1
00:00:10,560 --> 00:00:26,479
Speaker 1: Ye, welcome to the show ridiculous historians as well as

2
00:00:26,520 --> 00:00:31,680
Speaker 1: fans of The Hunt for Red October, the Thrillers starring

3
00:00:31,760 --> 00:00:35,000
Speaker 1: Sean Connery. What about dust Boot? Das Boot is more

4
00:00:35,040 --> 00:00:37,839
Speaker 1: of a classic, I would say, and set a precedent

5
00:00:37,960 --> 00:00:39,720
Speaker 1: for sure. Yeah, do you know? You don't? Directed das

6
00:00:39,800 --> 00:00:45,400
Speaker 1: Boot Wolf Kan Peterson Pearson. That's our super producer, Casey Pegram.

7
00:00:45,400 --> 00:00:47,000
Speaker 1: He's already on the case, but we haven't. How do

8
00:00:47,040 --> 00:00:50,320
Speaker 1: we do that? Can we combine this Casey fairy sound

9
00:00:50,320 --> 00:00:55,760
Speaker 1: effect with the don't well? I like the way that

10
00:00:56,120 --> 00:00:59,000
Speaker 1: it just rolled in with the with the sound effect

11
00:00:59,040 --> 00:01:01,880
Speaker 1: after you know what? Yeah? Who cares? May we double

12
00:01:01,880 --> 00:01:04,520
Speaker 1: it up? Sure? I don't know, it's already happened. I'm ben,

13
00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:09,240
Speaker 1: I'm null and yeah Wolf. Kane Peterson also directed um A,

14
00:01:09,240 --> 00:01:11,800
Speaker 1: A Nightmare Fuel movie from mine and probably many other

15
00:01:11,800 --> 00:01:16,240
Speaker 1: people's childhoods. The never ending story nightmare Fuel. Really it's

16
00:01:16,240 --> 00:01:18,720
Speaker 1: an amazing it is, but as a kid it is

17
00:01:18,760 --> 00:01:22,800
Speaker 1: a very dark, depressing film, like when the horse gets

18
00:01:22,800 --> 00:01:27,039
Speaker 1: sucked into the swamp, and like those creepy sphinx that

19
00:01:27,080 --> 00:01:30,360
Speaker 1: shoot lasers and have breasts. Those were cool, though I

20
00:01:30,400 --> 00:01:33,920
Speaker 1: still think of what I'm trying to describe various rites

21
00:01:33,920 --> 00:01:36,559
Speaker 1: of passage to people. I use the metaphor of those

22
00:01:36,600 --> 00:01:39,280
Speaker 1: three gates that a tray who has to go through. No,

23
00:01:39,400 --> 00:01:41,800
Speaker 1: it's true. I think it just it traumatized me a

24
00:01:41,800 --> 00:01:43,640
Speaker 1: little bit as a child. And that's a sort of

25
00:01:43,640 --> 00:01:45,960
Speaker 1: a bit of an internet trope where it's a screenshot

26
00:01:45,959 --> 00:01:47,920
Speaker 1: of that scene where the horse is like sinking into

27
00:01:47,960 --> 00:01:50,000
Speaker 1: the swamps of sadness, and it's sort of like, this

28
00:01:50,040 --> 00:01:52,040
Speaker 1: is where it all started going south for me mental

29
00:01:52,080 --> 00:01:56,960
Speaker 1: health wise. Speaking of fantastic segues, today's episode is not

30
00:01:57,120 --> 00:02:00,800
Speaker 1: about the never ending story, but it is related to

31
00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:05,480
Speaker 1: maritime adventures dust Boot, thus Boot the hunt for Red October,

32
00:02:05,800 --> 00:02:08,920
Speaker 1: which to me, for nostalgic reasons, is probably closer to

33
00:02:08,960 --> 00:02:12,200
Speaker 1: my heart. In a previous episode, we explored life on

34
00:02:12,360 --> 00:02:17,120
Speaker 1: submarines because of that potato war. Yes, yes, very short

35
00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:21,639
Speaker 1: lived potato war. Very a potato skirmish, yeah, And today's

36
00:02:21,639 --> 00:02:26,000
Speaker 1: episode brings us to another tale of maritime mishaps. There

37
00:02:26,040 --> 00:02:29,520
Speaker 1: we go, that's the way to say it. We are

38
00:02:29,800 --> 00:02:35,639
Speaker 1: traveling back to April fourteenth, nineteen, and we are aboard

39
00:02:35,720 --> 00:02:39,800
Speaker 1: one of the most advanced submarines at the time. A

40
00:02:39,840 --> 00:02:42,760
Speaker 1: little thing called a U twelve oh six. Now, is

41
00:02:42,840 --> 00:02:44,960
Speaker 1: not that? Not not the harp on dust Boot because

42
00:02:44,960 --> 00:02:46,239
Speaker 1: obviously I like to say it, But isn't that what

43
00:02:46,280 --> 00:02:48,440
Speaker 1: that movie was about. Wasn't it about the crew of

44
00:02:48,480 --> 00:02:52,040
Speaker 1: a of a of a of a U boat? Yes? Yeah, cool, Um,

45
00:02:52,120 --> 00:02:55,080
Speaker 1: that's right. Then today's episode is in fact about a

46
00:02:55,160 --> 00:02:57,920
Speaker 1: sort of two point o version of one of these boats,

47
00:02:58,200 --> 00:03:00,960
Speaker 1: because this was kind of the skirt urge of the

48
00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:05,280
Speaker 1: Nazi Party, well, their scourge on the Allies. That was

49
00:03:05,320 --> 00:03:08,720
Speaker 1: one of their most covert and successful ways of wreaking havoc.

50
00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:12,359
Speaker 1: Isn't that right? Uh? That is correct. U boats were

51
00:03:12,520 --> 00:03:16,120
Speaker 1: quite dangerous, and one of the reasons they were dangerous

52
00:03:16,200 --> 00:03:20,440
Speaker 1: is because they were very difficult to detect and they

53
00:03:20,440 --> 00:03:24,840
Speaker 1: were very nimble last yeah, fast, agile creatures. I believe

54
00:03:24,960 --> 00:03:31,240
Speaker 1: the submarine in dos Boot is uh based on a

55
00:03:31,440 --> 00:03:36,320
Speaker 1: U nineties six. All the U boats submarines were called

56
00:03:36,320 --> 00:03:38,680
Speaker 1: boats at the time to all the U boats had

57
00:03:38,720 --> 00:03:43,440
Speaker 1: that designation of you dash something And in the case

58
00:03:43,600 --> 00:03:47,520
Speaker 1: of today's story, we're looking at you twelve o six.

59
00:03:47,600 --> 00:03:51,520
Speaker 1: The U twelve oh six was premier vessel. I mean,

60
00:03:51,600 --> 00:03:55,840
Speaker 1: this thing was a big deal. It went into service

61
00:03:55,920 --> 00:03:59,680
Speaker 1: in March of nineteen four. It's emblem was a white

62
00:03:59,720 --> 00:04:04,200
Speaker 1: store on a black shield with a green beak and legs.

63
00:04:04,240 --> 00:04:07,120
Speaker 1: So let's get an idea of the size of this thing.

64
00:04:07,760 --> 00:04:12,800
Speaker 1: It was two hundred and twenty ft seven inches long,

65
00:04:13,840 --> 00:04:16,520
Speaker 1: or for the rest of the world outside of the US,

66
00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:20,080
Speaker 1: that's sixty seven point to three meters. It was about

67
00:04:20,120 --> 00:04:23,720
Speaker 1: thirty one ft or nine point six ms high, and

68
00:04:24,040 --> 00:04:28,279
Speaker 1: it was able to, despite its size, disappear under the

69
00:04:28,320 --> 00:04:31,520
Speaker 1: water pretty quickly. It could operate at depths of up

70
00:04:31,520 --> 00:04:34,120
Speaker 1: to seven hundred and fifty ft or two hundred and

71
00:04:34,160 --> 00:04:40,720
Speaker 1: thirty meters. It also, in addition to its heightened functional capacities, right,

72
00:04:41,080 --> 00:04:44,359
Speaker 1: it's a superior armament and so on, it had a

73
00:04:44,400 --> 00:04:49,479
Speaker 1: couple of amenities which were pretty rare for submarines at

74
00:04:49,480 --> 00:04:54,920
Speaker 1: the time. In particular, it had a very high tech toilet,

75
00:04:55,200 --> 00:04:59,039
Speaker 1: a complicated toilet, very complicated. Let's backtrack just slightly. In

76
00:04:59,120 --> 00:05:03,080
Speaker 1: previous model UM they they did have toilets, but they

77
00:05:03,080 --> 00:05:06,200
Speaker 1: hadn't quite cracked the code yet on how to get

78
00:05:06,240 --> 00:05:10,760
Speaker 1: these toilets to flush and expel the waist while the

79
00:05:10,839 --> 00:05:13,520
Speaker 1: boat was submerged. While the sub was submerged, right, there

80
00:05:13,560 --> 00:05:16,159
Speaker 1: was a problem with operating the previous models of the

81
00:05:16,200 --> 00:05:19,720
Speaker 1: toilet at depth. This one, however, they figured it out.

82
00:05:19,800 --> 00:05:24,239
Speaker 1: Those crafty German engineers figured it out. But as you said, Ben,

83
00:05:24,560 --> 00:05:27,400
Speaker 1: it wasn't easy. In fact, it was so complicated. They

84
00:05:27,400 --> 00:05:31,800
Speaker 1: had to designate a toilet specialist to be on board

85
00:05:31,960 --> 00:05:34,560
Speaker 1: who could assist with the flushing of this latrine. Can

86
00:05:34,560 --> 00:05:36,640
Speaker 1: you imagine that, Ben, having to call in the toilet

87
00:05:36,680 --> 00:05:41,400
Speaker 1: specialist to flush down your your business. They had multiple specialists.

88
00:05:41,200 --> 00:05:45,880
Speaker 1: In fact, yeah, they had multiple specialists because someone who

89
00:05:46,240 --> 00:05:49,960
Speaker 1: was trained in the operation of this contraption had to

90
00:05:50,080 --> 00:05:54,279
Speaker 1: be present to flush it. It had a complicated system

91
00:05:54,360 --> 00:05:57,400
Speaker 1: of valves. That's essentially what it boils down to. You

92
00:05:57,400 --> 00:05:59,640
Speaker 1: couldn't just hit a handle and then call it a day.

93
00:06:00,240 --> 00:06:03,880
Speaker 1: This thing was complicated, um, But it was also poorly

94
00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:08,800
Speaker 1: placed in terms of the interior of the submarine. It

95
00:06:08,880 --> 00:06:13,479
Speaker 1: was directly over the batteries that powered the sub the

96
00:06:13,520 --> 00:06:15,960
Speaker 1: power of the sub when it was submerged, because the

97
00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:18,800
Speaker 1: engines had to be shut off at that right And

98
00:06:18,880 --> 00:06:22,040
Speaker 1: I actually wasn't aware that battery technology was quite as

99
00:06:22,080 --> 00:06:25,440
Speaker 1: advanced as it clearly was in this time. Um. They

100
00:06:25,440 --> 00:06:30,360
Speaker 1: were banks of batteries that would supply an ordinate amount

101
00:06:30,360 --> 00:06:32,480
Speaker 1: of electricity because can you imagine like how much you

102
00:06:32,480 --> 00:06:36,080
Speaker 1: would need to keep a boat like that moving. That's right.

103
00:06:36,400 --> 00:06:42,080
Speaker 1: These batteries provided five sixty killer lots of power for

104
00:06:42,200 --> 00:06:45,400
Speaker 1: propulsion when there was when the sub was submerged. And

105
00:06:45,880 --> 00:06:49,040
Speaker 1: you're right about killing the engines as well. Because diesel

106
00:06:49,160 --> 00:06:53,760
Speaker 1: electric submarines had a had a larger signature when they

107
00:06:53,800 --> 00:06:57,160
Speaker 1: were running underwater, it was allowed it was easier to detect,

108
00:06:57,240 --> 00:07:02,280
Speaker 1: so ideally you want a quieter source of power. And Ben,

109
00:07:02,360 --> 00:07:04,159
Speaker 1: I just want to point out we're getting a little

110
00:07:04,200 --> 00:07:07,000
Speaker 1: bit of this information from a website with a delightful

111
00:07:07,120 --> 00:07:10,720
Speaker 1: U r l. It is toilet dash Guru dot com.

112
00:07:10,760 --> 00:07:13,640
Speaker 1: I'm also a fan of War is Boring dot com,

113
00:07:13,840 --> 00:07:16,800
Speaker 1: very very good, and I've got a little spoiler alert,

114
00:07:16,920 --> 00:07:20,160
Speaker 1: a surprise that I'm saving for the end I think

115
00:07:20,200 --> 00:07:24,720
Speaker 1: you will appreciate. But for now, onward onward to this

116
00:07:25,480 --> 00:07:30,840
Speaker 1: the very epitome of sub technology at the time. On

117
00:07:31,040 --> 00:07:37,160
Speaker 1: April six, this fantastic submarine with it's very complicated toilet,

118
00:07:37,200 --> 00:07:41,120
Speaker 1: the U twelve oh six leaves the ports city of

119
00:07:41,440 --> 00:07:46,040
Speaker 1: Chris Johnson in Nazi occupied Norway, and it goes on

120
00:07:46,160 --> 00:07:50,880
Speaker 1: its first combat patrol. It's mission, like that of many

121
00:07:50,960 --> 00:07:53,680
Speaker 1: U boats, is to seek out and destroy British and

122
00:07:54,120 --> 00:07:57,440
Speaker 1: US ships, so you can destroy like the like the Stooges,

123
00:07:57,520 --> 00:08:00,360
Speaker 1: there's a search and destroy, same death. You know, you're

124
00:08:00,360 --> 00:08:08,840
Speaker 1: looking for something and then you know. Yeah, So it's

125
00:08:08,880 --> 00:08:14,200
Speaker 1: on patrol for about eight days. And I mentioned this

126
00:08:14,400 --> 00:08:18,560
Speaker 1: too underline the fact that the U twelve O six

127
00:08:19,120 --> 00:08:23,000
Speaker 1: was in the service of the Nazi war effort that

128
00:08:23,080 --> 00:08:26,520
Speaker 1: only had three more weeks to go at best before

129
00:08:26,520 --> 00:08:28,080
Speaker 1: it was the end of the game for them. Yeah.

130
00:08:28,080 --> 00:08:30,120
Speaker 1: I think at this point Hitler was already hold up

131
00:08:30,160 --> 00:08:32,920
Speaker 1: and what I had not heard the term for until

132
00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:36,040
Speaker 1: just a little while ago, his furor bunker. That's true, Yeah,

133
00:08:36,240 --> 00:08:40,560
Speaker 1: And I think on April thirty he commits suicide in

134
00:08:40,600 --> 00:08:45,040
Speaker 1: that same fuel bunker. Um. Seven days after that, Germany

135
00:08:45,280 --> 00:08:49,600
Speaker 1: completely surrenders and the war is over. But no one

136
00:08:49,720 --> 00:08:52,520
Speaker 1: knew that on the U twelve O six at the time.

137
00:08:52,559 --> 00:08:56,080
Speaker 1: They knew they were just out to find and obliterate

138
00:08:56,280 --> 00:08:59,840
Speaker 1: any Allied ship they could they could get in their sight,

139
00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:03,959
Speaker 1: so within range of their torpedoes. And so they're out

140
00:09:04,200 --> 00:09:09,760
Speaker 1: on the open sea and it's fairly uneventful. How big

141
00:09:09,840 --> 00:09:12,880
Speaker 1: was their crew again, it was around forty. So these

142
00:09:12,920 --> 00:09:16,839
Speaker 1: thirty to forty crew members trapped in this tin can

143
00:09:16,960 --> 00:09:21,600
Speaker 1: beneath the waves, um while they have their eyes peeled,

144
00:09:21,880 --> 00:09:26,120
Speaker 1: they're not running into their they're not running into any action,

145
00:09:26,240 --> 00:09:29,480
Speaker 1: any war. But they are doing the normal things that

146
00:09:29,520 --> 00:09:33,040
Speaker 1: you do. They're eating, they're sleeping, and shifts. They're using

147
00:09:33,400 --> 00:09:36,760
Speaker 1: that very very fancy toilet. Again, this is this is

148
00:09:36,800 --> 00:09:41,120
Speaker 1: like the version of this is too sub toilets as

149
00:09:41,400 --> 00:09:46,760
Speaker 1: the Japanese Toto bidays are too normal. I think we've

150
00:09:46,760 --> 00:09:50,560
Speaker 1: talked about this re a our sponsorship by Tushi, but man,

151
00:09:50,800 --> 00:09:54,640
Speaker 1: those things are high tech and incredible life changing. I know,

152
00:09:55,240 --> 00:09:58,160
Speaker 1: listen to US America. You've got to stop pooping like barbarians.

153
00:09:58,200 --> 00:10:05,000
Speaker 1: Seriously so so, but that's that's actually fairly accurate comparison

154
00:10:05,360 --> 00:10:07,640
Speaker 1: because a lot of people were confused by this. And

155
00:10:07,679 --> 00:10:11,480
Speaker 1: this is when we introduced Captain Carl Adolph Schlit to

156
00:10:11,720 --> 00:10:14,000
Speaker 1: the story. He was twenty seven years old and in

157
00:10:14,080 --> 00:10:16,880
Speaker 1: charge of the sub at the time. Yeah, it's true,

158
00:10:16,880 --> 00:10:18,600
Speaker 1: and it was just it was it was in fact

159
00:10:18,640 --> 00:10:21,440
Speaker 1: his first rodeo, and when it comes to going out

160
00:10:21,440 --> 00:10:23,400
Speaker 1: on a sub, he was very new to the game,

161
00:10:23,760 --> 00:10:27,200
Speaker 1: a little bit green. Uh, And if I'm not mistaken, Ben,

162
00:10:27,559 --> 00:10:30,960
Speaker 1: where our story really starts to get interesting, um is

163
00:10:31,080 --> 00:10:34,360
Speaker 1: about eight miles off of the coast of Scotland, at

164
00:10:34,400 --> 00:10:38,800
Speaker 1: about two hundred feet below the surface of the ocean.

165
00:10:39,280 --> 00:10:42,880
Speaker 1: That's when our man Schlit had to take a schlit

166
00:10:43,720 --> 00:10:48,040
Speaker 1: Captain Schlit he okay, to keep the chain of command there. Yes,

167
00:10:48,280 --> 00:10:51,880
Speaker 1: So he decided that he wasn't going to request the

168
00:10:51,920 --> 00:10:57,559
Speaker 1: assistance of the toilet technician. Right, surely, I'm a captain

169
00:10:57,800 --> 00:11:01,400
Speaker 1: of a submarine, the chief commotist. I can operate a toilet.

170
00:11:01,920 --> 00:11:04,280
Speaker 1: I can do this. The toilet tinker was either not

171
00:11:04,360 --> 00:11:07,839
Speaker 1: desired or not around, And so Schlitz said, you know what,

172
00:11:08,080 --> 00:11:11,520
Speaker 1: I'm I am in charge of this, this entire sub

173
00:11:11,679 --> 00:11:14,320
Speaker 1: I'm a captain. I know how everything works. And the

174
00:11:14,360 --> 00:11:17,200
Speaker 1: instruction manual is right here by the toilet. Did we

175
00:11:17,240 --> 00:11:21,200
Speaker 1: mention that it had a comprehensive instruction manual? I'm picturing

176
00:11:21,240 --> 00:11:25,160
Speaker 1: a massive tone uh, spiral bound hanging from a chain

177
00:11:25,200 --> 00:11:26,880
Speaker 1: on the wall. That's what I don't know. That's that's

178
00:11:26,880 --> 00:11:29,120
Speaker 1: just how I'm looking at it, which is helpful from

179
00:11:29,120 --> 00:11:31,360
Speaker 1: a design perspective when you think about it, because a

180
00:11:31,360 --> 00:11:33,800
Speaker 1: lot of people like to read when they're using the restroom,

181
00:11:34,480 --> 00:11:38,600
Speaker 1: so this is this is actually good engineering. But whatever,

182
00:11:38,920 --> 00:11:42,040
Speaker 1: Maybe he was in a hurry because being captain he

183
00:11:42,080 --> 00:11:44,360
Speaker 1: had other things to do. Maybe he just misread it.

184
00:11:44,440 --> 00:11:47,760
Speaker 1: Maybe he wasn't as smart on the quick on the

185
00:11:47,800 --> 00:11:51,400
Speaker 1: uptake as he thought he was, because something went wrong.

186
00:11:51,760 --> 00:11:56,960
Speaker 1: And then he goes, you know, sch and so he says, okay,

187
00:11:57,280 --> 00:12:01,040
Speaker 1: I know when I need to delegate. Where's the toilet specialist? Right?

188
00:12:01,080 --> 00:12:06,720
Speaker 1: Where's the Yeah, so Schlitz asked that crew member to

189
00:12:06,760 --> 00:12:09,160
Speaker 1: come help them out, and then that crew member takes

190
00:12:09,160 --> 00:12:11,760
Speaker 1: a stab, and maybe because something was already messed up

191
00:12:11,760 --> 00:12:14,319
Speaker 1: with the valves, they make the problem worse. I mean,

192
00:12:14,360 --> 00:12:16,440
Speaker 1: we were not trying to throw this specialist under the

193
00:12:16,440 --> 00:12:19,120
Speaker 1: bus here, you know. I'm sure he knew his craft,

194
00:12:19,440 --> 00:12:21,959
Speaker 1: but I have a feeling that our boy Schlit kind

195
00:12:21,960 --> 00:12:25,199
Speaker 1: of pre botched. The whole works right, right, And there's

196
00:12:25,240 --> 00:12:28,160
Speaker 1: the toilet, there's the commode, probably still full of Schlitz.

197
00:12:28,440 --> 00:12:31,880
Speaker 1: And now the specialist has to figure out not just

198
00:12:31,960 --> 00:12:34,480
Speaker 1: how to operate the toilet correctly, but how to make

199
00:12:34,559 --> 00:12:39,600
Speaker 1: up for Schlitz mishap. And so the specialist opens the

200
00:12:39,679 --> 00:12:43,440
Speaker 1: outside valve of the commode, the one that goes directly

201
00:12:43,520 --> 00:12:47,760
Speaker 1: to the sea, while the inside valve is still open,

202
00:12:48,240 --> 00:12:53,040
Speaker 1: and this causes a deluge of seawater into the sub

203
00:12:53,120 --> 00:12:57,920
Speaker 1: and also probably the rest of Schlitz leaving right, it's

204
00:12:57,920 --> 00:13:00,760
Speaker 1: fun to say. And we talked about the bank of batteries.

205
00:13:00,960 --> 00:13:02,959
Speaker 1: Did we talk about the design and where they were

206
00:13:02,960 --> 00:13:05,280
Speaker 1: located or just the fact that the sub operated on them.

207
00:13:05,360 --> 00:13:07,960
Speaker 1: The we did mention it did mention that the batteries

208
00:13:07,960 --> 00:13:13,200
Speaker 1: are directly under the toilet, right, And it's problematic. It's

209
00:13:13,200 --> 00:13:15,560
Speaker 1: tough to design this kind of stuff, you know, it's

210
00:13:15,600 --> 00:13:19,760
Speaker 1: tough to to put all the needed gadgetry into a

211
00:13:19,840 --> 00:13:23,719
Speaker 1: space with such a sharp, strong form constraint. Totally, it's

212
00:13:23,720 --> 00:13:25,920
Speaker 1: sort of like they keep making the iPhone thinner and thinner,

213
00:13:25,920 --> 00:13:28,720
Speaker 1: so they got to remove the headphone jack. Sure, just

214
00:13:28,800 --> 00:13:30,839
Speaker 1: like that. I don't buy. I don't buy. They actually

215
00:13:30,840 --> 00:13:33,520
Speaker 1: brought it back, but they made it a little thicker, right.

216
00:13:33,960 --> 00:13:36,600
Speaker 1: Or it's it's like looking under the hood of a

217
00:13:36,920 --> 00:13:40,960
Speaker 1: high end sports car because so much stuff is put

218
00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:44,560
Speaker 1: in this weird tetris like arrangement. And that's kind of

219
00:13:44,559 --> 00:13:46,520
Speaker 1: what was happening in this sub I mean, clearly it's

220
00:13:46,559 --> 00:13:49,280
Speaker 1: not a good idea to have the power source directly

221
00:13:49,320 --> 00:13:51,959
Speaker 1: under something like the toilet. But then it's a question

222
00:13:51,960 --> 00:13:53,800
Speaker 1: of where else are you going to put it? Right,

223
00:13:54,360 --> 00:13:57,760
Speaker 1: you don't want it necessarily near the torpedoes. Yeah, no,

224
00:13:57,880 --> 00:13:59,600
Speaker 1: it's it seemed like it probably seemed like a good

225
00:13:59,640 --> 00:14:02,400
Speaker 1: idea the time, probably seemed very clever to those crafty

226
00:14:02,440 --> 00:14:05,079
Speaker 1: German engineers. Right, So, Ben, is this the part where

227
00:14:05,080 --> 00:14:07,480
Speaker 1: we want to get into a little chemistry. Yeah, yeah,

228
00:14:07,480 --> 00:14:10,400
Speaker 1: it is. It is so salt. The symbol for that

229
00:14:10,640 --> 00:14:13,520
Speaker 1: in a c L right, water is H two O,

230
00:14:13,920 --> 00:14:16,760
Speaker 1: and if you dissolve salt in water you get a

231
00:14:16,760 --> 00:14:21,440
Speaker 1: solution of various ions. And H two on itself is

232
00:14:21,480 --> 00:14:26,160
Speaker 1: not conductive, doesn't conduct anything, but an ionic solution certainly

233
00:14:26,400 --> 00:14:30,400
Speaker 1: is conductive, and it certainly does conduct stuff. So when

234
00:14:30,720 --> 00:14:34,960
Speaker 1: this water floods in through the valve system of this

235
00:14:35,040 --> 00:14:39,200
Speaker 1: complicated toilet, the water and the salt in the sea

236
00:14:39,240 --> 00:14:46,360
Speaker 1: water hit the sub battery, and the sub battery as

237
00:14:46,360 --> 00:14:51,600
Speaker 1: a result of this chemical interaction, produces lie plus hydrogen

238
00:14:51,680 --> 00:14:56,120
Speaker 1: gas plus most importantly, chloring gas because the sub battery

239
00:14:56,200 --> 00:15:01,720
Speaker 1: is full of acid. So The problem chlorine gas is

240
00:15:01,800 --> 00:15:06,520
Speaker 1: that it is a deadly, deadly poison. Yeah, and they're

241
00:15:06,560 --> 00:15:12,360
Speaker 1: in a tube, a metal tube, under the water with

242
00:15:12,440 --> 00:15:15,640
Speaker 1: their pants down. Well you presumably let's pantser up at

243
00:15:15,680 --> 00:15:17,520
Speaker 1: this point. I like the idea of him still having

244
00:15:17,520 --> 00:15:20,000
Speaker 1: his trousers around his ankles in a blind panic. That

245
00:15:20,040 --> 00:15:23,120
Speaker 1: would be yeah, just kind of you know, scooting around

246
00:15:23,400 --> 00:15:27,520
Speaker 1: doing the little penguin run. That's the one. Yeah. So

247
00:15:27,520 --> 00:15:30,600
Speaker 1: so we don't have pictures of it, of the scene

248
00:15:30,680 --> 00:15:34,160
Speaker 1: at that pictures, mental pictures. We have imaginings, we have

249
00:15:34,320 --> 00:15:37,560
Speaker 1: dreams of this, of this moment, but we do know

250
00:15:37,640 --> 00:15:41,840
Speaker 1: what happens next. The submarine is filling with chlorine gas.

251
00:15:41,840 --> 00:15:44,680
Speaker 1: This could be a death sentence if they don't do something.

252
00:15:44,720 --> 00:15:47,800
Speaker 1: Do you think they clocked instantly what was happening on

253
00:15:47,840 --> 00:15:50,120
Speaker 1: a chemical level or do you think they just started

254
00:15:50,160 --> 00:15:54,360
Speaker 1: gagging and choking uncontrollably and new, oh, schlet something's gone wrong.

255
00:15:54,440 --> 00:15:57,560
Speaker 1: I'm absolutely sure they knew, because they were very well

256
00:15:57,600 --> 00:16:00,720
Speaker 1: aware of how the batteries worked. That's if the toilet

257
00:16:00,760 --> 00:16:04,720
Speaker 1: was complicated, that's because it was new, But diesel electric

258
00:16:04,800 --> 00:16:12,920
Speaker 1: battery power would have been familiar to them. So this

259
00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:14,920
Speaker 1: is when our boy schlit has to kind of jump

260
00:16:14,960 --> 00:16:19,560
Speaker 1: into action, and despite having sort of botched the whole

261
00:16:19,560 --> 00:16:22,240
Speaker 1: thing to begin with, had to sort of exercise his

262
00:16:22,320 --> 00:16:27,560
Speaker 1: thinking on his feet muscles, right, and the captain quickly

263
00:16:27,600 --> 00:16:31,240
Speaker 1: realized that he had no choice but to order the

264
00:16:31,320 --> 00:16:34,520
Speaker 1: submarine to surface because they had to vent this gas

265
00:16:34,520 --> 00:16:38,640
Speaker 1: as quickly as possible and then replace it with breathable air.

266
00:16:38,800 --> 00:16:42,200
Speaker 1: Mind you, they're doing this in enemy territory, off the

267
00:16:42,240 --> 00:16:44,840
Speaker 1: coast of Scotland, about eight miles. Yeah, and so they

268
00:16:44,880 --> 00:16:48,640
Speaker 1: surface within sight of the Scottish coastline. In one story

269
00:16:48,720 --> 00:16:51,240
Speaker 1: you will hear that they surfaced almost directly beneath an

270
00:16:51,280 --> 00:16:54,560
Speaker 1: Allied ship, but we do know for sure they surfaced

271
00:16:54,920 --> 00:16:58,600
Speaker 1: so close to shore that they were quickly spotted by

272
00:16:58,680 --> 00:17:03,720
Speaker 1: Allied aircraft. They were attacked and the captain to order

273
00:17:03,760 --> 00:17:07,760
Speaker 1: the crew to abandon ship. UM three three members of

274
00:17:07,800 --> 00:17:10,960
Speaker 1: the crew fell overboard and drowned, and I believe one

275
00:17:11,480 --> 00:17:15,439
Speaker 1: died in the malay fighting that occurred. So we're right

276
00:17:15,480 --> 00:17:19,040
Speaker 1: at forty crew members then, because thirty six survived. Yeah,

277
00:17:19,280 --> 00:17:23,879
Speaker 1: that is correct. So what happened? What happened during this attack?

278
00:17:24,160 --> 00:17:28,720
Speaker 1: The U twelve or six was badly damaged and couldn't dive.

279
00:17:29,480 --> 00:17:33,240
Speaker 1: And this is when Schlitz starts ordering the crew into lifeboats.

280
00:17:33,880 --> 00:17:37,960
Speaker 1: And then he makes the game time decision that only

281
00:17:38,000 --> 00:17:41,480
Speaker 1: a captain can make abandoned ship. Right, get on, get

282
00:17:41,520 --> 00:17:44,160
Speaker 1: ye hands to a lifeboat. He's done that, But now

283
00:17:44,160 --> 00:17:46,880
Speaker 1: he does the very last thing. He scuttles the ship.

284
00:17:46,920 --> 00:17:48,080
Speaker 1: What does that mean? I don't I don't think I

285
00:17:48,119 --> 00:17:51,600
Speaker 1: know that term. It means to purposefully sink a ship

286
00:17:52,040 --> 00:17:55,520
Speaker 1: of any sort. So in the rough definition, it means

287
00:17:55,560 --> 00:17:57,639
Speaker 1: to cut a hole through the bottom deck or side

288
00:17:57,640 --> 00:18:00,800
Speaker 1: of a ship. But you you know, you destroy it.

289
00:18:00,960 --> 00:18:03,720
Speaker 1: That's what he did. He destroyed the submarine his own ship,

290
00:18:03,840 --> 00:18:06,800
Speaker 1: and it went down, and as the ship sank, he

291
00:18:06,880 --> 00:18:11,159
Speaker 1: got away. By the way as the ship sank. We

292
00:18:11,200 --> 00:18:14,879
Speaker 1: can only imagine what he thought. Maybe he thought I

293
00:18:14,960 --> 00:18:19,080
Speaker 1: should have just contacted the toiletsman when I was supposed

294
00:18:19,080 --> 00:18:22,560
Speaker 1: to the headsman. Sure, that's that's that's something different. That's

295
00:18:22,560 --> 00:18:25,840
Speaker 1: someone that's like an executioner. They can or like. But

296
00:18:26,119 --> 00:18:31,040
Speaker 1: he also entered into history, the annals of history, as

297
00:18:31,440 --> 00:18:34,679
Speaker 1: the captain of the only warship in the entirety of

298
00:18:34,760 --> 00:18:39,480
Speaker 1: naval history to be doomed by its own malfunctioning toilets cool,

299
00:18:40,040 --> 00:18:43,520
Speaker 1: he gets on his tombstone. I think they probably he

300
00:18:43,600 --> 00:18:47,000
Speaker 1: probably wanted to go with something a little more prestigious,

301
00:18:47,080 --> 00:18:51,520
Speaker 1: like loving father or husband or something. So presumably they

302
00:18:51,520 --> 00:18:56,080
Speaker 1: were captured by the Allies, right, yeah, yeah, yeah. Thirty

303
00:18:56,119 --> 00:18:58,720
Speaker 1: six members of the crew were rescued by small boats

304
00:18:58,720 --> 00:19:01,320
Speaker 1: in the area. Uh. Some people made it to shore

305
00:19:01,320 --> 00:19:04,480
Speaker 1: in their lifeboats, and then we're captured, but nobody really

306
00:19:04,480 --> 00:19:07,520
Speaker 1: got away. So they would have ended up in like

307
00:19:07,560 --> 00:19:10,600
Speaker 1: pow camps or something. Right, yeah, they would have ended

308
00:19:10,680 --> 00:19:14,520
Speaker 1: up in pow camps, and they probably would have been well.

309
00:19:14,560 --> 00:19:18,359
Speaker 1: They were certainly well aware of the severity of the

310
00:19:18,400 --> 00:19:22,959
Speaker 1: situation on the Axis side. They knew getting towards the end.

311
00:19:24,040 --> 00:19:27,600
Speaker 1: And speaking of the end, we are reaching the end

312
00:19:27,720 --> 00:19:31,960
Speaker 1: of our story today, but we're reaching the beginning of

313
00:19:32,040 --> 00:19:34,800
Speaker 1: something else. We just went off Mike for a second

314
00:19:35,040 --> 00:19:38,400
Speaker 1: and realized that this episode is coming out on New

315
00:19:38,480 --> 00:19:41,520
Speaker 1: Year's Day, So happy New Year's though. Happy New Year's

316
00:19:41,560 --> 00:19:44,440
Speaker 1: to you, Ben, Happy new year to you, Casey, thank you,

317
00:19:44,680 --> 00:19:48,080
Speaker 1: Happy New Year's to everyone, and to all a good night.

318
00:19:48,359 --> 00:19:50,120
Speaker 1: No it's been it's been a hell of a good run.

319
00:19:50,160 --> 00:19:52,080
Speaker 1: And uh we we didn't even don't think we even

320
00:19:52,119 --> 00:19:55,000
Speaker 1: talked about this, but not too long ago. I remember

321
00:19:55,000 --> 00:19:57,240
Speaker 1: the exact day we reached a solid year of doing

322
00:19:57,280 --> 00:20:00,640
Speaker 1: this show. That's true. I don't think either of us

323
00:20:00,680 --> 00:20:03,600
Speaker 1: realized it until we were well off air, and or

324
00:20:03,640 --> 00:20:05,280
Speaker 1: we were well past the time, and then it was

325
00:20:05,320 --> 00:20:07,760
Speaker 1: just too late. So if we're talking about, you know,

326
00:20:08,200 --> 00:20:11,400
Speaker 1: New Year's business, I think we could recognize that fact

327
00:20:11,480 --> 00:20:13,560
Speaker 1: and and just say how much we appreciate all the

328
00:20:13,600 --> 00:20:16,040
Speaker 1: folks that tune in and seemed to dig the show,

329
00:20:16,080 --> 00:20:17,639
Speaker 1: and then allow us to kind of keep doing it.

330
00:20:17,800 --> 00:20:19,439
Speaker 1: I sure enjoy doing and hope we can keep doing

331
00:20:19,440 --> 00:20:22,680
Speaker 1: it for many years to come. Agreed. You know, if

332
00:20:22,720 --> 00:20:25,439
Speaker 1: I could turn back time, uh, the only thing I

333
00:20:25,440 --> 00:20:27,800
Speaker 1: would change is a little bit more energy at the

334
00:20:27,840 --> 00:20:30,600
Speaker 1: opening of this episode, because we totally forgot it's our

335
00:20:30,600 --> 00:20:34,399
Speaker 1: first episode of twenty nine. That's true. It's okay, we

336
00:20:34,440 --> 00:20:36,240
Speaker 1: saved it for the back end. There we go, There

337
00:20:36,280 --> 00:20:39,280
Speaker 1: we go. It's a reward for everyone who's stuck around, right,

338
00:20:39,880 --> 00:20:42,280
Speaker 1: So thank you so much. We would like to hear.

339
00:20:42,280 --> 00:20:46,160
Speaker 1: Oh oh, no, I forgot the surprise. I found a

340
00:20:46,240 --> 00:20:51,080
Speaker 1: lovely list of wacky submarine terms. Because you'll remember in

341
00:20:51,119 --> 00:20:54,360
Speaker 1: our Potato episode, we use some terms that I think

342
00:20:54,359 --> 00:20:56,919
Speaker 1: we're a little bit off because neither of us, you know,

343
00:20:57,000 --> 00:20:59,840
Speaker 1: have a history in the Navy, So there are so

344
00:21:00,040 --> 00:21:03,639
Speaker 1: many terms that people have. There's burn, a flick, it

345
00:21:03,680 --> 00:21:08,000
Speaker 1: just means watch a movie. There's bull George. By Navy tradition,

346
00:21:08,040 --> 00:21:10,360
Speaker 1: the most junior incident is called George, and the most

347
00:21:10,359 --> 00:21:13,280
Speaker 1: senior is called the Bull. And the submarine force, it

348
00:21:13,320 --> 00:21:15,639
Speaker 1: takes so long for junior officers to get to the

349
00:21:15,680 --> 00:21:18,720
Speaker 1: boat to six months. Schools attend weeks school at least

350
00:21:18,760 --> 00:21:22,359
Speaker 1: two moves and a oh and a bunch of red tape.

351
00:21:22,560 --> 00:21:25,640
Speaker 1: That most arrived as lieutenants junior grade. When you only

352
00:21:25,640 --> 00:21:28,440
Speaker 1: have one incident, as many of them do, by tradition,

353
00:21:28,680 --> 00:21:30,600
Speaker 1: he is both the Bull and the George, or the

354
00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:34,680
Speaker 1: bull George. And things that don't work are called broke dick.

355
00:21:35,280 --> 00:21:37,920
Speaker 1: Anything that doesn't work, that pump has been broke dick

356
00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:42,600
Speaker 1: for a week, broke dick, broke dick. I like it.

357
00:21:43,080 --> 00:21:45,320
Speaker 1: There there are a lot of vulgar terms on this thing,

358
00:21:45,440 --> 00:21:50,400
Speaker 1: so we we learned even more strange slang phrases, many

359
00:21:50,440 --> 00:21:53,600
Speaker 1: of which are not fit for air on this show.

360
00:21:53,800 --> 00:21:56,360
Speaker 1: But we would like to hear some of your favorite

361
00:21:56,480 --> 00:22:01,680
Speaker 1: military slang or naval slang phrases. Uh, anything that that

362
00:22:01,800 --> 00:22:04,679
Speaker 1: made you laugh, anything that made no sense, or anything

363
00:22:04,720 --> 00:22:07,960
Speaker 1: with a really compelling story behind it. Let us know.

364
00:22:08,080 --> 00:22:10,679
Speaker 1: You can find us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. We

365
00:22:11,080 --> 00:22:14,920
Speaker 1: especially like to recommend you check out our Facebook community page,

366
00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:18,120
Speaker 1: Ridiculous Historians, where you can interact with your fellow listeners,

367
00:22:18,359 --> 00:22:22,280
Speaker 1: many of whom have some fascinating stories to tell. Have

368
00:22:22,359 --> 00:22:24,840
Speaker 1: you been checking out some of that tooth fairy stuff

369
00:22:24,840 --> 00:22:26,640
Speaker 1: you love? The tooth fairy stuff that seemed to hit

370
00:22:26,640 --> 00:22:30,439
Speaker 1: a nerve like in your tooth nervous nerve endings. I

371
00:22:30,480 --> 00:22:32,800
Speaker 1: don't know, No, I thought I really enjoyed that episode

372
00:22:32,840 --> 00:22:34,399
Speaker 1: a lot. I want to say, I really had a

373
00:22:34,400 --> 00:22:36,280
Speaker 1: good time doing it. And And uh, when we listen back

374
00:22:36,320 --> 00:22:38,399
Speaker 1: to these um sometimes it feels like a chore. And

375
00:22:38,440 --> 00:22:41,120
Speaker 1: I actually found myself kind of enjoying that one. It's

376
00:22:41,160 --> 00:22:43,160
Speaker 1: good to hear, man, It's good to hear what well. Oh,

377
00:22:43,200 --> 00:22:46,000
Speaker 1: we want to thank our super producer, Casey Pegram. Sure,

378
00:22:46,040 --> 00:22:49,280
Speaker 1: we do want to thank Alex Williams, who composed our track.

379
00:22:49,520 --> 00:22:53,280
Speaker 1: We'd like to thank Gabe Losier, our wonderful research associate

380
00:22:53,320 --> 00:22:56,520
Speaker 1: who hipped us to this topic. Uh, and I'd like

381
00:22:56,560 --> 00:22:59,359
Speaker 1: to thank you. It's it's been a great year, Ben.

382
00:22:59,600 --> 00:23:01,320
Speaker 1: I think you as well. It has been a great

383
00:23:01,400 --> 00:23:05,159
Speaker 1: year and I look forward to many more on ridiculous history.

384
00:23:05,720 --> 00:23:10,399
Speaker 1: See you next year, folks. M