CLASSIC: How a Broken Toilet Foiled a German Sub

Summary

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Ridiculous History: "How a Broken Toilet Foiled a German Sub" (Oct 25, 2025)

Episode Overview

Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown return with a classic tale from WWII history: the unbelievable but true story of how a high-tech toilet led to the destruction of the German submarine U-1206. Through their signature mix of humor and detail, they walk listeners through how a marvel of Nazi engineering—meant to give the Germans a tactical advantage—ultimately caused catastrophe due to a complicated plumbing mishap. It’s an episode that explores the absurdities of innovation, the perils of overcomplicating technology, and how one bad decision in the bathroom can sink even the deadliest war machine.

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1. Setting the Scene: Submarine Life & WWII Context

• Maritime Movie Shoutouts
  • Opens with references to submarine movies like Das Boot and The Hunt for Red October to set the mood for maritime disaster tales.
    • “Welcome to the show Ridiculous historians as well as fans of the Hunt for Red October.” – Ben [05:00]
• Life—and Toilet Woes—on WWII Subs
  • The story centers on the German U-boat U-1206, one of the most advanced submarines of its time.
  • Details the technological arms race of WWII and the unique difficulties of submarine design, especially waste disposal at sea.
    • “People figured out how to make submarines work way before they figured out how people could enter or exit submarines safely.” – Ben, quoting Dr. Rachel Lance [00:49]

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2. The U-1206: Engineering Marvel and Flawed Design

• Submarine Facts

  • U-1206: 220 ft 7 in long, 31 ft high, able to dive to 750 ft, and emblazoned with a white stork emblem. [08:44]
  • State-of-the-art for stealth, speed, and operational depth in 1944–1945.

• The Toilet: A "Technological Breakthrough"

  • Previous submarine toilets couldn't flush safely while submerged.
  • U-1206 boasted a complex new system, engineered to solve this but so tricky it required a toilet specialist to operate.
    • “It was so complicated they had to designate a toilet specialist to be on board who could assist with the flushing of this latrine. Can you imagine that, Ben?” – Noel [10:15]
  • The high-tech commode was directly above the boat’s massive battery banks, an unfortunate placement.

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3. The Catastrophic Flush: Disaster Strikes

• A Fateful Day (April 14, 1945)

  • Eight days into patrol, roughly 200 feet below the North Sea and eight miles off Scotland, Captain Karl-Adolf Schlitt faces a commode conundrum.

• Too Much Confidence, Not Enough Training

  • Schlitt forgoes the toilet technician and attempts to operate the head himself, aided only by an instruction manual.
  • He botches the flushing procedure, necessitating the specialist’s intervention; the sequence is further disrupted, triggering an unintended opening of both inside and outside valves to the sea.

• Disaster Unleashed

  • Seawater floods into the sub, dousing the battery banks and causing a dangerous chemical reaction.
    • “The specialist opens the outside valve of the commode, the one that goes directly to the sea, while the inside valve is still open. And this causes a deluge of seawater into the sub…” – Ben [21:29]
  • Chlorine gas (deadly poison), lye, and hydrogen gas are produced as batteries react to saltwater.
    • “The water and the salt in the seawater hit the sub battery, and... produces lye plus hydrogen gas plus, most importantly, chlorine gas.” – Ben [23:32]
  • The crew immediately realizes the lethal danger; the only option is to surface and vent the gas.

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4. The Aftermath: Sunk by Plumbing

• Surfacing into Enemy Waters

  • The U-boat surfaces in sight of Allied forces off the Scottish coast. [31:04]
    • “They surface within sight of the Scottish coastline… so close to shore that they were quickly spotted by allied aircraft.” – Ben [31:04]
  • Attacked by aircraft, the sub is badly damaged, can’t dive, and must be abandoned.

• Fate of the Crew

  • 3 drowned, another killed during the chaos, but 36 crew members survive and are captured by Allies.
    • “So we were right at 40 crew members then because 36 survived.” – Noel [31:35]

• Final Act: Scuttling the Sub

  • Captain Schlitt orders the ship scuttled (deliberately sunk) to prevent capture.
    • “He scuttles the ship.” – Ben [32:04]

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5. Reflections, Wit, and Notable Moments

• Historical Irony & Humor
  • “He also entered into history, the annals of history, as the captain of the only warship in the entirety of naval history to be doomed by its own malfunctioning toilets.” – Ben [32:46]
  • Running puns about Captain Schlitt’s name and "taking a Schlitt" deliver classic Ridiculous History wordplay.
  • Mental image of the captain’s frantic situation, possibly “scooting... doing the little penguin run,” draws laughs. [24:48]
• Quotes about Military Slang
  • Introduction to wild submarine slang terms, e.g., “broke dick,” “bull George,” and “the canner,” ties the episode together with their ongoing interest in linguistic oddities. [36:01]

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6. Key Timestamps for Important Segments

• [07:44] — Introduction of the U-1206 and the "uber toilet"
• [10:15] — Complications of the toilet system and the need for a specialist
• [19:42] — Enter Captain Karl-Adolf Schlitt (and unfortunate name jokes)
• [20:28] — The catastrophic flush: incident breakdown
• [23:32] — Explanation of the chemical reaction: lye, hydrogen, and chlorine gas
• [31:04] — Surfacing near Scotland, Allied attack, and crew fate
• [32:04] — Scuttling (deliberate sinking) of the U-1206
• [32:46] — Summary: "only warship doomed by its own malfunctioning toilets"
• [36:01] — Amusing submarine slang segment

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7. Takeaways & Significance

• The U-1206 is an infamous example of how overcomplicating technology without adequate training and planning can have disastrous (even absurd) consequences.
• Even the most advanced (and dangerous) military platforms can be undone by seemingly minor flaws—or moments of human hubris.
  • “Maybe he thought, I should have just contacted the toiletsman when I was supposed to.” – Ben [32:39]
• The story remains an enduring naval legend, a cautionary tale, and a punchline in both military and podcast circles.

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8. Memorable Quotes

• “If I could turn back time, the only thing I would change is a little bit more energy at the opening of this episode because we totally forgot it's our first episode of 2019.” – Ben [34:41]
• “He also entered into history, the annals of history, as the captain of the only warship in the entirety of naval history to be doomed by its own malfunctioning toilets.” – Ben [32:46]
• “The toilet tinkerer was either not desired or not around... And the instruction manual is right here by the toilet. Did we mention that it had a comprehensive instruction manual?” – Ben [20:28]
• “Broke dick. Anything that doesn't work, that pump has been broke dick for a week.” – Ben [36:01]

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9. Ridiculous History’s Signature Tone

• Affectionately irreverent, peppered with puns and historical asides.
• Banter-heavy style blends genuine curiosity, research, and pop culture nods.
• Accessible for history buffs and newcomers alike—makes even WWII and engineering mishaps approachable and hilarious.

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10. Further Exploration

• The hosts encourage listeners to share military slang or funny naval anecdotes on social media and their Facebook group “Ridiculous Historians.”
• Acknowledgement of the research team and shout-outs to listeners round out the episode.

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In summary:
This episode of Ridiculous History unpacks the perfect storm of innovation gone awry, where a complicated commode scuttled a Nazi submarine. Full of facts, chemistry lessons, and laugh-out-loud moments, Ben and Noel turn a maritime disaster into a legendary tale of historical absurdity.

Transcript

[Ben]

Welcome back to the show, fellow Ridiculous historians. We are returning with another classic episode for you. Just quick peek behind the curtain. My pal Noel and I made it back from the high seas while our super producer Max was holding down the fort like a. Like a hero. Like a war hero of podcasting. And we are still kind of recovering schedule wise. A couple of us caught some travel crud. So while we're resting up and working on new episodes, Ridiculous History, we wanted to share a maritime classic episode that. Max, I believe you were around for this one, right? 2019?

[Noel]

No, I didn't come around until 2021. We still got a while.

[Ben]

Wow. We've been at this for a while, my friend. All right, so here's. Here's the pitch, folks. Travel back with us. Toward the end of World War II, Germany is absolutely wrecking stuff with their submarine, and one of their submarines is acknowledged to be by far the most advanced, deadliest predator on the seas. However, the same technological breakthroughs that made these subs so effective also, in at least one case, led to their demise. And this reminds us of our conversation with the world's premier Underwater explosion expert, Dr. Rachel Big spinach Lance. Remember when she told us that. Remember when she told us that people figured out how to make submarines work way before they figured out how people could enter or exit submarines safely?

[Noel]

Yeah, the Bends is terrifying. I learned that from Radiohead. Yeah, I learned what the bands was from the name of the Radiohead album.

[Ben]

But yeah, no, that is.

[Noel]

That. That's awful.

[Ben]

It's like, oh, you can go down.

[Noel]

But you can't come back up.

[Ben]

Exactly. So in this classic episode, we hope you join us. This is from 2019, wherein we discovered the strange story of the U 1206 and the high tech toilet that led to its doom.

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[Noel]

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[Ben]

Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome to the show Ridiculous historians as well as fans of the Hunt for Red October. The the thriller star, Sean Connery.

[Noel]

What about Das Boot?

[Ben]

Das Boot is more of a classic, I would say. And set a precedent for sure. Yeah.

[Noel]

Do you know. Do you know Directed Das Boot? Wolfgang Peterson.

[Ben]

Wolfgang Peterson.

[Noel]

That's our case.

[Ben]

That's our super producer, Casey Pegram.

[Noel]

He's already on the case, but we haven't. How do we do that? Can we combine this Casey Fairy sound effect with the Dun dun.

[Ben]

Well, I like the way that it just rolled in with the. With the sound effect after. You know what? Yeah, who cares?

[Noel]

Maybe we double it up.

[Ben]

Sure.

[Noel]

I don't know. It's already happened.

[Ben]

I'm Ben.

[Noel]

I'm Noel and yeah, Wolfgang Peterson also directed a Nightmare Fuel movie from mine. Probably many other people's childhoods. The Neverending Story.

[Ben]

Nightmare Fuel? Really? That's an amazing story.

[Noel]

Yeah, it is. But as a kid, it is a very dark, depressing film. Like when the horse gets sucked into the swamp. And like those creepy sphinx that shoot lasers and have breasts.

[Ben]

Those were cool. Though I still think of when I'm trying to describe various rites of passage to people, I use the metaphor of those three gates that Atreyu has to go through.

[Noel]

No, it's true. I think it just. It traumatized me a little bit as a child. And that's sort of a bit of an Internet trope where it's a screenshot of that scene where the horse is like sinking into the Swamps of Sadness. And it's sort of like this is where it all started going south for me, mental health wise.

[Ben]

Hmm. Speaking of fantastic segues, today's episode is not about the Neverending Story, but it is related to maritime adventures.

[Noel]

Das Boot.

[Ben]

Das Boot. The Hunt for Red October. Which to me, for nostalgic reasons is probably closer to my heart. In a previous episode, we explored life on submarines because of that potato war. Ah, yes, yes.

[Noel]

Very short lived potato war.

[Ben]

A potato skirmish.

[Noel]

There you go.

[Ben]

Yeah. And today's episode brings us to another tale of male maritime mishaps. There we go. That's the way to say it. We are traveling back to April 14, 1945, and we are aboard one of the most advanced submarines at the time. A little thing called a U1206.

[Noel]

Now is not that. Not to harp on Das Boot. Cause obviously I like to say it. But isn't that what that movie was about? Wasn't it about the crew of a U boat?

[Ben]

Yes.

[Noel]

Yeah, cool. That's right, Ben. Today's episode is in fact about a sort of 2.0 version of one of these boats. Because this was kind of the scourge of the Nazi Party. Well, their scourge on the Allies. That was one of their most covert and successful ways of wreaking havoc, Isn't that right?

[Ben]

That is correct. U boats were quite dangerous. And one of the reasons they were dangerous is because they were very difficult to detect.

[Noel]

Right.

[Ben]

And they were very nimble. Fast. Yeah. Fast, agile creatures. I believe the submarine in Das Boot is based on a U96. All the U boats submarines were called boats at the time too. All the U boats had that designation of U. Dash something.

[Noel]

That's right.

[Ben]

And in the case of today's story, we're looking at U1206. The U1206 or 7 was a premier vessel. I mean, this thing was a big deal. It went into service in March of 1944. Its emblem was a white stork on a black shield with a green beak and legs. So let's get an idea of the size of this thing. It was 220ft 7 inches long, or for the rest of the world outside of the US that's 67.23 meters. It was about 31ft or 9.6 meters high. And it was able to, despite its size, disappear under the water pretty quickly. It could operate at depths of up to 750ft or 230 meters. It also, in addition to its heightened functional capacities. Right. Its superior armament and so on, it had a couple of amenities which were pretty rare for submarines at the time. In particular, it had a very high tech toilet. A complicated toilet.

[Noel]

Very complicated. Let's backtrack just slightly. In previous models they did have toilets, but they hadn't quite cracked the code yet on how to get these toilets to flush and expel the waste while the boat was submerged. While the sub was submerged.

[Ben]

Right. There was a problem with operating the previous models of the toilet at depth.

[Noel]

This one, however they figured it out, those crafty German engineers figured it out. But as you said, Ben, it wasn't easy. In fact, it was so complicated they had to designate a toilet specialist to be on board who could assist with the flushing of this latrine. Can you imagine that, Ben? Having to call in the toilet specialist to flush down your business?

[Ben]

They had multiple specialists. That's right, yeah. They had multiple specialists because someone who was trained in the operation of this contraption had to be present to flush it. It had a complicated system of valves. That's essentially what it boils down to. You couldn't just hit a handle and then call it a day. This thing was complicated, but it was also poorly placed in terms of the interior of the submarine.

[Noel]

Yeah.

[Ben]

It was directly over the batteries that powered the sub.

[Noel]

That powered the sub when it was submerged. Because the engines had to be shut off at that point. Right, right. And I actually wasn't aware that battery technology was quite as advanced as it clearly was in this time. They were banks of batteries that would supply an inordinate amount of electricity. Cause can you imagine, like how much you would need to keep a boat like that moving?

[Ben]

That's right. These batteries provided 560 kilowatts of power for propulsion when the sub was submerged. And you're right about killing the engines as well because diesel electric submarines had a larger signature when they were running underwater. It was loud, it was easier to detect. So ideally you want a quieter source of power.

[Noel]

And Ben, I just want to point out we're getting a little bit of this information from a website with a delightful URL. It is toilet Guru.

[Ben]

I'm also A fan of warisboring.com Very very good. And I've got a little spoiler alert, a surprise that I'm saving for the end I think you will appreciate. But for now, onward, onward to this, the very epitome of sub technology at the time. On April 6, 1945, this fantastic submarine with its very complicated toilet, the U1206 leaves the port city of Kristiansand in Nazi occupied Norway and it goes on its first combat patrol. Its mission, like that of many U boats, is to seek out and destroy British and US ships.

[Noel]

Seek and destroy like the. Like the Stooges? Or is it search and destroy Same dev, eh?

[Ben]

You know you're looking for something and then you. You destroy it. Yeah.

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[Ben]

So it's on patrol for about eight days. And I mentioned this to underline the fact that the U1206 was in the service of the Nazi war effort that only had three more weeks to go at best before it was the end of the game for them.

[Noel]

Yeah, I think at this point Hitler was already holed up in what I had not heard the term for until just a little while ago, his Fuhrer bunker.

[Ben]

That's true, yeah. And I think on April 30th he commits suicide in that same Fuhrerbunker. Seven days after that, Germany completely surrenders and the war is over. But no one knew that on the U1206 at the time. They knew they were just out to find and obliterate any Allied ship they could get in their sights or within range of their torpedoes. And so they're out on the open sea and, and it's fairly uneventful. How big was their crew again?

[Noel]

It was around 40.

[Ben]

So these 30 to 40 crew members trapped in this tin can beneath the waves while they have their eyes peeled, they're not running into, they're not running into any action, any war, but they are doing the normal things that you do. They're eating, they're sleeping in shifts, they're using that very, very fancy toilet. Again, this is, this is like the version of this is to sub toilets as the Japanese toto bidets are to normal commodes.

[Noel]

I think we've talked about this re our sponsorship by Tushy, but man, those things are high tech and incredible. Life changing.

[Ben]

I know. Listen to us, America, you've got to stop pooping like barbarians.

[Noel]

Seriously.

[Ben]

So, so. But that's, that's actually fairly accurate comparison because a lot of people were confused by this. And this is when we introduced Captain Carl Adolf Schlitt to the story. He was 27 years old and in charge of the sub at the time.

[Noel]

Yeah, it's true. And it was in fact his first rodeo when it comes to going out on a sub. He was very new to the game, a little bit green. And if I'm not mistaken, Ben, where our story really starts to get interesting is about eight miles off of the coast of Scotland at about 200ft below the surface of the ocean. That's when our man Schlitt had to take a. Schlitt.

[Ben]

Captain Schlitt. I keep the chain of command there. Yes. So he decided that he wasn't going to request the assistance of the toilet technician. Right.

[Noel]

Surely. I'm a captain of a submarine, the chief commodist. I can operate a toilet, I can do this.

[Ben]

The toilet tinkerer was either not desired or not around. And so Schlitz said, you know what? I am in charge of this entire sub. I'm a captain. I know how everything works. And the instruction manual is right here by the toilet. Did we mention that it had a comprehensive instruction manual?

[Noel]

I'm picturing a massive tome, spiral bound, hanging from a chain on the wall. That's what I don't know. That's just how I'm looking at it.

[Ben]

Which is helpful from a design perspective when you think about it. Cause a lot of people like to read when they're using the rest.

[Noel]

That's right.

[Ben]

So this is, this is actually good engineering. But whatever. Maybe he was in a hurry because being captain, he had other things to do. Maybe he just misread it. Maybe he wasn't as smart on the. Or as quick on the uptake as he thought he was because something went wrong. And then he goes, you know, oh, Schlit. And so he says, okay, I know when I need to delegate. Where's the toilet specialist? Right. Where's the.

[Noel]

The commodesman?

[Ben]

Yeah. So Schlitt asks that crew member to come help them out. And then that crew member takes a stab. And maybe because something was already messed up with the valves, they make the problem worse.

[Noel]

I mean, we're not trying to throw this specialist under the bus here. You know, I'm sure he knew his craft, but I have a feeling that our boy Schlitt kind of pre botched the whole works.

[Ben]

Right, Right. And there's the toilet, there's the commode, probably still full of Schlitz. And now the specialist has to figure out not just how to operate the toilet correctly, but how to make up for Schlitz mishap. And so the specialist opens the outside valve of the commode, the one that goes directly to the C, while the inside valve is still open. And this causes a deluge of seawater into the sub and also probably the rest of Schlitz leaving.

[Noel]

Schlitz. Schlitz, Right. That's fun to say. And we talked about the bank of batteries. Did we talk about the design and where they were located or just the fact that the sub operated on them?

[Ben]

I did mention that the batteries are directly under the toilet. Right.

[Noel]

It seems problematic.

[Ben]

It's tough to design this kind of stuff, you know, it's tough to put all the needed gadgetry into a space with such a sharp, strong form constraint.

[Noel]

Totally. It's sort of like they keep making the iPhone thinner and thinner. So they gotta remove the headphone jack.

[Ben]

Sure.

[Noel]

Just like that.

[Ben]

I Don't buy it.

[Noel]

I don't buy it either. They actually brought it back, but they made it a little thicker.

[Ben]

Right. Or it's like looking under the hood of a high end sports car.

[Noel]

That's right.

[Ben]

Because so much stuff is put in this weird Tetris like arrangement. And that's kind of what was happening in this sub. I mean, clearly it's not a good idea to have the power source directly under something like the toilet. But then it's a question of where else are you going to put it? Right. But you don't want it necessarily near the torpedoes.

[Noel]

Yeah, no, it probably seemed like a good idea at the time. Probably seemed very clever to those crafty German engineers. Right, so, Ben, is this the part where we want to get into a little chemistry?

[Ben]

Yeah, yeah, it is, it is. So salt, the symbol for that in ACL, right, water is H2O. And if you dissolve salt in water, you get a solution of various ions. And H2O on itself is not conductive, doesn't conduct anything, but an ionic solution certainly is conductive and it certainly does conduct stuff. So when this water floods in through the valve system of this complicated toilet, the water and the salt in the seawater hit the sub battery. And the sub battery, as a result of this chemical interaction, produces lye plus hydrogen gas plus, most importantly, chlorine gas.

[Noel]

Because the sub battery is full of acid.

[Ben]

So the problem with chlorine gas is that it is a deadly, deadly poison.

[Noel]

Yeah. And they're in a tube, a metal tube, under the water with their pants down. Well, presumably Schlitz pants are up at this point.

[Ben]

I like the idea of him still having his trousers around his ankles in a blind panic.

[Noel]

That would be. Yeah, just kind of, you know, scooting.

[Ben]

Around, doing the little penguin run.

[Noel]

That's the one, yeah.

[Ben]

So. So we don't have pictures of it of the scene at that time. We have mental pictures. We have mental pictures, we have imaginings, we have dreams of this, of this moment. But we do know what happens next. The submarine is filling with chlorine gas. This could be a death sentence if they don't do something.

[Noel]

Do you think they clocked instantly what was happening on a chemical level, or do you think they just started gagging and choking uncontrollably and knew, oh, shit, something's gone wrong?

[Ben]

I'm absolutely sure they knew because they were very well aware of how the batteries worked.

[Noel]

That's fair.

[Ben]

If the toilet was complicated, that's because it was new. But diesel electric battery power would have been familiar to them.

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[Noel]

All I know is what I've been.

[Ben]

Told and that's a half truth is a whole lie.

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[Ben]

I did not know her. And I did not kill her or rape or burn or any of that other stuff that y' all said it. They literally made me say that I.

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[Ben]

They made me say that I poured gas on her.

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[Noel]

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[Noel]

It's Anna Ortiz and I'm Mark and Delicato.

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You might know us as Hilda and.

[Noel]

Justin from Ugly Betty.

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[Noel]

And I'm all grown up now.

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You're going to hear from guests like America Ferreira, Vanessa Williams, Michael Urie, Becky Newton, Tony Plana, and so many more icons.

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[Noel]

So this is when our boy Schlitt has to kind of jump into action and despite having sort of botched the whole thing to begin with, had to sort of exercise his thinking on his feet muscles.

[Ben]

Right? And the captain quickly realized that he had no choice but to order the submarine to surface because they had to vent this gas as quickly as possible and then replace it with breathable air.

[Noel]

Mind you, they're doing this in enemy territory off the coast of Scotland, about eight miles.

[Ben]

Yeah. And so they surface within sight of the Scottish coastline. In one story, you'll hear that they surfaced almost directly beneath an allied ship. But we do know for sure they surfaced so close to shore that they were quickly spotted by allied aircraft. They were attacked and the Captain had to order the crew to abandon ship. Three members of the crew fell overboard and drowned, and I believe one died in the Malay fighting that occurred.

[Noel]

So we were right at 40 crew members then because 36 survived.

[Ben]

Yep, that is correct. So what happened during this attack? The U1206 was badly damaged and couldn't dive. And this is when Schlitt starts ordering the crew into lifeboats. And then he makes the game time decision that only a captain can make.

[Noel]

Abandon ship. Right. Get ye hence to a lifeboat.

[Ben]

He's done that. But now he does the very last thing. He scuttles the ship.

[Noel]

What does that mean? I don't think I know that term.

[Ben]

It means to purposefully sink a ship of any sort. So in the rough definition, it means to cut a hole through the bottom deck or side of a ship. But, you know, you destroy it. That's what he did. He destroyed the submarine, his own ship, and it went down. And as the ship sank, he got away, by the way, as the ship sank, we can only imagine what he thought. Maybe he thought, I should have just contacted the toiletsman when I was supposed to.

[Noel]

The headsman, sure. That's something different. That's someone that's like an executioner.

[Ben]

The canner.

[Noel]

I like it.

[Ben]

But he also entered into history, the annals of history, as the captain of the only warship in the entirety of naval history to be doomed by its own malfunctioning toilets.

[Noel]

Cool. Do you think it's on his tombstone?

[Ben]

I think they probably. He probably wanted to go with something a little more prestigious like loving father or husband or something.

[Noel]

So presumably they were captured by the Allies, right?

[Ben]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. 36 members of the crew were rescued by small boats in the area. Some people made it to shore in their lifeboats and then were captured, but nobody really got away.

[Noel]

So they would have ended up in like POW camps or something, right?

[Ben]

Yeah, they would have ended up in POW camps and they probably would have been. Well, they were certainly well aware of the severity of the situation on the axis side. They knew. That's getting toward the end.

[Noel]

That's right, yeah.

[Ben]

And speaking of the end, we are reaching the end of our story today, but we're reaching the beginning of something else. We just went off mic for a second and realized that this episode is coming out on New Year's Day. So Happy New Year's, Noel.

[Noel]

Happy New Year's to you, Ben.

[Ben]

Happy New Year to you, Casey. Thank you. Happy New Year's to everyone and to.

[Noel]

All a good night. No, it's Been. It's been a hell of a good run. And we, we. I didn't even. I don't think we even talked about this. But not too long ago. I don't remember the exact day we reached a solid year of doing this show.

[Ben]

That's true.

[Noel]

Yeah.

[Ben]

I don't think either of us realized it until we were well off air.

[Noel]

Yeah. And. Or we were well past the time and then it was just, you know, too late. So if we're talking about, you know, new, I think we could recognize that fact and just say how much we appreciate all the folks that tune in and seem to dig the show and allow us to kind of keep doing it. I sure enjoy doing it and hope we can keep doing it for many years to come.

[Ben]

Yeah, agreed. If I could turn back time, the only thing I would change is a little bit more energy at the opening of this episode because we totally forgot it's our first episode of 2019.

[Noel]

Oh, that's true. It's okay. We saved it for the back end.

[Ben]

There we go. There we go. It's a reward for everyone who's stuck around. Right. So thank you so much. We would like to hear. Oh, oh, Noel, I forgot the surprise. I found a lovely list of wacky submarine terms because you'll remember in our potato episode, we used some terms that I think were a little bit off because neither of us, you know, have a history in the Navy. So there are so many terms that people have. There's burn. A flick just means watch a movie. There's bull George. By Navy tradition, the most junior ensign is called George and the most senior is called the bull. In the submarine force, it takes so long for junior officers to get to the boat. Two six month schools, a ten week school, at least two moves and a oh, and a bunch of red tape that most arrive as lieutenants junior grade. When you only have one ensign, as many of them do by tradition, he is both the bull and the George or the bull George. And things that don't work are called broke dick. Anything that doesn't work, that pump has been broke dick for a week.

[Noel]

Broke dick.

[Ben]

Broke dick.

[Noel]

I like it.

[Ben]

There are a lot of vulgar terms on this thing. So we learned even more strange slang phrases, many of which are not fit for air on this show. But we would like to hear some of your favorite military slang or naval slang phrases. Anything that made you laugh, anything that made no sense, or anything with a really compelling story behind it. Let us know. You can find us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. We'd especially like to recommend you check out our Facebook community page, Ridiculous Historians, where you can interact with your fellow listeners, many of whom have some fascinating stories to tell. Have you been checking out some of that tooth fairy stuff?

[Noel]

Love the tooth fairy stuff. That seemed to hit a nerve. Like in your tooth. There's nerves, nerve endings. I don't know. No, I thought I really enjoyed that episode a lot. I want to say I really had a good time doing it. And when we listen back to these, sometimes it feels like a chore and I actually found myself kind of enjoying that one.

[Ben]

It's good to hear, man. It's good to hear. Oh, we want to thank our super producer, Casey Pegram.

[Noel]

Sure we do.

[Ben]

We want to thank Alex Williams, who composed our track.

[Noel]

We'd like to thank Gabe Luzier, our wonderful research associate who hipped us to this topic.

[Ben]

And I'd like to thank you, Noel. It's been a great year.

[Noel]

Ben, I thank you as well. It has been a great year. I look forward to many more on ridiculous history. See you next year, folks. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. What's that sound? That's the sound of Downy unstoppable scent beads going into your washing machine and giving your clothes freshness that lasts all day long. There it is again. It's like music to your ears. Or more like music to your nose. That freshness is irresistible. Let's get a Downy unstoppable bottle shake. And now a sniff solo. Nice. With Downey Unstoppable, you just toss wash wow. For all day freshness.

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Hello, America's sweetheart. Johnny Knoxville here. I want to tell you about my new true crime podcast, Crimeless Hillbilly Heist from Smartless Media, Campside Media and big money players. It's a wild tale about a gang of high functioning Nick who somehow pulled off America's third largest cash heist.

[Noel]

Kind of like Robin Hood, except for.

[Ben]

The part where he steals from the.

[Noel]

Rich and gives to the poor. I'm not that generous.

[Johnny Knoxville]

It's a damn near inspiring true story for anyone out there who's ever shot for the moon, then just totally muffed up the landing.

[Ben]

They stole $17 million and had not bought a ticket to help him escape.

[Noel]

So we're sitting like, oh God, what do we do?

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What do we do?

[Noel]

That was dumb. People do not follow my example.

[Johnny Knoxville]

Listen to Crimeless Hillbilly Heist on the iHeartRadio app Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

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The murder of an 18 year old girl in Graves County, Kentucky went unsolved for years until a local housewife, a journalist and a handful of girls came forward with a story.

[Noel]

America, y' all better wake the hell up. Bad things happens to good people and small towns.

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[Ben]

We had 30 agents ready to go with shotguns and rifles and you name it. Five, six white people pushed me in the the car.

[Noel]

I'm going, what the hell? Basically your stay at home moms were picking up these large amounts of heroin.

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All you gotta do is receive the package. Don't have to open it, just accept it.

[Noel]

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[Ben]

To take his hand and I saw the flash of light.

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[iHeart Podcast Announcer]

This is an iHeart podcast.