1917 German Submarine phone?

[diggingthe1]

I found a box of old wooden phones at this garage sale. They also had this German phone with the tag that reads 1917 sub phone salvaged in 1921 by USA. I can't believe how heavy the piece is. I'm curious if anyone can give me any more information on it. Thanks in advance!!

 

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[DizzyDigger]

Actually, the words are in Dutch.

"Spanningsloos maken alvorens te openen" translates (roughly)
to "turn off the power before opening".

Best I can do for ya.

 

[Red-Coat]

Hmmm… I’m more than a little sceptical here. What you read as “USA” in fact says “U-54”, a submarine number used by Germany in both WWI and WWII. The tag says “German WW1 Sub Phone From U-54 Salvaged 1921 Mar [then an unreadable date]”

I know little about what comms equipment might have been on board a WWI German submarine. However, what I do know is this. The brass plate says “de-energize before opening”, but in Dutch. I would have thought the German military (even if it sourced phones from the Netherlands) would insist on operational/safety instructions being in their own language… particularly since this is just a riveted-on plate that would be easy for the manufacturer to customise.

The WWI German U-54 was German-built, launched 22nd February 1916, commissioned 25th May 1916 and participated in the the First Battle of the Atlantic. In the course of 12 patrols she sank 1 warship, 26 merchant ships and damaged 3 others before surrendering to Italy on 24th November 1918 and was then broken up at the Taranto yard in Italy in May 1919. This doesn’t seem to sit easily with a claim the phone was salvaged in 1921.

 

[diggingthe1]

Thank you DizzyDigger and Red-coat for responding!! That does make the phone more interesting!! I bought it to resell, maybe some if the mystery will help it's value. Thank you for the research!!!!

 

[tamrock]

Nice artifact find Diggs. Those are the kind of surprises I aways long to discover in the quest of unwanted junk in the eyes of some, but a treasure to you, I and others.