LORIENT CLOSED!

We knew this would happen some day - but now that it has indeed happened, we are saddened. Lorient, the largest of the French bases on the Atlantic coast, home to such ships as SURCOUF, SCHARNHORST, GNEISENAU, the famed 2nd U-Bootflottille and the 10th Flottille as well - is closed. On 11 February 1997 the French submarine SIRENE departed the great base at Lorient and she will be the last ship to use this naval base. The French Navy will sell the base.

We have a special feeling for the naval base at Lorient, as our SHARKHUNTERS were treated to visits there in 1988, 1990 and 1992. In fact, during our 1990 visit we were allowed to take photos and videotapes around AND inside the bunkers. To the best of our knowledge, this permission has never been granted to any group or organization before or since.

These visits are on videotapes that we offer to Members. Please refer to your catalog for descriptions and ordering information.

WRENs to INVADE

The last ‘all male preserve’ of the Royal Navy according to an article in the newsletter of the Australian Submarine Veterans Association. The article states:

The Royal Navy’s last all male preserve could be breached by WRENs before the end of the century, the Defense Ministry said. Women will be allowed to serve aboard submarines 15 years ahead of schedule, it emerged. Previous estimates suggested mixed crews would not become a reality until 2015. The move is likely to anger the wives of many submariners, who fear their husbands will be open to even more adulterous temptations than sailors serving with WRENs on ships.

Officers at the Admiralty are also against the move, which they regard as pandering to political correctness. Women won the right in 1990 to serve at sea and more than 700 are now on 34 RN ships. At present, crews on nuclear powered submarines ‘hot bunk’ which means handing over bunks to shipmates coming off watch.

But the MoD says the latest TRAFALGAR Class submarines could be specially built to accommodate mixed crews.

HARRY’S NOTE - When ADMIRAL MIKE BOORDA became the CNO of the US Navy, we ran a questionnaire in which we asked Members what they thought of this ‘mixed crew’ direction. All who answered were solidly against women serving with men on the boats. Two women Members dropped their Membership in anger, but they did not take the time to write their own opinions which we certainly would have printed as part of the questionnaire.

I clearly remember when we visited the Russian Baltic Naval HQ, one of our group asked if Russian women would be allowed to serve on ships. When the admiral was finished laughing, he merely said that they had too much trouble with men and women serving together on land, they would never allow women to serve on ships.

KORNILOV Promoted

When our group visited Russia and Ukraine in 1996 for the super SHARKHUNTERS NAVAL TOUR, we met with our Member REAR ADMIRAL KORNILOV, the new Commandant of the St. Petersburg Naval District. I predicted at that time that he would soon see another star on his shoulder and sure enough, at the end of 1996 he became VICE ADMIRAL KORNILOV. We send our congratulations from our International Family of Members in 65 countries to VADM KORNILOV; and we look forward to our visit with him and his command in 1997.

USCGC INGHAM a Memorial

OLAF ‘BUD’ VEATH (1711-1990) is the official historian for the USCGC INGHAM and he writes: “I got the KTB today and once again, it is hard to stop reading it once you start.

The INGHAM was dedicated a National Memorial to the Coast Guardsmen that lost their life for their country. A plaque with all their names was installed on the INGHAM.”

RECOVERY PROJECT PLANNED

One of our Members (nameless for the time being) has located a lake in which at least 18 American warbirds lie sunk; including (he thinks) a P-61 ‘BLACK WIDOW’ night interceptor.

Together with SHARKHUNTERS and EAGLEHUNTERS, this Member is planning a recovery project. In our groups, there are Members with a wealth of experience to make this come together. If you would be interested in participating, please let us know here at HQ. Also, please let us know what special skills, talents, equipment etc. that you can bring to this project.

Artur Axmann Dead

The head of the Hitler Youth organization died in Berlin in November 1996, at age 83.

U-10 on Display

This Type 205 German submarine of the Bundsmarine is on display in Germany. This Type represents the third generation of German submarines and has been on display since July of 1996.

Sub Shop

CHARLES GUNDERSEN (205-C-1986) has located a sandwich shop near his home that offers submarine sandwiches with unusual names. For instance, there is a #16 TORPEDO; a #17 U-BOAT or a #18 TRIDENT. Looking at all the stuff they put in these particular sandwiches, I think you would follow your meal with a #1 ALKA-SELZER! You’d have to have a huge appetite.

Ju 88 Located Near Moscow

In another report, CHARLES EVERETT writes that a Ju 88 bomber crashed in a bogland in front of Moscow in 1941 and has just been located. More than 55 years later, a German bomber was found near Moscow with the remains of the four crewmen aboard. They also found the skull of a dog, which leads researchers to believe the aircrew had their mascot along with them when they were shot down in August of 1941 while on a bombing mission over Moscow. Many crews took mascots along on their missions.

According to eye-witness reports, the bomber was trying to make an emergency landing near the town of Istra but crashed instead. After that, the rudder was the only part of the aircraft protruding from the ground and soon, that was overgrown by vegetation. The plane was discovered by the group Equipage, a group consisting mainly of young members looking for war material and if they find human remains, they notify the authorities.

It is now being considered to display the aircraft at the War Memorial Poklonnaja Gora in the Moscow area. Two other German aircraft have been located - a Bf 109 Messerschmitt fighter near Malojaroslawez and a He 111 near Twer.

North Korean Submarine

Thanks to YOYA KAWAMURA (1739-LIFE-1991) and his hard work, we have insights into this recent event in Korea. He writes:

“The South and North Korean authorities are currently having talks in New York on the solution of the submarine incursion incident. The South Koreans are demanding an apology and the guarantee that there will be no recurrence of similar incidents in the future. The North Koreans are demanding the return of the submarine and the corpses of the crew and passengers. Reportedly, the North Koreans are refusing to ‘apologize’ while offering to ‘express regret’. The diplomatic language can be sometimes pretty delicate. The latest I heard was that the North Koreans were backing down, and most probably would use their official broadcasting station to ‘express regret’ quickly, and the South Koreans would accept this gesture as a token of the North Korean Government’s repentance, putting an end to the whole affair. It is almost everyone’s opinion that the North Koreans won’t be able to continue their inflexible attitude for much longer, as they are hard pressed by the acute shortage of everything - food, fuel, fodders, electricity and other daily necessities - and they urgently need aid from the US and Japan and above all, South Korea very badly.

I am naturally most interested in the technical details of the submarine, but very little information has come out from South Korean sources. Captain Li, who was captured, is an intelligence operative & evidently is not talking very much about the submarine itself. The information I have thus far received is rather scanty.

SAN-O (meaning SHARK in Korean) Class submarine

Length 112 feet
Displacement 330/275 tons
Propulsion diesel/electric
Speed 4 - 7 knots
Crew 14
Armament two 533mm torpedo tubes

The photographs show that the sub is equipped with a schnorkel. It is said that the sub lacks a GPS navigational system - my car is more advanced! It appears that the captured boat had its torpedo tubes removed to make room for additional passengers. There were 26 persons on board out of which one was captured, eleven were found dead, and thirteen were killed over the period of about two months. One is still at large, but is assumed to have successfully slipped away to North Korea. South Korea suffered 10 KIAs - one of them was a Colonel. Two others lost their lives in accidents. Four civilians were murdered.

The contents of the diaries kept by two of the operatives were published. the high morale, survival technique, and fighting spirits displayed by these men amazed all military experts. Not only did they fight against all odds for their survival, but while doing so, they reconnoitered enemy positions and military installations and even photographed them. They were always in touch with their superiors in North Korea with short-wave radio, although they had trouble deciphering messages from North Korea as they had burned their code books. they had traveled nearly one hundred kilometers from the position where the submarine had been stranded and reached a point within ten kilometers of the North-South Military Demarcation Line when they were found by a South Korean patrol and were killed in a shoot out. The last entry in the diary of one of them was to the effect that he was sorry to Comrade Kim Il Zhon for being unable to fulfill his mission. It was very unfortunate for the North Koreans that the submarine made an error in navigation and got stranded, but this could not have been their first attempt. As a matter of fact, they must have been doing this sort of thing all the time. In July 1965, a very small submarine (three tons and 18 feet long) was found abandoned on a river delta not very far from the South Korean capital, and its three-man crew were never found.

It is presumed that the same kind of insertion missions have been being undertaken against Japan also. Recently the Japanese Government took steps to simplify the procedure by which the Marine Self-Defense Force can be permitted to take action against intruding foreign submarines. Normally, the patrolling of the maritime territorial limits is a duty reserved for the Maritime Safety Agency (a sub-organ of the Ministry of Transport) but its vessels are ill-equipped against submerged intruders. Before a Self-Defense sip with ASW capabilities could take action against a foreign submarine found in the Japanese territorial waters, a Cabinet meeting had to be convened and with its approval, the Prime Minister would be authorized to order his defense chief to deploy Self-Defense ships against the foreign submarine. Now, with a change in the rule, the Prime Minister may use his own decision alone to order the deployment of Self-Defense ships. The Government says that this change of the rule has nothing to do with the most recent incident involving the North Korean submarine???