5 Years Ago

We featured the story on the premier blockade breaker RIO GRANDE. There was a theory of what happened to the American steamer C. J. BARKDULL. We reported that Tom Shutt, owner of King’s Crown Gallery, was in a jam with the police for forging autographs and defrauding collectors with fakes. There were more of the German secret weapons. We were (and still are) looking for ‘Parlow’, the code name for the top German agent working out of Chile in the war. There was the continuation of the story by DON ANGEL ALCAZAR de VELASCO (158-1985) on his working for the Japanese, later for the German spy services. We reported that a memorial was dedicated to USS WAHOO on the shores of Japan. We reported that Operation KERNAL BLITZ was the American plan to attack North Korea - if necessary. There was more on Ariizumi, ruthless and brutal Skipper of I-8.

There were Members in 51 countries at the time KTB #114 was published, and the Magazine itself was 36 pages in length.

The biggest news, which we could not publish in detail - still can’t to this day, is that a three-man team of SHARKHUNTERS researchers found the remains of General Jodl! Several others of the men who were hanged were also located in the same area but for obvious reasons, we can give no more information at this time. Maybe some day in the future, this information can be revealed but at this time, it would be counter-productive - and disastrous.

10 Years Ago

KTB #68 was the second of our KTB Magazines to feature a photo front cover, and the caption under this photo said:

“Departing port was a time of excitement, of anticipation - but soon the Atlantik was waiting; the Atlantik was always waiting.”

We featured more of the story of OTTO GIESE (45-1984) and the story by BOB MAHER (221-1987) on their time in the war. There was a funny story when OTTO KRETSCHMER (122-+-1985) maneuvered his U-99 astern of his friend Prien and U-47, and scared Prien half to death - he did not know there was a German U-boat behind him and thought he was caught by a Royal Navy submarine - for a moment. CHARLES GUNDERSEN (205-C-1986) had a nice article on ‘U-Boat Development in the Face of Disarmament’ in which he told how the German Navy and German shipbuilders built submarines prior to World War II despite the treaty forbidding them to do so. FRED CHANG (772-1988) translated the war diary of the Skipper of I-8 for our pages. We ran more information on the U-boats that carried uranium toward Japan. Thanks to ERNST GÖTHLING (1225-1989) we helped an American submariner return a wallet to a U-bootfahrer that he was unable to do since 1945.

KTB #68 was 24 pages long and went to Members in just 24 countries. We are now 44 pages to Members in 70 countries.

15 Years Ago

KTB #29 was still pretty much a newsletter in that it had no front cover and was just six pages in length. We had removed the large photo of the Type VII-C on the front page, as it covered nearly 50% of the page. By removing it, there was more room for news.

When KTB #29 was published fifteen years ago, it was only 6 pages long. Today’s KTB is 44 pages long - seven times the number of pages and with today’s computer typesetting, about ten times bigger in content. Dues fifteen years ago were $25, today they are $50. Twice the money for ten times the information. We only increase dues after several increases in the postage rates.

We were beginning to tell some of the story of the death of Captain Fritz Steinhoff and that his ‘suicide’ in American captivity seemed to be a carefully scripted story, since Captain JOHANN-HEINRICH FEHLER (32-+-1984) was in the next cell and told us about that night. We also revealed that the two Japanese aboard U-234 did not kill themselves in the traditional way of Hara-Kiri but rather, took large quantities of Luminal (Phenobarbital) and died a slow and painful death. Also, we revealed that their bodies were not ‘stuffed into the bilges’ as the rumor had it, but were buried with full military honors before the surrender of U-234.

Three Type XXI U-boats! We were beginning to research stories that three of the ‘Electro-Boots’ were still around. It was in 1986 that a SHARKHUNTERS Member who asked to remain unnamed first began to research these boats. We revealed that a fellow in California named Heinz Houben was making speeches and having magazine articles done about him and his career as a U-Boat Watch Officer and later commander. With some careful research, we learned that Houben was never in any branch of the Wehrmacht let alone commander of a Type XXI as he claimed.

RON PAVELKA (123-1985) claimed that he had located UB-8, which had been towed to California after WW I ended. It was scuttled off San Pedro in 1920 but RON planned to dive her.