Naval History and Heritage Command
The Navy Department Library
U-505 Red Notebook
Internal evidence suggests that the author of this notebook was a Maschinenobergefreiter (machinist) in the German Navy.
1942
[Cover of a U-505 Red Notebook, measuring 7.5 cm in width and 11.1 cm in height. It has 48 remaining pages excluding a few that obviously have been torn out. Many of the pages have not been used. The numbering of pages is inconsistent.]
One calorie = the energy that lifts one gram 428 meters into the air; or that heats one liter of water from 14.5°C to 15.5°C.
Göbler [Maschinenobergefreiter = machinist, Hans Göbeler]
1 [illegible] coat
1 [illegible] pair of pants
1 pair of gloves
1 pair of underwear
1 sport shirt
Neebe [Maschinenobergefreiter = machinist, Hans Neebe]
1 tank top
Bergmann [Maschinenobergefreiter = machinist, Helmut Bergmann]
1 pair of gym shorts
1 tank top
1 scarf
Fresh food provisions
3 butter
12 sausages
[illegible] vegetables [illegible] for butter?
700 fruits
27 meat
1 kg eggs
30 x 20 bread
31 coffee |
50 roast veal
|
Marmalade
[illegible]
For readjustment, anode power must be set to 160 (140-160). Antenna power to 5 (best reception)
[illegible frequencies]
Encapsulated [may be “forced to stay submerged”] 15 Sept 23.00 to 16 Sept 17.00 (11 pm to 5 pm) = 18 hours |
For broad wave transmitting [receiving] turn switch to “Peilen” and button to FM receiver, while antenna plug removed from plugging board [the original script has been annotated at the end of this document to provide an electronic transcript of the rapidly fading original writing] 1 |
3 FT keys |
1 sounding box (without pliers) |
Assorted bearings off Ireland and Africa (“starboard aft”)
12 hours after approach towards Ireland
13,000 m Zeitzeichen [unclear term]
correction from II WO (Second Watch Officer) from NBU length wave
Pneumonia: 4 pieces Globucid [medicine], 2 pills every 2 hours
Boil [illegible]: 3x2 Globucid
24 October 1943, 19.55 [7:55 p.m.)
[The following are answers from the "Hangman" word game.]
PINNACLE
HORNED CATTLE
WINTER
OSRAM [German manufacturer of lamps]
FALL
BORDGEUS
[The following is a fragment of a poorly-rhyming, vulgar poem:] 30 guilders for he who retrieves my golden watch from the shit. Men, children, and women, watch the shit house with disgust. But the house owner, an otherwise brave man, takes a closer look at the matter. Quickly, he removes his shirt and pants and jumps, head first into shit and dirt. There, one can see him paddling with busy diligence, with his strong arms, he parts the crap. Soon it is hard, soon it is soft, soon it is glutinous, and soon it is like dough. There, to his left, one can see the golden watch sparkle. There, says the owner of the house: well then, you found the golden watch, but the seconds-hand remains missing. [the original script has been annotated at the end of this document to provide an electronic transcript of the rapidly fading original writing] 2
[The following are answers from the "Hangman" word game.] GLASSES |
Take a photograph of all junior officers after return to port
|
[Assorted scores, possibly of “hangman” games]
Assorted birthdays [of civilian relatives or friends?]
Jürgen
20 Sept 1943 [brought by?] Stork
Recklinghausen 52 [or S2], Grazer Str. 22
[illegible]
Natura non facil saltum
[Nature never moves by leaps i.e.: do things gradually.]
[END]
