Niemöller of World War I

This U-Boat Skipper of WW I become a minister later on, and WALTER JUCKER (6515-2992) and his wife would like more information on him. Our German proofreader WALTER KERN (6345-LIFE-2001) has info on this Skipper in KTB #166 next month, but any and all additional information is most welcome.

How Did the Japanese Know?

OTTO MAJOR (5624-1998) asks if we can tell him how the Japanese learned that they were setting their depth charges too shallow. OTTO further says that he will make a $25 donation to our Sustaining Fund if we can answer this.

Gee OTTO, this is just too easy to answer. This information was given during a briefing for American Senators and Congressmen, and the data was supposed to remain a secret. One congressman however, blabbed to the press that the Japanese were so dumb that they were setting their depth charges too shallow to hit American submarines. God knows why he would have done something so stupid, but it had the expected repercussions. The Japanese ASW quickly re-set their depth charges accordingly, to the harm of American submarines and to the fury of Admiral Lockwood who reportedly said that he believed that ten American submarines were lost just due to that piece of information being made public.

Who Sank SS ROHNA?

Captain PETER CHELEMEDOS (3619-1994) was Skipper of various merchant ships in World War II, and he has this question.

“Who sank SS ROHNA? I know it was not a U-boat casualty but the reason I ask is that Robert Bennet who went down aboard SS ROHNA was a shipmate of mine aboard another ship in 1940.”

What About SS O. A. BRODIN?

Again a question from Captain CHELEMEDOS. He asks:

“I note that one of the ships listed as sunk by ERICH TOPP (118-LIFE-1985) with U-57 on 17 July 1940 was this Swedish ship, and several of my acquaintances were on her. I would like more information on her. Is it possible that Captain Topp’s notes contain any reference to shed more light on this question?”

EDITOR NOTE – Captain CHELEMEDOS had two ships shot out from under him, one in the Atlantic and the other in the Pacific. When his ship was sunk by a German U-boat in the Atlantic, the Skipper of the U-boat came alongside and apologized that they had no fresh water to give them since their own water had gone bad on the U-boat…..so he gave them a few cases of beer and directions to the nearest port. When his other ship was sunk between California and Hawaii, the Japanese submarine began to machine gun the lifeboats and attempted to ram them. The stern half of this ship, which had broken in two, exploded with a thunderous blast when her cargo of ammunition detonated and that scared the Japanese submarine away. All things considered, Captain CHELEMEDOS preferred being sunk by the U-boat than the I-boat.