In Case You Were Wondering...

Günther Hintze died 9 Dec., 1995 at age 89. He was a rocket scientist on the V-2 development and came to the USA in 1945 where he joined the US Army’s missile program in New Mexico.

Arthur Rudolf also worked on the V-2 project with Werner von Braun recently died in Hamburg, Germany after being forced to renounce his American citizenship due to charges of war crimes involving forced labor at a V-2 facility. He was also head of the development of the SATURN V rocket at the Marshall Space Flight Center in the USA.

Thanks to CHARLES EVERETT (2187-1992) for this info.

Ariizumi

YOYA KAWAMURA (1730-LIFE-1991) writes:

“I have found that I made one mistake and would like to correct it. The first name of Captain Arrizumi is not RYUNOSKE as I wrote, but TATSUNOSUKE. These two names are written in the same way, using the same three Chinese characters. One’s name can be either way, depending on the parent’s preference. I have happened to find out that Captain Ariizumi called himself TATSUNOSUKE. The name means something like ‘a child of the dragon’.

Submarine Losses in WWII

In WW II, the U-Bootwaffe lost 782 submarines, the I.J.N. 130, and the United States lost 52. Twenty-two of the Japanese submarines were victims of the US Navy submarines.

‘BEER’ POWERED SUBMARINE?

John Phillip Holland built several submarines before the ‘HOLLAND’ which became the first successful underseas craft commissioned by the US Navy. One early model was powered by a steam boiler made out of a beer barrel.

Little Known Submarine Facts

This quiz began in KTB #102. It is meant for your enjoyment only and to improve your knowledge of submarine and naval history. Do NOT send any answers here - the answers will be in the next KTB.

Here are the answers to the quiz in KTB #116:

66. On December 19, 1939 while officially neutral, the USNavy cruiser USS TUSCALOOSA followed the German liner COLUMBUS while broadcasting their position to British warships. USS TUSCALOOSA had followed SS COLUMBUS since it left Mexico on up the American east coast, until they were intercepted by Canadian ships to the east of Cape May, New Jersey. During this voyage, the German crew practiced scuttling their ships and when confronted with the Canadian warships; they did scuttle COLUMBUS. OTTO GIESE (45-1984) was on board COLUMBUS at this time, and he told us this story which was published some years ago in our KTB Magazine. The crew of SS COLUMBUS was rescued by the TUSCALOOSA - but were then interned on Angel Island in San Francisco Bay near Alcatraz, where Al Capone was then imprisoned - and the US was neutral at that time.....

67. The Japanese troop strength on Okinawa in April 1945 under Lt. General Mitsuru Ushijima was over 100,000 troops and 3,000 planes, many of which were KAMIKAZE.

68. The German blockade-runner ODENWALD was disguised as the American ship SS WILLMOTO. She was captured by the USN destroyer USS SOMERS and the cruiser USS OMAHA in the Atlantic in early November of 1941.

69. The hospital ship USS SOLACE was in the East Lock at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 when the Japanese attacked. The pilots saw her white hull and the large red crosses on the side, and they did not attack this ship.

70. The 13th most successful US Navy submarine Skipper was Gordon Underwood, Skipper of USS SPADEFISH. Together they sank 14 ships over just 3 war patrols.

For KTB #118 next month, do you know:

71. The world’s largest battleship was the I.J.N. YAMATO. How and where was YAMATO sunk?
72. Prior to December 7, 1941 - when was the last time so many USN battleships were together in port?
73. What were the four I.J.N. aircraft carriers sunk or heavily damaged at Midway?
74. Who spotted the first submarine of the Japanese strike force near Pearl Harbor? When was it sighted and where?
75. Who was the twelfth most successful USN submarine C.O.?

Answers in # 118.