ME-323 found

[Denis]

LAst year but still cool!

http://www.worldwarbirdnews.com/2012/09/18/unique-me-323-gigant-wreck-found-off-sardinian-coast/

[godofthunder]

 Wow probably not much left of it. Can you iamgine flying one of those loaded? Your a sitting duck. I feel sorry for the bastards that flew/died in it.

[Highlander]

That might take a bit more work than the D17 they pulled out of the English Channel...

[uwe]

Kraut Sprüce Gööse!

[Highlander]

Most geese float, don't they...?

[uwe]

We were never good in things aquatic. U-Boats excepted.

[Highlander]

Das Boots were exceptionally effective, somewhat let down by the supply chain...

[uwe]

Poor man's naval force it was. In a way, U-Boats were sea terrorists, an early asymmetric warfare. We could never compete with you on the sea and where we did as with the Bismarck, longevity of triumph was somewhat lacking! What a bloody waste of men, money, resources and time (years to build it, only hours to sink it) that was.

[Highlander]

Have you studied the story of the Pinguin and the Passat - "commerce" raiders in the Southern oceans... fascinating stuff... my granddad was boson on the first of the ships they sunk in Australian waters - only one crewman died, and that was his own fault - went back to his cabin to get his wallet and everyone thought he was on one of the other two lifeboats - I've found two pictures online of the rescue and one of them shows my namesake quite well...


He's the one standing up at the far end holding the rope...

[Denis]

Towards the end of 1944 and even early 1945 German production of all military goods had increased exponentially (much of this due to Albert Speer's organizational and allocation skills). Conversely, the trouble is that a) much of it didn't make it to the field and b) once there the quality of the troops using the equipment were much lower than early in the war so losses were high.
The Type XXI U-boats were huge improvements over the old ones and were shipped to the ports in sections from all over the Reich and assembled there, rather than being built entirely in one place.

[Chris P.]

For Uwe. Born in Alkmaar, like me

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornelis_Drebbel

[godofthunder]

 Kenny I'm surprised at you, a nation of seafarers eh?  There is no rope on a boat, only line!

Have you studied the story of the Pinguin and the Passat - "commerce" raiders in the Southern oceans... fascinating stuff... my granddad was boson on the first of the ships they sunk in Australian waters - only one crewman died, and that was his own fault - went back to his cabin to get his wallet and everyone thought he was on one of the other two lifeboats - I've found two pictures online of the rescue and one of them shows my namesake quite well...


He's the one standing up at the far end holding the rope...

[Highlander]

[eternal shame] I'm a land-lubber, Scott... dad ended up in the Army and then firmly on dry land to the west of London... his dad; him in the picture, spent considerably less time on land than he did at sea... constantly on the Atlantic-Panama-Pacific runs... most of his fifty years at sea was on those routes... the only times I got near the "salt" that does flow in the old veins is whilst up on the Island... mind you, I've lived within a mile of the Thames almost all the rest of the time; even now it's only 1/2 a mile away; not a lot of salt in that thing... [/eternal shame]

[godofthunder]

 Hmmm. Must be a Hellcat on the end of that line.

[Highlander]

More like battleship chains... at least fifty foot long... and a two ton anchor...

Hmm... might be a song in that...