Where was this photo of UA taken?

[rstern]

Kind Sirs,
The attached is an undated image of UA and two early model Type IX U-boats. I would like some help identifying where this picture was taken and an approximate date.

Thanks,
Rob

[dennis a feary]

Hello Rob, as U A was built for the Turkish Navy as `Battray' by the Germania Werft, at Kiel, the picture may be there. Have no real knowledge beyond that, but it may also be Hamburg where she `loaded' before suppling the fleets that attacked Norway in the invasion of 1940. That would bring in the two Type 1X Boats.
Best I can do without further `peeping'.
Good Hunting !
Sadsac

[Grosser Kreuzer]

Rob,

Further to Dennis's reply: isn't that a U-boat bunker to the right of centre? This could put it somewhat later than 1940.

GK

PS I seem to recall seeing a picture of UA at sea in one of the "Profiles" I have at home. However, I am exceeding my "brief" here. My apologies.

[dennis a feary]

GK, could be a Bunker, and is so likely to be Norway, but does not look like a Norway placing. Be interesting to know when the Bunkers were first started & where.

Sadsac

[rstern]

Rob,

Further to Dennis's reply: isn't that a U-boat bunker to the right of centre? This could put it somewhat later than 1940.

GK


GK, I came to the same conclusion, namely that the structure in the background looks like a bunker, perhaps under construction. Such a bunker was built at Kiel, starting in late 41. UA retired to training duties in Spring 42, based, at least part of the time, at Kiel. That would also explain the early-model Type IXs, as all surviving IXAs & Bs (U37, U38 & U108) were used as training boats from 42 on, so this might plausibly be a photo taken at Kiel sometime after mid-42.

What do you think?

Rob

[warbooklover]

Without being an expert on submarines, I too feel that this is most likely Kiel in late 1940 or 1941 as I found a few aerial photographs on the web that seem to fit.
A couple are from the IWM website and the other photo is a composite RAF aerial reconnaissance of Kiel Harbor in 1941. In the low level photo from the IWM, you can clearly see the twin smokestacks from the power plant near the top of the photo. In the original post, am I seeing the tops of the twin smoke stacks protruding behind the building in the background?

Hope this helps, Doug

[WGVSr]

Most of the type IX boats were built at Deschimag, Hamburg. On the other hand the 'bunker' in the background does resemble pictures of the building hall at the Germania Werft in Kiel. My vote is Kiel.
Bill

[dennis a feary]

Rob, GK, Bill, having had further looks and seeing the Pics posted by Doug I think the concension opinion should be Kiel as you all believe.
Great Pics be pleased to see more of such.

Sadsac

[bezukhov]

Hello!

this picture of U-A is quite interesting!

I am sure, anyway, that the port is not Kiel - in fact, it is Lorient.
The picture is taken from one of the "pontons" in front of the "Saltzwedel" Kaserne. The boats are pointing Northward, and they are on the western side of the Scorff river.

Uboat.net says U-A was in Lorient between April and December 1941.

Here is the link of a very interesting description of the port of Lorient taken from another forum.
http://atf40.forumculture.net/t3769-les-pontons-de-lorient-strasbourg-ex-regensburg-allemand
It is in French, but it is the most complete and detailed source available on the net about Lorient and the U-Boats.
Just for sake of clarity, I post a picture from this forum in which you can see that the background is almost identical to that of your photo.

If you wish to go deeper in this matter, I recommend you the 2 books written by Luc Braeuer "U-Boote! Lorient" covering the following periods: june 1940-june 1941 and july 1941-july 1942. I have the first one, it's a first-class photographic reference. More important for you, the author reports the dates of departure/arrival in Lorient for every single U-Boat: using these data, you can define the date of your picture with a reasonable precision.

Hope this can help you
Michele

[WGVSr]

Michele:
You may be correct. The building in the background seems to check with your picture.
Bill

[bezukhov]

If necessary, I can add some details:
the building in the background is not a "bunker", instead it is "Cale n.7", on the Eastern side of the Scorff river. Its shape is unique and unmistakable.
Note that not only the building is the same in both pictures, but also the floating cranes, especially the one in the center.

Greetings
Michele

[dennis a feary]

Bezukhov, great hunting re the site & Lorient. Could you use your expertise & knowledge re the French site as to wether U 373 was in Lorien at times for a picture of her ? Also for La Pallice which I know U 373 was in that port.

Sadsac