To what extent can defecating in a submarine condemn an entire crew to death? A misuse of a toilet became the sinking of a unit in World War II.
A submarine carries a multitude of complex tools to avoid accidents. Image: Twitter
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In the military field, we have been able to witness a whole series of examples that demonstrate how much has been invested in the sector over decades. A good example of this is the Leopard 2 tanks, an instrument of war that has gained special prominence in recent months. Even so, the design, construction and use of submarines pose challenges that go much further. have you ever wondered How is the operation of a simple toilet in this type of means of transport?? Oddly enough, it is not a trivial issue.
If we already know that building a submarine poses incredible construction challenges, you can imagine that creating your own plumbing and tubing system should be no less, right? This is exactly what caused the disappearance of a ship of these characteristics in World War II. Yes, not having used a toilet correctly ended up condemning a large part of the crew to death. Could we be, without a doubt, facing the most expensive shit in history? Infinitely yes.
Let’s see, therefore, what happened in this particular case, why the sinking of the ship is related to the misuse of the drainage facilities and, of course, to what extent we are faced with a curiosity that surely you would have wished to meet in other times. The user @batallitass has created a spectacular thread, in which you will see a little further down, to know all the key elements to understand a story What happened in reality even if it seems like a lie.
Why a poorly used toilet can condemn an entire crew of a submarine
Times have changed, so the latest generation submarines no longer face the dangers that they did during the first half of the 20th century. Is it really necessary to know perfectly a network of pipes that serves to transport, only, the defecations of the crew? At that time, on ships there was always a person who was instructed to know all the ins and outs of the piping circuit.
🚨THREAD🚨
On April 14, 1945, someone literally screwed up in the North Sea. Misusing a submarine’s toilet, she ended up sending it to the bottom of the sea.
But how does a submarine toilet work? And how does a 700-ton submarine with a toilet sink? 👇👇 pic.twitter.com/Q9TK14ltKK
– Battles (@Batallitass) February 14, 2023
As you can read in this amazing thread, removal by ejection seemed unlikely due to the difference in pressures between the inside of the boat’s hull and outside. The only solution left was to go to the surface to remove these debris. What was the problem? In the middle of World War II, revealing the position turned out to be something especially dangerous. For this reason, the Nazi army created a state-of-the-art toilet.
The problem with this technology is that it required the creation of a whole tangle of metal to be able to carry out the process of expelling the excrement. The goal was to eliminate them by ejection propulsion. This required a whole series of pipes, so specific knowledge had to be given to the person in charge of the function. Karl-Adolf Schlitt, captain of the submarine U-1206, refused to give explanations and activated a series of levers which caused the entry of significant amounts of water inside the ship.
This catastrophe was never officially admitted, but several testimonies from survivors ensure that this is just what happened. Be that as it may, make a 700 ton boat disappear weight after a simple natural gesture makes us presage that security measures at the time were conspicuous by their absence.
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