on my back on the upright back part of a seat. A few months later there was another almost identical incident except the injuries were much more severe. One guy went flying face first thru a window and it sliced open his face and pulled most of the skin off of his head.

He was rushed to a local Italian medical facility and while they had the correct anesthetic it was the next months allottment, they had already used all they had for that month. They sewed his face back together best they could using some equivalent to novocaine while the correct stuff was locked away behind glass right there next to them. I saw him bandaged up laying on a cot in a hangar waiting on a medivac jet to pick him up and take him to Landstuhl in Germany.

I am not sure if Italian medical care was completely nationalized at the time but it was at least partially controlled and managed by their government. Whenever someone mentions government controlled medical care I think of that guy on the cot, face bandaged up so I couldnt see his face but I could hear him softly moaning and saw the blood seeping thru the bandages and wonder what he thought of the medical care he received. Imagine our hospitals with the efficiency of the DMV and the compassion of the IRS.