Surrendered U-Boats
Excerpt:
25. As far as the Americans were concerned, there were two significant events in the month. First, on 1 July, an American seaman almost lost his life when a fire broke out whilst he was removing an electrical switch from U-2506 for use in U-2513. He was however saved by a German petty officer who volunteered to rescue him from the smoke-filled compartment. The second event was the formation of a society called “The Forgotten Submarine Bastards of Ireland” (FSBI). Many of the Americans were homesick and frustrated by what they saw as unnecessary delays in returning home with their two U-Boats, and this was a way of easing the tension. Membership cards were printed, and the initiation ceremony involved being rubber stamped on the right buttock with a design of shamrocks and the letters “FSBI”. Indeed, some even went as far as having it tattooed on, and very proud of it they were too.
58. Captain Roberts’ final words on the topic appear in his November Report:
“German prisoners have given no trouble and appear to be quite pleased at the forthcoming scuttling of their ships. The presence of numbers of Russian officers at Lisahally produced marked reaction”.