just testing some S-boot pics now, Hopefully they will be of interest. What I like is the different wappenshields worn on the sides of the hull indicating the different S-boot flottille's. Of course not all boots wore these; the paint Schnellbooteweiß.

two more shots coming, the fast escorts doing multiple roles from escort, refugee rescues in the Baltic in 45, mine-laying work and of course taking on Allied heavy shipping and boat to boat with MTB's

last pic for taody showing a boot from the 8.Schnellbootflottille. Late war, the flottille was quite busy in the Baltic in 1945 with the heavy ships providing necessary anti-sub work, moving refugees from Hela and the Bay to safer quarters, and taking on a Soviet surface ship(s) found.....

What cool pics, Erich!! wow!

That reminds me....again.... ...I have some KM related stuff here waiting to be shipped...

Take care on that bike, Erich. I understand teh weather isn't really bikers-friendly right now....

__________________
"Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true!" - Homer Simpson

(banner by Otto)
www.basher82.nl

you would be surprised at our glorious weather here. Very uncharacteristic I might add, 50F afternoons with 25F for the low and freezing fog. We are headed down the road for a terrible drought. a few showers this weekend and then clear for a week....

another neat pic, line em up mates !

ah geezo. ok try this again from the files. Captured S-booten in northern waters to be taken out and then thrashed into pieces.......

Were these the type of boats that sank alot of landing barges on practice exercises right before D-day ? I read something about it and the allies kept it secret so as not to damage the moral of the other men or something like that.
The German boats look much sleeker and more deadly than the American PT boats in my opinion.
Nice pictures Erich. [img]graemlins/salute.gif[/img]

__________________
Work Harder ! Millions on welfare are depending on you.

correct TA. In April 1944 operation tiger. what a stinkin mess it was. The KM got word of the practices and they sent out I think some 9 boots. Total chaos is all I can say. 4 LST's were claimed sunk by 5th and 9th Flottille boots.

too many lost lives on a practice mission that should of been vitally protected.

S-136 and S-138 of the 5th Flotille claimed 1 LST apiece.

E

Here is the dedication memorial at Laboe to all S-boot servicemen. not sure how this photo will turn out but here goes anyway....

Okay Erich help me out a bit here please as I really am not familiar with the German Navy during WWII. The pictures and such you are showing are S-boats, but I have a magazine article in World War II History magazine from May 2005 (current issue, just got it yesterday) that refers to this incident off of Slapton Sands in South Devon. In the article it refers to the German boats as E-boats. Are these boats the same or is the article identifying them incorrectly? If they are not the same what are the differences between them?

__________________
Bill Murray
Why do we press harder on the remote control when we know the batteries are getting weak?

I think the term E-boat refers to simply "Enemy boat" as the S-boat is Schnellboot. I once read about this difference in the net, but if I´m wrong Erich surely can tell the correct answer.

http://e-hobbyland.com/sqboscinac.html

__________________

Bill, Kai is quite correct. E stands for enemy boat.

S stands for Schnell or fast boot, and fast they were.

They are both one and the same sea craft.....

E ~

Thanks to both Kai and Erich for clearing this up for me. Now I can be satisfied that I learned my new thing for the day.

__________________
Bill Murray
Why do we press harder on the remote control when we know the batteries are getting weak?

Bill since you have that article on the Slapton isles you may want to refer to this excellent web-site.... ?

http://www.mikekemble.com/ww2/slapton.html

hope it works.....

E ~

Thanks for the great site Erich. Interestingly the article in the magazine starts out with Ken Small's acquisition of the Sherman tank yet the article make no mention of his death last year. I am guessing that it must have been written and submitted to the magazine prior to March 2004 and has since been put into print.

__________________
Bill Murray
Why do we press harder on the remote control when we know the batteries are getting weak?

Bill, it's the cat's meow of sites on the failed and sa exercise I believe. Again I think the Allied escorts on this very mission were a bit lax; well in a huge way one major reason that the three main harbor- ports that housed the sleek S-booten were bombed by the RAF, and the flottille's defending Normandie were almost wiped out

Operation Tiger might have as well turned into a bigger disaster...

When 10 "bigot" officers were reported missing there was a strong possibility that the plans for the reinvasion of Europe had been seriously and possibly fatally compromised. At the time of Operation Tiger the date for D-Day was not known even to Eisenhower but the 10 officers did know the location of the invasion beaches ... information of vital interest to the enemy. A vast search of Lyme Bay was undertaken and by a miracle the bodies of all ten officers were recovered whilst 100s of others were, at least for the moment, lost at sea. Although the loss of the "bigot" officers was regrettable the relief amongst the allied planners, to know that the their invasion plans had not been compromised, can only be imagined.

http://www.combinedops.com/Op_Tiger.htm

__________________