Talk:German submarine U-104 (1940)

The picture
Among other edits, I have changed U-123 from 'arriving' to 'departing' in the photograph caption because: 1) Uboat.net has U-123 departing Lorient on 8 June 1941. 2) Uboatwaffe.net also has U-123 departing on 8 June. 3) Blaison has, I think (because it's in French), U-123 torpedoing a ship on 20 June - hardly likely if the boat was still in port, having just arrived on the 8th. 4) Michael Gannon's book "Operation Drumbeat" (1990). ISBN 0-06-016155-8 page 41, mentions U-123 clearing harbour on 8 June. In addition, a closer inspection of the picture shows a well turned-out, clean shaven crew - they would not look like that on their return. Two of them are waving (goodbye?) On the top of the conning tower are what looks like flowers. These were presented to the officers of departing boats by Blitzmädel (German female naval telegraphers). The bouquets would be discarded overboard when the U-boat was a suitable distance from the point of departure.

Other article captions for this picture are divided on the arrival/departure issue. Two of them say 'arrive', but one has 'depart'. In the image's 'Extra information' section, the word Auslaufen, which my (German) wife and my English/German dictionary both translate as 'put to sea', appears courtesy of the Bundesarchiv.

RASAM (talk) 20:19, 12 April 2012 (UTC)

UserGogo212121 Hello Nazi submarine where this has disappeared German Submarine U-104 --Gogo212121 (talk) 14:38, 12 May 2015 (UTC)