General Discussions
This is the place to discuss general issues related to the U-boat war or the war at sea in WWII.
Technical deficiencies in U-Boote
Posted by:
Io Chrysafidou
()
Date: August 06, 2001 06:05PM
<HTML>I am doing research on U-boats and for some time I have been wondering about some glaring technical deficiencies in the several types of U-boats which saw most of the action; namely:
a) destroyers: there had been destroyers around in WWI, so their tactics in protecting convoys were nothing new, yet the faster, improved torpedoes that could effectively be used against them were developed slowly and only became operational in 1943. Why not earlier, before the beginning of the war? The technology was available in 1938.
b) ASDIC: this was around ever since 1917, yet all U-boats had to move around on tiptoe, so to speak, to avoid definite detection, instead of developing effective counter-measures
c) aeroplanes: bombers were available in both wars, and it seems that most U-boats were destroyed by aeroplanes: flak and the second \"wintergarten\" were again half-measures that helped get more people killed.
WHY did the new U-Boot-Waffe in 1935 NOT set down specifications similar to the XXI and XXII types that were produced too few too late? It seems that Herr Buchheim has got a point about all those thousands of young men going to meet their deaths needlessly.</HTML>
a) destroyers: there had been destroyers around in WWI, so their tactics in protecting convoys were nothing new, yet the faster, improved torpedoes that could effectively be used against them were developed slowly and only became operational in 1943. Why not earlier, before the beginning of the war? The technology was available in 1938.
b) ASDIC: this was around ever since 1917, yet all U-boats had to move around on tiptoe, so to speak, to avoid definite detection, instead of developing effective counter-measures
c) aeroplanes: bombers were available in both wars, and it seems that most U-boats were destroyed by aeroplanes: flak and the second \"wintergarten\" were again half-measures that helped get more people killed.
WHY did the new U-Boot-Waffe in 1935 NOT set down specifications similar to the XXI and XXII types that were produced too few too late? It seems that Herr Buchheim has got a point about all those thousands of young men going to meet their deaths needlessly.</HTML>
Subject | Written By | Posted |
---|---|---|
Technical deficiencies in U-Boote | Io Chrysafidou | 08/06/2001 06:05PM |
RE: Technical deficiencies in U-Boote | walter M | 08/06/2001 07:46PM |
Comments | SuperKraut | 08/14/2001 09:43AM |
RE: Technical deficiencies in U-Boote | David W | 08/06/2001 10:15PM |
RE: Technical deficiencies in U-Boote | kurt | 08/07/2001 01:26AM |
RE: Technical deficiencies in U-Boote | Comments | 08/14/2001 10:14AM |
Ooops | SuperKraut | 08/14/2001 10:41AM |