JUDE STACKPOLE (1334-+-1990) is on his ‘Eternal Patrol’, but we have a great deal of his work on hand and bring it to you here. He was working hard to determine if the TRITON U-Boat code was sold to the Allies by a traitor, rather than having it broken by Bletchley Park. Here he writes:

“I recently returned from Chicago (Sept. 1993) and a visit to U-505. One thing you should mention is the terrible vandalization of U-505 by visitors. As you must know, the manufacturer’s plate was removed from the periscope housing not too long ago. This has been going on for some time and the museum people are at their wits end trying to figure out how to curtail it.”

HARRY’S NOTE - we recently reported that the sea-strainer cover that was removed in the attempt to scuttle the boat has been stolen early this year. In my own opinion, I think it would be very difficult to remove the manufacturer’s plate or to cut the steel cable that held the cover in place for a visitor just walking through and especially now that the submarine is always jammed with people. Is it more plausible to think it might be more logical to think that these major items could possibly be removed AFTER HOURS by someone with access to the submarine?

Back to JUDE’s writing - - - here he comments on the question by MIKE EPSTEIN (5-LIFE-1983) that some selected Ballester-Molina pistols may have been made from steel from GRAF SPEE.

“The British tried to purchase the wreck through a ‘front’ agency; the Germans were prepared to sell provided they could remove various items of equipment. Various items of equipment to be removed for evaluation by the British was drawn up by agents who surveyed the wreck but before anything could transpire a storm keeled the wreck over to 50 degrees and it settled deeper into the mud. Some items were later recovered and shipped to Britain but little is known of them after they arrived at Milford Haven.

From that point onward, the trail is confused.

Some accounts indicated the wreck was scrapped on site around 1942; others indicated the wreck was blown up because it was a hazard to navigation around the same time; other accounts indicate the wreck was partially dismantled in particular to furnish material to repair ships damaged at sea; still others indicate that the wreck slowly sank into the mud at the entrance of the harbor and that large portions of it remain there today. I seem to recall a National Geographic article on Montevideo or perhaps Uruguay some years past that mentioned the wreck of the GRAF SPEE.

The Ballester-Molina is an Argentinean produced copy of the model 1911 Colt pistol. In fact, parts from it and the Colt originals are interchangeable, but not all of them. It is a good copy - not a great copy, but a good one and quite workable. They are somewhat uncommon but not particularly rare and sell for about $400, plus or minus, depending on condition.

The possibility that metal salvaged from the GRAF SPEE was used to produce Ballester-Molina pistols can’t be categorically denied; on the other hand it does not seem likely that the Argentineans would go to the trouble to salvage plate from the GRAF SPEE in order to produce the pistols. I would suspect the story is one of those ‘good ones that enhance promotion of a product’ rather than based on actual fact.”