U-boat and fresh/drinking water issues

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Net_Skater
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Posts: 73
Joined: 01 Jun 2004, 00:00
Location: Cranston RI, USA and Warsaw, Poland

U-boat and fresh/drinking water issues

#1

Post by Net_Skater » 17 Apr 2017, 21:14

29 pages of various subjects - but I could not find anything about fresh water ...
It is obvious that when U-boat goes for 3-4 weeks patrol, the issue of drinking water is as much important as fuel or torpedoes. I have a number of questions concerning this issue.
1. Fresh water had to be stored in a tanks inside U-boat. How many tanks, how big and where located on the ship ?
2. When fresh water from the tank was used up, was the tank filled up with a salt water to secure proper trim of U-boat ?
3. Was it some Kriegrsmarine regulations concerning ammount of fresh water per a crew member a day ?
4. Did milk cow U-boat resupplied U-boats with fresh water ?
5. What kind of water was used in U-boat toilet, fresh or salt ?
6. Kitchen area: did they use fresh water to wash plates/pots/silverware ?
7. How about desalination units ? Did they have such a device on U-boat and if yes, from what year ? What was a production output of such a device ?
Info about literature (preferably English language) concerning fresh/drinking water would be appreciated.
I will be very gratefull for any information regarding U-boat and drinking water.

Net_Skater



Net_Skater
Member
Posts: 73
Joined: 01 Jun 2004, 00:00
Location: Cranston RI, USA and Warsaw, Poland

Re: U-boat and fresh/drinking water issues

#3

Post by Net_Skater » 18 Apr 2017, 21:51

Sheldrake:
thank you for your effort.
Because I am interested exclusively in the subject as described in the title of my thread, I shall wait for more informations.
Hopefully they will arrive.

N_S

RandJS
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Posts: 324
Joined: 04 Oct 2008, 12:36

Re: U-boat and fresh/drinking water issues

#4

Post by RandJS » 19 Apr 2017, 03:53

Hi,

For Type XXI: Battery water 410 gallons, Drinking water 1592 gallons, Wash water 153 gallons plus 3602 gallons in WRT tanks. Desalinization capacity remained 63.5 gallons per day.
Storage tanks varied per submarine type.

Regards,
Rand

Net_Skater
Member
Posts: 73
Joined: 01 Jun 2004, 00:00
Location: Cranston RI, USA and Warsaw, Poland

Re: U-boat and fresh/drinking water issues

#5

Post by Net_Skater » 19 Apr 2017, 11:36

Rand, thank you.
One question: what is "WRT" tanks ?

N_S

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oldhoweboy
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Joined: 20 Nov 2010, 13:59
Location: Shropshire U.K.

Re: U-boat and fresh/drinking water issues

#6

Post by oldhoweboy » 19 Apr 2017, 16:03

http://www.uboatarchive.net/GeTechDocs.htm
Try here for loads of info
Rgds
Nobby

RandJS
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Posts: 324
Joined: 04 Oct 2008, 12:36

Re: U-boat and fresh/drinking water issues

#7

Post by RandJS » 20 Apr 2017, 03:17

Hi,

Weight regulating tanks? By description, it appears to be the torpedo compensating tanks.
Note that the Type XXI desalinization unit had the same 63.5 gallon output as the Type IX, but the Type XXI had three times as many batteries. Drinking water tanks were filled from a tap ashore, while wash water tanks were filled from fire hydrants.

Regards,
Rand

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