Type VII U-boats - reference photos

[anonymous]

And more:

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o205/gantu/U-995_021.jpghttp://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o205/gantu/U-995_022.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o205/gantu/U-995_023.jpghttp://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o205/gantu/U-995_024.jp

And more:












Gantu

[anonymous]

and more:

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o205/gantu/U-995_041.jpghttp://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o205/gantu/U-995_042.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o205/gantu/U-995_043.jpghttp://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o205/gantu/U-995_044.jp

and more:












Gantu

[anonymous]

the last:

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o205/gantu/U-995_061.jpghttp://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o205/gantu/U-995_062.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o205/gantu/U-995_063.jpghttp://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o205/gantu/U-995_064.jp

the last:








Gantu

[JWLaRue]

Very nice set of photos!

Very nice set of photos!

[steveuk]

Very nice set of photos!

I

Very nice set of photos!

I thought the one showing the undersides of the saddle tank would be of special interest re your discussion about type VII frame lines on the other thread.

[anonymous]

Here see the pic´s she

Here see the pic´s she had a GHG Balkon was later removed.






Gantu

[JWLaRue]

The book that Gantu just

The book that Gantu just posted a photo of the cover is the one that I was referring to. Based on the photos in that book, it appears that the U-995 was built without a slotted deck. There are enough photos captioned as being the U-995 showing her as 'just constructed' that I am inclined to go with that.

Also of interest, I note that there is a photo of the U-995 when she was first restored for display showing a *slotted* deck on her! I can only assume that at some point after 1971, the deck was again rebuilt, but without the slots.

-Jeff

[mylo]

Jeff,

Yes, I've noted these

Jeff,

Yes, I've noted these exact same things in doing my deck research of U-995. I'm going with the "plank" look without the slots on my VIIc/41.

Mylo

[steveuk]

I read that late war

I read that late war U-boats were built with wooden decks as metal became more scarce, and needed for other things.

I found this info on U995 website

Norway employed U-995 - Kaura -- for over 10 years and then made a gift of the boat to Germany. In 1970, the boat went into the yards at Kiel to be rebuilt to conform as much as possible to 1945 specifications. The boat opened to the public a year later, in March, 1972, under the auspices of the German Navy League after Kiel, Wilhelmshaven and Munich had turned it down.

So what you said makes a lot of sense for both configurations.

This is the website http://www.hnsa.org/conf2004/papers/berryman.htm

[JWLaRue]

Hi Steve,

I'd be interested in

Hi Steve,

I'd be interested in the references that you may have about boats being built with metal decking. So far I've not been able to find any that state it...?

-tnx,

Jeff

[steveuk]

..as far as I can

..as far as I can remember it was a small caption next to a photograph attempting to explain the sudden difference in U-boat deck appearence - from the slotted looking deck to the straight floorboard looking ones. The caption read something like "as the war progressed and metal became scarce wood was used increasingly in the construction of U-boat decks"

The different deck appearence is something I often wonder about. At first I thought the slotted decks were metal and the straight planked decks were wooden (that would be so convenient!). Then I found out that the slotted decks were in fact made of hardwood on a steel frame.

The only speculation I can offer is that maybe the elaborate steel lattice structure of early slotted decks was economised somehow when building the later decks, using more wood in the construction which caused the change in appearence. But it's just a guess.

now, finding that caption....I could be gone a while.

[JWLaRue]

Steve,

Ahh...I'm familiar with that quote.

Steve,

Ahh...I'm familiar with that quote. I am virtually certain that the quote is referring to when the shipyards stopped adding the wood pieces that made the deck slotted. Each insert looked basically like:



...which when added between the long strips of wood, yielded the characteristic slotted deck look.

-Jeff

[steveuk]

Yes, it seems the builders

Yes, it seems the builders stopped adding those inserts which gave the characteristic slotted appearence - but aren't the inserts also made of wood? So leaving them out would not save on metal, it would save on wood (unless we count the bolts which hold these inserts in place..) Then I am still left a little confused by the authors quote.

What I have not been able to see clearly is a view of the straight planked deck which reveals the support structure underneath. I know that the original deck support structure has a lot of diagonal lines in it and it is these that give rise to the diminishing size slot shapes. ..It would be interesting to see if the support structure for the straight planked deck was any different. eg If the cross beam deck supports were themselves wooden and arranged like household joists with floorboards that would make a lot of sense. Interested to hear your thoughts on this..

[JWLaRue]

Steve,

I believe that I have

Steve,

I believe that I have only seen two photos of Type VII's with no deck. One photo of a boat being built early in the war and the other of the U-995 during her refurbishing in the early 1970's. I'll go find those photos and scan/upload them. They may show us something.

-Jeff

[mylo]

This is the kind of

This is the kind of discussion I was anticipating in my "Walk the Plank" thread. I'm glad this topic is being kicked around, it's bugged me for a while.

I have some video footage that shows some real close shots of different U-Boat decking. I'll be damned, but in the slotted look decks, I can not see the seams for those small inserts which make up the elongated holes. The entire deck looks all one piece, like the slots were cut out after the fact, but for sure, this was not the case. Maybe the seams have just been filled in over time with debris, weathering, etc. or maybe the craftsmanship was so good that the tolerances between the wood were tight enough to make the seams invisible. Not sure, the slotted decks still have me confused. In some of the planked decks, clearly, metal framework can be seen underneath perpendicular to the planking, which might account for a certain slotted look if seen from above, but these slots would look square, and not elongated. This framework also had some diagonal bracing, but for the greater most part, the deck retained a "long plank" look.

Some close up, directly overhead pics of different decking would really be great.

Mylo