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Panther44 Bootsmannmaat
Joined: 07 August 2006 Location: United States
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Posted: 15 April 2007 at 17:43 | IP Logged
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When a U-boat set out to sea it was loaded down with fresh food,ie hams, bread, sausage, eggs etc. Sounds good but you hear stories of where the food stared to take on the smell and tastes of a U-boat, mold, mildew, diesel. If this was the case was the food really that good? In one scene in 'Das Boot' it appears that their food is in bad need of a haircut.
__________________ There are no roses on a sailors grave,
No lillies on an ocean wave,
The only tribute is a seagulls sweep,
And the teardrop that a sweetheart weeps.
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Pavel Matrosen-Stabsgefreiter
Joined: 12 February 2007 Location: Canada
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Posted: 15 April 2007 at 17:59 | IP Logged
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A lot of canned food was carried, to my knowledge. That kept decently; typically you'd eat the fresh stuff first before it had a chance to go bad, but there was always those lengths of sausage and the like that got furry and tasted faintly of diesel fuel. It all depended on the length of the patrol, and the conditions.
Not having been aboard any submarine, I can't comment further than that.
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Kaleun Korvettenkapitän
The Old Man
Joined: 28 September 2004 Location: United Kingdom
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Posted: 19 April 2007 at 12:19 | IP Logged
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I remember Erich Topp saying the the loaves of bread taken aboard ended up looking like white rabbits...
__________________ "Mit Fette Beute"
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Pavel Matrosen-Stabsgefreiter
Joined: 12 February 2007 Location: Canada
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Posted: 19 April 2007 at 18:51 | IP Logged
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I wonder if the mold on the outside of the bread protected the innards of the bread.
Overall I'm guessing most dieticians would have an apoplexy at the sight of most food carried about any U-Boat. Any word on whether or not conditions for food stowage were better on a Type XXI boat compared to a Type IX or VII? I figure since there are so many other advanced features on the Twenty-Ones, perhaps they improved that as well.
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Panther44 Bootsmannmaat
Joined: 07 August 2006 Location: United States
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Posted: 19 April 2007 at 23:03 | IP Logged
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I know that the Type XXI boats had a freezer for food, I don't know the capacity of the freezer so don't know if it really made that much of a difference or not. But it had to be better then nothing.
__________________ There are no roses on a sailors grave,
No lillies on an ocean wave,
The only tribute is a seagulls sweep,
And the teardrop that a sweetheart weeps.
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Pavel Matrosen-Stabsgefreiter
Joined: 12 February 2007 Location: Canada
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Posted: 20 April 2007 at 17:23 | IP Logged
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If nothing else it allowed for a lot of canned food to be carried, and for the "perishables" to be consumed over a longer period of time throughout the patrol.
In Silent Hunter III, there are boxes of oranges and the like stacked up in the aft of the control room of my Type VIIC. How well did fruit keep aboard a U-Boat?
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dbauer Bootsmannmaat
Joined: 15 November 2006 Location: United States
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Posted: 23 April 2007 at 02:36 | IP Logged
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Hello!
These are all good questions. You are right in thinking the fresh food was eaten first. All fresh fruit was eaten ASAP. While alot of fruit eaten on the Boot was canned. Fresh limes and or lemons were eaten every day. Most of the meat was preseved in some way. They ate alot of smoked meat, ei sausages and pork. The bread was another story. On a U-Boat it spoiled very fast. As was said it most of the time was " fussy". I was also told they ate alot of salted fish too.
Regards,
__________________ Dan Bauer
Semper Fi
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Pavel Matrosen-Stabsgefreiter
Joined: 12 February 2007 Location: Canada
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Posted: 23 April 2007 at 16:05 | IP Logged
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Salted fish makes sense - right now I live in Newfoundland. There are two staples to the "traditional" diet here: Salt Fish and Salt Beef. It'll keep forever, even on a U-Boat.
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Panther44 Bootsmannmaat
Joined: 07 August 2006 Location: United States
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Posted: 23 April 2007 at 23:04 | IP Logged
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dbauer wrote:
Hello!
They ate alot of smoked meat, ei sausages and pork.
Regards,
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So the sausages and pork would last for the whole mission?
__________________ There are no roses on a sailors grave,
No lillies on an ocean wave,
The only tribute is a seagulls sweep,
And the teardrop that a sweetheart weeps.
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Pavel Matrosen-Stabsgefreiter
Joined: 12 February 2007 Location: Canada
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Posted: 24 April 2007 at 00:18 | IP Logged
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If there was enough of them or if they were properly smoked, yes. Smoking has been an effective preservation method (as effective as "salting") that's been in use for centuries.
Dbauer may know better than I, the conditions aboard a U-Boat probably reduced the "shelf life" of even such preserved foodstuffs.
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