U-boat question

Modeling Subjects Ships
1

I have a question about the net saws on U-boats…

Do all boats have them, or do only certain boats have them? And were they removed later on in the war?
For example, would it be very wrong to build the late U-552 with the net saws?(that’s right, the Revell 1/72 VIIC[:D][:D]!!)

Thanks for any advice!

2

Good question…
I was under the impression that the net cutters were done away w/ either before the war, or at the begining of it.
I’m sure one of the many U-Boat experts on this board will let us both know very soon! [:D]

3

Try uboat.net
They should have the answer on that site. I thought they were on the VII’s but not the IX.

4

They came with Uboats built up to about middle of 1941. Uboats completely after 1941 didn’t have them. Early boats that had them from factor had them removed by no later than about middle of 1942.

Net cutters were a left over from WWI notion where submarine would sneak into harbours guarded by anti-sub nets. Don’t think any Uboat during WWII ever used them.

5

Thanks a lot Chuck Fan. I got the same answer on uboat.net.