Unhappy Life for U-Boat Captains

Korero (AEWS), Volume 2, Issue 14, 17 July 1944, Page 32

Unhappy Life for U-Boat Captains

The life of a U-boat captain is an unhappy one these days. Not only does he have to run a gauntlet of United Nations destroyers, escort vessels, airplanes and blimps which have taken a heavy toll of German submarines, but even if he gets through and torpedoes a tanker, he has no assurance that his mission is accomplished. Allied headquarters in London now reveal that many tankers have been saved from sinking after being hit by torpedoes through the use of compressed-air pumps. Air lines are stretched the length of the tanker, and pumps set up at -the bow and stern. If a ship is torpedoed, compressed air is forced into the damaged sections at a pressure high enough to keep out the water. A British tankerthe first to be rigged with the compressors hit by three torpedoes, then steamed 1,200 miles (1,920 kilometers) to the United States for repairs, thanks to the compressed-air pumps. Another British tanker, the second to have the equipment installed, was hit by a torpedo when she had 12,000 tons of benzine ■and kerosene aboard. The U-boat surfaced to watch the tanker sink, but had to submerge because of the fumes. The tanker threw her compressors into play and the ship was saved. The English say that one tanker saved would pay for the installation •of the new equipment on the whole British tanker fleet. It takes only two days to install the equipment, which has played an important part in winning the Battle of the Atlantic for the United Nations.