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Started By
Message
WW II buffs: How were the Germans able to infiltrate the Gulf of Mexico so successfully??
Posted on 3/10/18 at 8:57 pm
Posted on 3/10/18 at 8:57 pm
Didn't we have the most powerful navy??
How many US ships did they sink in the Gulf?
How many US ships did they sink in the Gulf?
20
Posted on 3/10/18 at 8:58 pm to Ignignot
German U Boats were the best of the best.
Posted on 3/10/18 at 8:59 pm to KosmoCramer
So I'm guessing we hadn't reached our naval potential at the time?
Posted on 3/10/18 at 9:03 pm to Ignignot
The o chin is a big mother fricker. Even that tiny little gulf of Mexico is a big arse mother fricker.
It would be like you and five of your buddies looking for one person in the entire state of Louisiana.
It would be like you and five of your buddies looking for one person in the entire state of Louisiana.
Posted on 3/10/18 at 9:04 pm to Ignignot
Sonar was in its infancy. If you wanted to find a submerged submarine, you had to already have a fairly decent idea of where it might be.
Posted on 3/10/18 at 9:06 pm to TheTideMustRoll
Yep hard to detect those guys and I still think we sank up to 4 uboats in the gulf.
Posted on 3/10/18 at 9:06 pm to Ignignot
Needle in a haystack and not many ways to search said haystack effectively.
Posted on 3/10/18 at 9:13 pm to Ignignot
quote:
So I'm guessing we hadn't reached our naval potential at the time?
Sonar wasn't effective for uboats on the surface. They actually cruised on the surface due to that.
What really allowed the U Boats to thrive was enigma. Being able to secretly communicate in a pack like wolves allowed them to slaughter boats.
But it was mostly civilian boats. After we started caravaning with battleships and the like, they lost that edge.
Posted on 3/10/18 at 9:13 pm to TheTideMustRoll
Meant to upvote
Downvoted in error
Downvoted in error
Posted on 3/10/18 at 9:20 pm to Ignignot
Most of our Navy vessels were engaged in Southern Pacific
Posted on 3/10/18 at 9:24 pm to KosmoCramer
The found the U 166 a few years ago - the only German sub known to have sunk in the Gulf of Mexico.
Posted on 3/10/18 at 9:45 pm to KosmoCramer
quote:
Sonar wasn't effective for uboats on the surface. They actually cruised on the surface due to that.
Yeah.
That’s the reason.
Not that sustained submerged cruising was impossible until late in the war where allied air cover was thick enough to require snorkles to become standard equipment.
Even then they obviously had to stay close to the surface.
Posted on 3/10/18 at 9:46 pm to Ignignot
70 attacks, 56 ships sunk and 14 damaged.
Louisiana attacks:
Louisiana attacks:
Posted on 3/10/18 at 9:51 pm to Ignignot
We didn’t have as many oil baws out on the platforms back then who could spot them when they surfaced.
Posted on 3/10/18 at 9:53 pm to KosmoCramer
quote:
They actually cruised on the surface due to that.
WW2 subs were surface ships that could submerge for a period of time. They could not cruise underwater indefinitely like modern subs. Their diesel engines charged the batteries that powered the sub when it was submerged.
Posted on 3/10/18 at 9:56 pm to Ignignot
U.S. Pacific fleet damaged and engaged against Japan. U.S. Atlantic fleet on convoy duty and patrolling the east coast. Most likely just not enough ships to go around.
The German U-boats called the early months of 1942 the "happy time" because they were kicking a lot of U.S. arse. It didn't last, though; we got our shite together and started sinking them.
Cool map!
The German U-boats called the early months of 1942 the "happy time" because they were kicking a lot of U.S. arse. It didn't last, though; we got our shite together and started sinking them.
quote:
chinhoyang
Cool map!
This post was edited on 3/10/18 at 9:58 pm
Posted on 3/10/18 at 9:58 pm to Ignignot
quote:
Didn't we have the most powerful navy??
It can be hard to find a ship that size on the surface even today if it doesn't want to be found, let alone 200 feet underwater.
Posted on 3/10/18 at 10:00 pm to TheFonz
One German sub captain sent in his report as a poem.
"The moonless night is black as ink
Off Hatteras the tankers sink
As Roosevelt sadly counts the score
Some fifty thousand tons- by Mohr."
"The moonless night is black as ink
Off Hatteras the tankers sink
As Roosevelt sadly counts the score
Some fifty thousand tons- by Mohr."
Posted on 3/10/18 at 10:03 pm to FightinTigersDammit
Doubt it rhymes so eloquently in German 
Posted on 3/10/18 at 10:06 pm to Ignignot
No real way of actually detecting subs you didn't see.
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