Hi Panther 44!

Glad you asked that question! My Father was a Trop. Tech on U-805. Every day they preformed maintaniance on at least 1 trop. When they removed the Eel as they called them, They would check the overall condition. They would check the battery and recharge it if needed. They would check the function of the props and fins. They would check the wiring and the warhead condition.Then if all was ok, they would grease the entire Trop. and slide it back into it's tube. They would also check the seals on the trop. doors and the compressed air cantisers. It really was the hardest,  messyest job on the Boote.  Hope this helps.

Regards,

.

 Oh , P.S.

They always had each of the tubes filled with a tropedo. They never knew when they would need them. Also, space on the U-Boote was limited. They had to carry so many trops. The crew was glad when they finally fired a few. It ment more room for the "Lords" in the Bow Compartment.

Regards,

Great to read. Yes sounds logical too store torpedos everywhere you can... They are the teeth after all.

Peter

Hi Dan,

Yes, I think I have read that. I seem to remember that story.

I got interested in the U-47 after a diving trip to Scap Flow. Besides a part of the German fleet on the bottom, there is a museum there that shows a lot of info on the Royal Oak attack.

My website about that trip

My personal small U-47 memorial page

 Hello again Trigger!

Wow that must have been something to dive into history like that!  Great job with the memorial site as well!

Regards,

 Hi dbauer

        Thanks for the answers, great stuff my friend You say if everything was OK they would greased it up and put it back in the tube. Was there ever a time that they couldn't fix a torpedo? And if so what would they do with it?

 Wow ! Another great question! Being on Patrol, most of the time they just could not surface and dump the bad Eel! Even if they could, the operation to do that would subject the U-Boote to the danger of being on the surface with too many crew members in case of an attack.  So, they usually had to place the tropedo back in storage which most likely would be in the bow or stern compartment, and leave it there until the  Boote returned to base and then remove it in port at the maintance facility.  The crew would not be too happy with the situation of a bad Eel still in the Boote. It meant less room to move around and sleep. Remember, the "Lords" usually did not have a bunk to sleep in, they usually had the compartment deck to sleep on.  Hope that answers the question.

Regards,