I was just wondering if anybody had heard of the supposed find of a Type XI U-Boat that had been found...Again, this has probably been discussed on the forum time and again; however, no search returns any thread started about "Type XI," so, here goes. The story is here: www.uboatwar.net/XI.htm I wonder how the marine company that is reported to have found a boat "w/turrets" can boast such a claim when all records at the U-Boat Archive in Cuxhaven-Altenbruch claim otherwise. Could such construction of these boats been so super-secret that no records would have existed?

Interesting information on Types here: http://www.sharkhunters.com/typeadditional.htm

Can anyone find a picture of what the type would have looked like with the Arado seaplane hanger?

Well, there is no type XI mentioned in Uboat.net ...

http://uboat.net/types/index.html

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Look a litttttle closer: www.uboat.net/maps/us_east_coast.htm

Still, with all the prestige that uboat.net has regarding German submarine information my historian mentality would have me remain open to other possibilities.

be careful with any info from sharkhunters............

I believe I've seen that recently, maybe in an Encyclopeadia of Weapons of WW2?

If I recall correctly, it was on inter-war designs proposed but never built, during the inter-war theory by many navies of turreted submarines like the French Surcouf?

The Type 21 did have turrets but only for AA mounts and they were sleakly designed to minimize wake resistance under-water.

I've seen designs in books, not just suspect stuff on web, of plans for 6", 8" even battleship lone gun on a sub, so the sub would be more like a pop-up giant pistol that like a sling-shot would have to point her bow at each target.

But apparently the 'turret submarines' fell by the wayside for the most part.

Yeah, I got the thread idea from Encyclopedia of Weapons of World War II.

And, just to make sure we're on the same footing here, we're talking about the Type XI not the Type XXI.

The following is another interesting article on the Type: http://www.geocities.com/lief99/U-boats_u-cruiser.html



If the Type IX and Type X took considerably more time to dive than the Type VII, which was a serious consideration when crews had a choice on which one to serve, I can't help but wonder how much longer the turreted beast would have taken.

The following is taken from http://www.rense.com/general56/supsec.htm and can be found just below the boats specifications (if you want to go straight there) with the remainder of the argument FOR the existence of the Type XI.

"Very little is known about the Type XI-B U-Boat. All official histories state that the vessel type was never built and numerous publications indicate that the Type XI-B submarine design went only as far as a preliminary 'keel laying' at the building yards of Deschimag -A.G. Weser in Bremen, Germany. However, there is a subtle hint that at least one vessel of this type was indeed launched from the Deschimag yards. Contained within the records of the Military archive at Freiburgim-Breisgau, Germany is a brief mention of the "actual" yard trials in the Weser River of the Type XI U-Cruiser having attained a surface speed of 26 knots. [. . .] The details contained in the records of the Military archive in Germany makes it very clear that the above speed trials were not obtained from 'tank' tests of models. Therefore, there certainly is [s]ome proof of the actual existence of a working and operational model of the legendary Type XI."

Again, the majority of arguments I've found on the net claim that no Type XI boat ever made it beyond the laying of the keel. The above is one of the more believable possibilities I've found beyond the unsubstantiated claims made by the marine recovery company of a "discovered" Type XI.

I'm still yet to find any pictures of the seaplane hanger installation on a Type XI. However I found that the intended aircraft was to be the Arado Ar 231.....


From Wikipedia: "The Arado Ar 231 was a light-weight seaplane developed during World War II in Germany as a scout plane for submarines. The need to be stored inside the submarine necessitated compromises in design that left the single-seat seaplane of little practical use. Testing soon discovered them to be fragile, underpowered, and difficult to fly even during calm weather, and as a result, development ended in favour of the Focke Achgelis Fa 330 autogyro."

I've got a ww2 video series somewhere here that has actual footage of German timing of launch and retrieval of one of those auto-gyros on a tether however, like a 'super-kite' taking a peek over the horizon. But it skips. Reminds me of that James Bond movie in Japan, "Little Nelly" lol.

I'd like to see that. In the meantime here are some pictures of the Focke-Achgelis Fa 330A-1 on board a U-boat...
...in storage...


...tail assembly...


...rotor assembly...


...additional information on this platform: Choppers in WWII

In "The Complete Encyclopedia of Weapons of World War II" Bishop
P439

"Planned at a time when the larger cruiser submarine idea was still in vogue, only three Type XI were built, due to changined piroirties. With a lenght of 115m(337ft), the fourt boats (U-112-115) would have had a range of 25430 km(15800mi) at 12 kts. Their armament included four 127-mm guns and an autogyro was carried.

There is a coloured drawing.

Just found this neat photo and story... www.combatsim.com/htm/feb99/typexi-2.htm

Attached Images

xib-illus.jpg (65.0 KB, 15 views)

screwed up here somewhere...

Again, another pic...

Attached Images

425-turr2.jpg (15.4 KB, 19 views)

i don't know as the pic is not there!

__________________

Scott

Type XI U-boat.

Series Numbers - U 112 - U115.
Years ordered/completed - 1939 - ....
Displacement - surfaced 3,140 - submerged 3,630.
Dimentions - 377ft 3in x 31ft 3in x 20ft 3in (114.9m x 9.5m x 6.1m)
Machinery - surfaced 8D - submerged 2E on two shafts.
HP - surfaced 17,600 - submerged 2,200.
Speed (knots) - surfaced 23.2 -submerged 7.
Range (miles) - surfaced 20,600-10 knots - submerged 10/50-4 knots.
Fuel load (tons) - 500.
Complement 110.
Armament - Six 21in (533mm) torpedo tubes, four forward, two aft. Four 5in (127mm) deck guns (2x2) one 37mm one 20mm.

1937 -38 design derived from WWI cruiser submarine. twin cylinder side by side OO perssure hull. Construction never begun.

Submarines of World War Two. Erminio Bagnasco.

Dear friend:

As you seen in http://www.u-historia.com/ > Técnica > Proyectos > Tipo XI, these U-Boats not arrived at the serial production in the WWII. Are very complex and very cost.

I remind you the use of translators online if necessary.....




Jan.

__________________
La llave de la libertad es la sabiduria. El cerrojo de la esclavitud la ignorancia

U-Historia, Ubootwaffe 1939-1945 History of UBootwaffe in Spanish
http://www.tradiweb.com/ta.htm Translator Web
http://www.forospyware.com In Spanish

According to Rossler's The U-Boat (the same reference cited in the drawing of the Type XI's aircraft hangar in one of the posts above), the plane was an Arado Ar 231.

A croquis drawing schematic is in this pages: http://xoomer.alice.it/bk/NWS/Kriegs..._Boote_XIb.jpg

-is a big image- 975 KB and 1357x1400 px





Jan.


Jan.

__________________
La llave de la libertad es la sabiduria. El cerrojo de la esclavitud la ignorancia

U-Historia, Ubootwaffe 1939-1945 History of UBootwaffe in Spanish
http://www.tradiweb.com/ta.htm Translator Web
http://www.forospyware.com In Spanish