Cargo Submarine U-Deutschland Artifacts and Model

[drmessimer]

In an earlier post STBaltimore mentioned a Baltimore City tug, E. Clay Timanus. While I was sorting old photographs, I found this buried in the wrong place.

If you enlarge the photo you will see that the name of the tug on the U-Deutschland's starboard appears to be Timanus. Dwight

[Steve Zuke]

Gentlemen,
Sorry for joining this thread so late, but I was unaware it was taking place until STBaltimore called me at home on 2/25/12. Dwight, it’s been awhile since we have corresponded together. Claas, it is a pleasure to meet you. I am told you have an insatiable interest in the U-Bremen. So do I. We will pick up that topic soon enough. Thanks to all the people who have made this topic so interesting, especially with all their pictures. The good news is it’s not over yet, I still have my collection of stuff to post (as soon as I figure out how). I hope that the photos can answer some questions, or better yet create new ones. If anyone is doing any kind of research on the Deutschland or Bremen and I have anything that can be of use, please let me know.
A little background as to my story: I picked up a copy of U-BOATS by Antony Preston in 2006, and read it cover to cover. He talked about the U-Deutschland but it was the U-Bremen that caught my imagination. A cargo U-boat full of expensive goodies gone missing, wow! Anything could have happened to it. The search was on for more information. The next book I got was The Merchant U-Boat by none other than Dwight Messimer! The book is captivating, and is the definitive work on both U-Deutschland and U-Bremen. I contacted Dwight and I told him I wanted to write a book about the U-Bremen, because one was begging to be written. He provided me with a list of sources and a pile of other useful information and off I went. Off the deep end that is! After six years and 200-plus books on Word War I (mostly naval) I still have not come up for air. The enjoyment I have had out of the research has been more than you can fit in a cargo U-boat. The book I set out to write is barely started, but the journey in getting there has so enriched my life, thank you Dwight!
So anyway, let’s see if I can figure out how to post a picture…
Sincerely,
Steven Zukosky

[rogge16]

Hello Steve. Welcome to the forum. I look forward to seeing some of your collection. And I agree with you that Dwight's book is excellent.

Luke

[Steve Zuke]

O.K,
One more photo tonight. It has taken me a while to figure out how to post.

Steve

[drmessimer]

Steve: Welcome aboard, and I do remember our correspondence. It has been a long time. Dwight

[UBremen]

Hello Steve,

welcome to the U-Deutschland thread. I'm looking forward to a diskussion about U-Bremen.
I'm looking for a picture that shows with absolute certainty, U-Bremen. Do you have one?

Regards
Claas

[STBaltimore]

Claas,

I'm certain that if Steve indeed has an image of the U-BREMEN, but can't at present put his finger on it, no worry... his photo is bound to re-surface sometime in the future.

The Confederate submarine HUNLEY sank nearly 150 years ago on February 17, 1864 without a trace. It was re-discovered in our lifetime. I had the honor to take part in the funeral procession of the HUNLEY'S third and final crew. Trust me. The fate of U-BREMEN will come to light. It is simply a matter of time.

STBaltimore

[drmessimer]

STBaltimore: I love your optimism and I hope you are right. But the Atlantic, including the North Sea, is a lot of water and it has some really deep places. Several years ago, the crew that discovered the Bismark wreck contacted me looking for information on the Bremen. Unfortunately, there wasn't much that I could tell them. By-the-way, Claas has an excellent and informative web site at Willkommen bei www.handels-u-boote.de Stop by and have a look. Dwight

[Steve Zuke]

Claas,
I hope if nobody minds that we can combine the thread of the U-Bremen into this one. For the readers that do not know, the U-Bremen was the sister ship to the U-Deutschland and built for the same reasons. On the U-Deutschland’s second return trip from the USA she met up with the U-Bremen as she was leaving Helgoland bound for the USA. The captains exchanged information, and on August 26, 1916 the U-Bremen sailed for the USA on her maiden voyage. U-Bremen was never to be seen again. The reason I wish to combine the topics is that their stories are so intertwined it is hard to separate them. You tend to start one paragraph talking about the Bremen and end talking about the Deutschland. So if nobody minds….
Claas, before it is too late, you have possession of a silver stamp which is identical to the one I use for my user ID to the left. The photo I use I got from an item up for auction on E-bay a few years ago. I was broke and could not go higher than $60, and somebody else got the stamp. I knew what it was for, but I did not know the context. I talked to several stamp experts, and they felt it was what is known as a transport stamp. It’s a special stamp they used for extraordinary delivery, usually in addition to regular postage. My problem was that I had nobody to ask (I forgot about Dwight, sorry) it is truly one of the rarest of stamps, and being a transport stamp it does not show up in the stamp catalogs. My guess is there are only a handful of these stamps in existence. If you, or anybody knows any more it about please share. I have spent a great deal of time researching it, and have come up with nothing. If anyone knows where I could get my hands on one of the silver stamps please let me know. By the way for those of you that do not know, the U-Deutschland & Bremen were also carrying mail to and from the USA.
OK Claas, you were looking for pictures of the U-Bremen. Let us see if these will help. I offer these three photos for your consideration. The second and third are of the Deutschland. You can read it on the bow of the third photo. The second is of the control room. The first is (I am told) the U-Bremen on sea trials. It does show up on a post card as the Bremen, but is listed as a Deutschland picture in the group from the archive I will mentioned later. I strongly feel all these photos are German and not British. They were made for me from the negatives (I believe) possessed by Baden-Wurttemberg Landesarchiv Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart Germany in 2009. Three 18x18 cm photos cost me 27.50 Euros. JEPEG Scans 300-400 dpi cost 5 Euros. The money was not the problem, it was converting it to euros that was the adventure as it took me weeks. They could not take credit card or PayPal. I went to my bank, and they not only laughed at me, they pointed at me and laughed! I ended up converting the money at the Philadelphia airport during a business trip. I got lucky. The man I was dealing with (Thomas Weis) was at the archive and read and spoke English. If you really need his email address, I could get it from my email history. He sent me a letter with a bunch of Xeroxed copies of the cargo U-boat they had for sale. I chose these three. I should still have the letter. (Brief pause while I search) Yes, I do. There are 41 of them. Many of which were made into the post cards that have been posted in this thread.
O.K, this is enough for one night. There is so much to talk about with these two boats this may end up being a long thread. Someone should let the folks over at U-boat.net know that this thread is running here and provide a link. I am sure there are many others that would like to join in on the conversation.

Steve

[drmessimer]

Steve: Great post and I see no problem with combining the threads, since as you correctly say, they are inter-twined. This is the direction we were hoping this thrread would go. I have several negatives of the U-Deutschland under construction and on her sea trials, which I will post as soon as I find a photo lab that still does B&W. If you have any more U-Bremen things--anything--please post them. In the meantime, the Best to you, Dwight