Steel Boat, Iron Hearts: A U-boat Crewman's Life Aboard U-505The story of the German submarine U-505 and its dramatic capture by the US Navy during WWII—told by one of its crewmen. Hans Goebeler is known as the man who "pulled the plug" on U-505 in 1944 to keep his beloved U-boat out of Allied hands. Steel Boat, Iron Hearts is his no-holds-barred account of service aboard a combat U-boat. It is the only full-length memoir of its kind, and Goebeler was aboard for every one of U-505's war patrols. Using his own experiences, log books, and correspondence with other U-boat crewmen, Goebeler offers rich and very personal details about what life was like in the German Navy under Hitler. Because his first and last posting was to U-505, Goebeler's perspective of the crew, commanders, and war patrols paints a vivid and complete portrait unlike any other to come out of the Kriegsmarine. He witnessed it all: from deadly sabotage efforts that almost sunk the boat to the tragic suicide of the only U-boat commander who took his life during WWII; from the terror and exhilaration of hunting the enemy to the seedy brothels of France. The vivid, honest, and smooth-flowing prose calls it like it was and pulls no punches. U-505 was captured by Captain Dan Gallery's Guadalcanal Task Group 22.3 on June 4, 1944. Trapped by this "Hunter-Killer" group, U-505 was depth-charged to the surface, strafed by machine gun fire, and boarded. It was the first enemy ship captured at sea since the War of 1812. Today, hundreds of thousands of visitors tour U-505 each year at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. Includes photos and a special Introduction by Keith Gill, Curator of U-505, Museum of Science and Industry |
Contents
| 1 | |
The Long Way Home | 89 |
Terror From Above | 105 |
Furlough at Last | 121 |
Sabotage | 135 |
Goodbye to Zschech | 159 |
Other editions - View all
Steel Boat, Iron Hearts: A U-boat Crewman's Life Aboard U-505 Hans Jacob Goebeler No preview available - 2005 |
Steel Boat, Iron Hearts: A U-boat Crewman's Life Aboard U-505 Hans Jacob Goebeler,John P. Vanzo No preview available - 2005 |
Common terms and phrases
aboard aircraft Allied anti-aircraft Atlantic barracks Bay of Biscay began boat boat’s bombers bombs Brest bridge watch bunkers bunks command comrades conning tower control room couple course crew crewmen cruising damage depth charges Despite destroyers didn’t diesel dive duty enemy Engineering Officer escort Exec exploding finally fire freighter gave German Harald Lange hatch head heard Iron Cross Kapitänleutnant Löwe knew Kriegsmarine Lange later Lorient Lorient harbor Löwe’s Luckily Luftwaffe meters Metox Meyer minutes Navy never night Oberleutnant Once Otto Fricke patrol Paul Meyer periscope periscope depth Peter Zschech Petty Officer planes port pressure hull radar radio repairs sabotage sailing sailors ship shipyard shouted Sillcock sinking skipper sound speed spent spotted station Stolzenburg submarine submerged surface tanks target told took torpedo torpedo room train tubes turned U-boat U-boat service underwater upper deck valves waves Zschech