This Week in WWII History - The Submarine War

TimeGhost

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Imagine being fathoms deep, inside of This

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Had to have your nuts screwed on tight for that shite

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With that being said, the men and women who have done that, are the epitome of badasses.

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I never thought I'd be called a bad arse on here. So thank you.

Now imagine being in the Hunley

Actually there was an early electromechanical/analog computer on US Subs called a TDC or Torpedo Data Computer.

Wiki T.D.C.

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I never thought I'd be called a bad arse on here.

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Thanks for your service babo.

I’m a former EM1(SS).

Funny, I can’t imagine how shitty it would have been being stationed on some boring arse surface ship. Our missions in sub squadron 1 were always pretty badass. We surfaced and spent 19 hours on the North Pole in 2005

Back on topic: one of my favorite books is called 10 years and 20 days. It’s the personal memoirs of Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz. He wrote them while in Spandau prison.

Doenitz was the head of the U-Boats, then head of the German Navy, and finally, succeeded Hitler as head of the German state once Hitler committed suicide.

The book goes into extreme detail of the navy planning and mishaps of the uboats from the build up to WWII through the fall of the Third Reich. It is an absolute historical treasure trove. It’s extrememly technical, however, as a prior submariner, I find it fascinating.

The last chapter recalls his time as head of state and is also an incredible insight into the mind of a top Nazi official.

Plus, the early War US torpedoes were abysmal.

Look at this Ww1 sub interior

The thing that was a surprise to me was a u-boat attack on a ship was usually done in cover of darkness on the surface. Not at periscope level.
The subs had such a small profile, that surface ships had a hard time seeing them even at "close" range.
So, at night they would be invisible.

Radar became the game changer.

These were what I understand from the German Fleet.
I have no idea tactics-wise about the American fleet. The Vets I have know only spoke about stuffing food in every space imaginable, and sleeping arraignments.

By the end of the war the Germans had developed UBoats that could spend most of their time submerged but they were too late to have an effect. A skipper of one of the new German boats made a mock underwater attack on an Allied task force on his way to surrender, and was able to approach within torpedo range without being detected.

I've toured the US WWII submarine on display at Mobile. Much more cramped than in the movies. It would be like living in a long, narrow RV with 100 other men and never going outside.