15 Years Ago

In KTB #22 we solved the question by a Member as to which boat used a lion's head, a red shield and a quarter moon on the conning tower as its emblem. It was U-201 under Adalbert Schnee. KIRK KREUTZIG (2-1983) had a meeting with HUGH DOWNS (1411987) of ABC-TV in an effort to locate some funding for our research. We learned from JOHN TAYLOR (20-1983) that the National Archives of the United States was keeping all our KTB Magazines in permanent archival file - forever' We later learned that the Library of Congress was doing the same

Kapitanleutnant JOHANN-HEINRICH FEHLER (32-+-(984) sent us a fat package of items for our files, not the least were the diagrams of U-234 showing the cut away cargo areas where the Me 262 jet fighters were stored (in crated) and the 560 kilos of uranium oxide consigned to the Imperial Japanese Army for their own atomic bomb. FEHLER had been the demolitiens officer on the raider ATLANTIS in the early days of the war, then took over this Type X-B cargo boat in the closing moments of WWII.

PHotos: Top: Fehler; Bottom: Loewe

FEHLER was a colorful guy, having been a merchant Skipper before the war. After the end of the war and he was released from POW camp, he tried to return to his life, he found that the Allies had taken and lost or destroyed all his papers showing that he was a Captain, so he had to go through all the tests again and spend the waiting time, sending in lesser capacities aboard various ships.

Many years after the war, his daughter was born and hew as by then, a Skipper . Naturally, it was necessary that she be christened and since one of FEHLER's drinking buddies was the local priest, they would get the baptism done -- but in a rather unusual way. They had no problem getting the holy water; they would get this from the tavern where they were drinking. But how to carry this water? Simple -- they returned to FEHLER's ship, removed the ship's bell and off to the tavern they went. After whetting their whistles a few more times, they filled the bell with water which was blessed by his priest friend, and the baptism was performed successfully. He laughed a lot when he recounted this story.

I spent an entire day with Captain FEHLER in his home in Hamburg in 1988 and he was a great guy, full of great sea stories, but we'll read them all when we profile the cargo-carrying U-234, bound for Tokyo directly. This was his one and only U-boat.

We ran another full page of the article "U-Boats in Our Backyard" and sadly, we were also forced to run the notice that Korvettenkapitan AXEL-OLAF LOEWE (39-+-1984) had begun his 'Eternal Patrol'.

KTB #22 was still only six pages long and yes, it was still done on that old manual typewriter which was lost when my sailboat sank (sort of) some years ago. We salvaged the sailboat without loss, but the salt water was not kind to that old Olivetti typewriter.

10 Years Ago

In KTB #61, we announced our third Annual Convention and we also had more to tell about the American submarine USS REQUIN that had been treated so badly by Tampa's goofy mayor, Sandra Freedman. We continued with ERICH TOPP's (118-LIFE-1985) interview as well as the one with BOB MAHER (221-1986). We reminded Members that the US Navy submarine named USS NEMO was in reality, the captured U-505. Yes, U-505 was a commissioned US Navy submarine for many years. Captain KARL-FRIEDRICH MERTEN (23-+-1984), winner of the Knights Cross with Oak Leaf, had just been released from hospital. We were attempting to locate the Skipper of U-530, the first of two boats (or was it really three?) that surrendered in Argentina quite some time after the German surrender. We found Captain OTTO WERMUTH (1344-1990) some time later, and he is still a Member, although he refuses to talk about that final patrol.

The Museum of Science & Industry needed help to make an audiotape that visitors could use when going through the boat, and SHARKHUNTERS helped. They needed a U-bootfahrer with experience in each of the major compartments of the boat to make that section of the audiotape, so we put them in contact with various Members who rode the U-boats and the result was a great tape-guided tour that was the same from one visit to the next.

We reported that allegations had surfaced that one of England's top submarine heroes, Rear Admiral Anthony Miers, had German prisoners machine-gunned in 1942. According to the allegations, then Lieutenant Miers, ordered the crew of his boat, HMS TORBAY, to shoot German prisoners that were aboard a freighter he sank off Crete. Three weeks later, Miers was awarded the Victoria Cross, highest award in the British Empire.

There was some information about Lake Toplitz.

We ran the memories of Italian submarine Skipper WALTER AUCONI (1011-1989). They made the crossing to Singapore only to be there with Italy switched side, and his crew were treated pretty badly by their Japanese captors - given only a handful of rice to eat each day. How did they get out? It's in KTB #61.

KTB #61 was twenty pages long and done on an old computer that should be in a museum by now.

5 Years Ago

KTB #107 was packed with great stuff! We reported that doom was on the horizon for the last light aircraft carrier (CVL) USS CABOT. `Silent' OTTO KRETSCHMER (122-+-1985) told us about the Kretschmer Marsch and the history behind it. We reported, with some laughter, on the idiotic plan of {then} Mayor of Miami Beach Abe Resnick to bring some old rotting timbers, which he called `Hitler's Yacht', and sink it off Miami Beach where the steamer SS St. LOUIS was turned away from America. It wasn't `Hitler's Yacht' as he never had a yacht, and Resnick's plan ran afoul of the US Coast Guard and just about every environmental group known to man when the hulk was sunk on a living coral reef! Lots of finger pointing there.

We reported that America's first rocket base was not Cape Kennedy (or Canaveral if you wish) but was actually Eglin Air Force Base in the Florida panhandle. We reported that facts we had known for some time had just come to public attention proving that France's Francois Mitterand was a collaborator during WW II. We told about America's most secret museum, that of the NSA. It was not open to the public, had no signs - and the telephone was unlisted. Our JACK INGRAM (336-1987) was its director at the time. There were more opinions about whether women should or should not serve aboard ship and especially aboard submarines.

We reported that gallery owner, Tom Shutt, was arrested for selling forged signatures on a large scale fraud scheme.

KTB #107 was 34 pages long and done on a newer computer.