Decks Of Type VII Uboats?

[rustysub]

Hi Guys,
I'm about to start an OTW U-boat. I have not seen a German U-boat up close and I'm not sure on this, but I have a question to the U-boat wizards. The wooden decks on 172 type VII U-boats that have been shown in some galleries, represent similar hole patterns and set ups to the metal deck for a wooded deck configuration. I have seen real photos on boats with the actual type VII wooded decks, and in those photos, the decks look similar to that of American fleet boats (long strips of gapped wood) like on the type 9. Logically, if the Germans did a hole setup like that of their metal deck for the type VII, it just makes no sense and should have taken longer to make, it's just not practical unless there was another reason. But then again, I'm not sure. If I missed any post on this do forgive me, also, if there are any online real photos showing a wooded deck that looks like the metal deck please post them,
Thank you, Mario.

[JWLaRue]

Hi Mario,

U-boats built before the

Hi Mario,

U-boats built before the war and up until mid- to late-war had the wooden decks built with that have that characteristic slotted hole pattern. Once materials (and labor) became scarce®, they elimintated the extra material and all the labor needed to make the slots....and went with what looks similar to the U.S. fleetboat wood decks. It's also what I call the 'boardwalk look'.

Does that help....and answer what I hope is your question?

-Jeff

[rustysub]

Hi Jeff, thank you for

Hi Jeff, thank you for responding, that's good to know, gives one the option of painting the gorgeous OTW brass deck in a wooded tone or metal. But I am still finding it hard to imagine the poor German dock workers making large boarded plank wooded decks and drilling all those tiny uniformed holes in them. Do you know how this was done,tooling etc.? Was the type of wood material(teak like ours were) that was used in creating a metal look to the boards without it breaking away and revealing the subs location in a dept charge attack? And Please , if anyone has any photos of these wooded slotted decks up close can you please post one or a link would be very informative.. Thank You

[JWLaRue]

Hi Mario,

The decks of the

Hi Mario,

The decks of the Type VII were made from wood....except for the extreme fore/aft sections. In photos where you see the fore/aft deck painted a light grey....those are the metal deck sections.

The decks of these boats were made by laying down planks and then adding in "spacers" between the planks. These spacers were rectangular in shape.....except that the short sides were concave. When inserted between two planks, this created that slotted deck look that is characteristic of the class.

At some point mid- to late-war, they eliminated the spacers....but retained the planking. This simplified construction then created that late-war deck look.

I have heard a number of ansers to the question of what wood was used for the deck. The most common answer that I hear is pine. This makes good sense as these boats were not built for long service lives.

The wood decks that were freshly painted/treated had an almost black look to them. This color quickly faded to a dark-to-medium grey due to the effects of weather and saltwater. Boats that were out to sea on long missions often ended up with sections of the deck where the wood color would show through.

If you have access to the book [i]Vom Original Zum Model] by Fritz Kohl, there is an excellent photo of a boat under construction where the individual wood planking can be seen. I'd have to check, but I think this book also has a photo of a boat with extreme damage to the bow...and the wood deck (spacers, etc.) can be plainly seen.

-hope this helps,

Jeff

[paul von braun]

Mario,
I read in one of

Mario,
I read in one of my u boat books that the wood used for the decking was indeed teak. That is, until it got to the point where it was necessary to use any old 'cheaper' locally available timber.
As for the colour, the grey colouring usually assosciated with the deck is due to the wood preservative used on the timber.

However, Martindale (2004) offers the following]U boat colours website[/url]

Hope this is of some help,

Paul.

PS Jeff, you got a mention in the text!

[rustysub]

Paul And Jeff Thank you

Paul And Jeff Thank you for info, It sheds a lot of light for me and sure others should find this thread very helpful. For Me I am going to go metal on this sub, The Brass deck work That comes with the OTW Type 7 is just stuningly Gorgeous! Now If I could find time to build it, Thanks again, Mario

[gerwalk]

Paul And Jeff Thank you

Paul And Jeff Thank you for info, It sheds a lot of light for me and sure others should find this thread very helpful. For Me I am going to go metal on this sub, The Brass deck work That comes with the OTW Type 7 is just stuningly Gorgeous! Now If I could find time to build it, Thanks again, Mario

Check your email!

[don prince]

Hi Mario,

Good luck with your

Hi Mario,

Good luck with your OTW Type VIIc Uboat project.... Please create a Members Homepage and post photos of yout U-boat in progress. Jeff LaRue and I have posted some photos of our OTW U-boats. I chose to build the brass tower...

Regards,
Don_

[rustysub]

Hi Pablo Special Thank You

Hi Pablo Special Thank You for help! Hi Don, I saw Jeffs Uboat, its awsome, And Think I may have seen your brass tower,(I've been away from this r/c part of the hobby awhile), a few years ago, OTW shown me an in progress brass tower and Jeffs uboat it helped me decide to buy an otw. They were very inspirational to me. Hopefully this Spring I will start on this one. I've had this unbuilt kit sitting a long time. Its sinful thats its not built. I have the brass tower sheets and a fiberglass tower but most likely I am going to take the short cut and use the fiberglass tower. I'm getting to lazy, to old. Thanks again, Mario

[steveuk]

Re: Decks Of Type VII Uboats?

Hi Mario, I have just read your post and would like to share this photo which I only recently came across. The internet is so usefull at times. The photo is of U 35, Type VII A, built and launched in 1936. The photo was taken after U35 had been involved in a collision with Graff Spee during exercises. The damge done to her deck and casing caused by Graff Spees screw. The pic shows how the planks were laid as previously described and the fillets can also be seen, some of them have popped out.