20 YEARS AGO in our KTB

KTB #11 was again in the experimental format and was the last such issue. We were trying to learn more about the ‘Marine Sonderdienst Auslands’ and its commander, K.K. Becker. We were also attempting to locate crewmembers from U-234, one of the U-Boats alleged to be carrying uranium to Japan in the closing moments of the German part of World War II. (We later did contact many of the crew and proved the story.)

We described the Admiralstab (Admiral’s baton) of Großadmiral Karl Dönitz – ‘a thing of extreme beauty, the wand portion of the baton is regal blue, emblazoned with gold eagles and anchors. Each end is capped with an ornate gold knob.’ (And now, we see this beautiful Admiralstab, and others, when we are in Germany at the fantastic naval museum of Peter Tamm.)

Dues were still $25 per year when KTB #11 was produced, and it was a mere four pages long. Compare the $25 of twenty years ago with the dues of $50 today…..then compare the four pages of KTB #11 with the 44 pages of today’s KTB. Quite a value.

15 YEARS AGO in our KTB

In KTB #42, we were planning our Second Annual Convention but this was to be our first ever convention in old Europe – thanks to Capt. HANS-GEORG HESS (125-LIFE-1985) who suggested it.

We reported on a new (then) US Navy torpedo that can run 85 knots underwater and operate down to 4,000 feet. We gave the history of HAI and HECHT, two submarines of the newly formed Bundsmarine after Germany could have a navy again. We also listed some of the boats that carried the Alberich rubber coating as a defense against sonar.

Once again, divers with stars in their eyes were going to find the secret sunken U-Boat off the west coast of Florida. They are probably still looking, because there are none there.

We were then trying to get our dream of an archive into reality. Now, fifteen years later, outside of Germany Sharkhunters is the world’s largest research center on the German U-Boats.

KTB #42 was just 8 pages and still done on that old typewriter.

10 YEARS AGO in our KTB

Sorry, not possible to reproduce the front page – time has taken its toll on the photos but here’s what was in KTB #82. The memories of Kapitänleutnant HORST DEGEN (116-+-1985) continued and this was a graphic story of the Battle of the Atlantic as was the continuation of the wartime memories of JIM VERDOLINI (480-1988) who was radioman aboard USS GUADALCANAL when they captured U-505. We also continued the report by Großadmiral Karl Dönitz entitled “The Conduct of the War at Sea”.

We listed all the people who attended our Annual Convention that year – there were a total of 146 Members and guests, and among that number were 14 U-bootfahrer. Four of them were Skippers and two of them earned Knights Crosses. One was a German spy who came ashore from a U-Boat, another was an officer aboard the light cruiser DRESDEN and another served with the Waffen SS. It was probably the biggest Convention ever for Sharkhunters. It is sad to look at the list and see the names of those who have passed away. Many were too young to leave this world, and one by his own hand a few years later.

The Congressional investigation into why Standard Oil was selling fuel to Germany during World War II was continued.

During the war, there were rumors of a fellow named George Gough in British Guyana, who owned several island trading ships and who, it was rumored, was helping to supply German U-Boats with water, food etc in the Caribbean. We finally tracked down George Gough’s son Albert, and we asked him for his memories of this time, since he and his father were arrested and put into a camp of sorts in the Caribbean. The reply shocked us. Albert Gough said that we must send $500 in advance, then he would send the full report - and expect another $500 for this!

KTB #82 was still 28 pages long.

5 YEARS AGO in our KTB

It is easy to see that the lead story in KTB #128, written by SIGMUND KLAUSSNER (211-1986) was about Kapitänleutnant Werner Hartenstein but there was MUCH more about U-156 and her famous Skipper. Naturally, there was the full history of the boat as we see in each issue of our KTB, but there were excerpts from the KTB (logbook) of U-156, the complete action story of the attack on the Lago Refinery on the island of Aruba in which the gunner was killed and Lt. DIETRICH ALFRED von dem BORNE (38-+-1984) was seriously injured and rather than being brought back to the homeport of U-156 at Lorient, France – he was taken to the Caribbean island of Martinique which at that time was under Vichy French control and long assumed to be a place of safety for German U-Boats in the early stages of the war, and an article on the end of U-156 and her crew in the Caribbean.

There was a 1st person memory of the war by Korvettenkapitän REINHARD HARDEGEN (102-LIFE-1985), a major report of the various frauds perpetrated by a guy named Tom Shutt on many collectors of militaria, a warning about a fake report by a guy named Michaud on finding a secret U-Boat sunk in 40 feet of water off Cape Cod, a piece on Monsunboots, a study in German Japanese cooperation in WW II, the ongoing column on the Royal Navy submarines and of course, PETER’s PERISCOPE.

KTB #128 was 40 pages long.