Several Members have asked at one time or another, and recently, we made specific request to learn the time it took to reload tubes on a German U-Boat. GERRY RICHTER (214-LIFE-1986) was Oberfunkmaat (Radio Operator, Petty Officer) on U-81 when they sank the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS ARK ROYAL in the Mediterranean, almost at Gibraltar. GERRY writes:

"BOBBY KIRKLAND (3286-1993) wants to know the average time to reload one tube. I checked in the KTB (log book) of U-81 and found the following:

On Sept. 10, 1941 - after the attack on Convoy SC.42 we reloaded the 4 front tubes and this took one hour.

On Nov. 14 - after the attack on the task force HMS MALAYA, HMS ARK ROYAL, HMS FURIOUS etc we reloaded the four front tubes and this took a bit over one hour.

So, the average to reload one tube was about 1/4 hour."

Many thanks for the information, GERRY. In the above photo, we see U-81 taking on one of her 'eels' at her home port. We are not certain in which port, but it could be either Brest, prior to U-81 making the break through Gibraltar; or at La Spezia after she made a successful break into the Mediterranean.