April 1945
Unlike many subs in the fleet, the U-1206 had high-pressure toilets that could be used at greater depths than the standard heads could. But the new system was very difficult to operate and a few members of the crew had to be trained so that they could serve a toilet-flushing “specialists.”
Barely a week into the U-1206’s first patrol, Captain Karl Adolf Schlitt had to use the head while the sub was cruising at a depth of 200 feet. Rather than request the assistance of the toilet specialist, Schlitt tried to follow the instructions in the manual to flush the toilet himself. Something went wrong -and when Schlitt asked the toilet specialist for help, something went wrong again. The specialist opened the outside valve -the one that opened to the sea- while the inside valve was open, causing a torrent of water to flood into the sub.
It was then that another flaw in the U-1206’s design became apparent. The U-1206’s batteries were in a compartment directly below the malfunctioning toilet. The seawater quickly combined with battery acid and created deadly chlorine gas which began to spread throughout the sub. Schlitt had no choice but to order the submarine to surface so that the gas could be vented.
Because they surfaced within sight of the Scottish coastline, they were quickly spotted by Allied aircraft and attacked. The U-1206 was badly damaged in the attack and could not dive. Seeing no way to save his submarine, Captain Schlitt ordered the crew into the lifeboats; then he scuttled the ship, making it the only warship in naval history to be doomed by its own malfunctioning toilet.
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