Mystery Questions of the Week for 3-6-2009
Most of us could quickly find humor in these period German post cards (M.E. has hidden the sub's identification and location). Undoubetdly, however, these were sailors of uncommon courage.The upper card was sent to a young lady in 1913, with the following handwritten description:
This is a Torpedo boat. Other words a Submarine (name). This little ship will dive under water and go many miles and come up again and shoot a torpedo and blow up the incoming ships. - (illegible), USMC
Mystery Questions:
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1 ) - What U.S. submarine was this (name and hull number)?
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2 ) - In what body of water were these scenes recorded?
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3 ) - During WW1 what happened to a CO of this submarine?
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4 ) - Considering the fates of later submarines with this name, are submariners superstitious?
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Answers Monday.
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Submarines are always silent and strange.
Labels: silent and strange
posted by Vigilis @ 2:33 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
I know 1, 3, and 4. Not sure about 2 (strange pictures though). But I won't post yet, I will leave the mystery to others...
Thanks for the mystery question.
Rick, about the pictures- agree. Perhaps the cards were based on an artist's drawings from photos. Note the color difference between the conning tower upper hatches.
Cards state on reverse "Camera Supply Company, (location)" - "Printed in Germany".
1) This is USS Shark, SS-8
2) Not sure what body of water this is.
3) The CO of this sub died due to injuries suffered from an explosion and fire after refusing assistance until all his men were taken care of.
4)I will say that there are supersticions based on the name as, SS-8 had this explosion and fire, SS-174 was lost due to Japanese ASW, SS-314 was also lost due to Japanese ASW, although SSN-591 did not suffer the same fate as the others.
The photos do have some color differences. I would attribute this to the photo being artifically colored after the B&W image was taken and developed. Color photography was not common until much later.
Hope those were close!
Rick
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