General Discussions
This is the place to discuss general issues related to the U-boat war or the war at sea in WWII.
RE: Technical deficiencies in U-Boote
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Comments
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Date: August 14, 2001 10:14AM
<HTML>I presume he was referring to Walter drive torpedoes. An effective hydrogen peroxide torpedo driven by a small piston engine, the G 7 u Klippfisch, was ready for production in 1942, but it was not put into production because the even faster turbine model, the G 7 ut Steinbutt, was supposed to be available soon after. However, the Stienbutt had a lot of technical problems and was never finished while Klippfisch languished on the shelf. German torpedo development during the war was an organizational disaster with several under-funded naval and industrial groups working independently and without coordination.
\">….but the biggest shortcomings were electronic, especially the lack of radar and effective radar detectors.<\" We have had this before. Radar would not have done the U-boats any good given the British ASW presence. Up to date radar detectors would have reduced the carnage somewhat, but they were not the answer. Given the density of British ASW, the U-boats would have been diving several times a night. Keeping up with the enemy radar frequencies was also a major problem and suffered from inherent time lags, so the radar detectors would not always be effective. Staying away from the surface was the only serious solution.
\">Remember that no one (on the German side), especially the Kreigsmarine forsaw WWII starting when it did, and no one (on the German side) expected it to last as long as it did - until Stalingrad the Germans always thought \'the end of the war is only 6 months away\'.<\" Yes and no. If you substitute Hitler for German then I agree, but there were plenty of officers and civilians who had most of it figured out early on. For example most of the experts in the foreign office expected Britain to declare war, but Ribbentropp overruled them true to the old German adage that what should not be, can not be. One of the tragedies of the war was that Hitler and his cronies managed to suppress the warnings of their more thoughtful and careful subordinates.
\">As I have written before, pusueing the type XXI development before 1943 was not a realistic political possibility.<\" As I wrote in my other post on this thread, Doenitz had a good chance of getting such a project off the ground in 1941 if he had had competent technical advice. I agree that as long as Hitler was running things, am earlier proactive project was quite unlikely.
Regards,
SuperKraut</HTML>
\">….but the biggest shortcomings were electronic, especially the lack of radar and effective radar detectors.<\" We have had this before. Radar would not have done the U-boats any good given the British ASW presence. Up to date radar detectors would have reduced the carnage somewhat, but they were not the answer. Given the density of British ASW, the U-boats would have been diving several times a night. Keeping up with the enemy radar frequencies was also a major problem and suffered from inherent time lags, so the radar detectors would not always be effective. Staying away from the surface was the only serious solution.
\">Remember that no one (on the German side), especially the Kreigsmarine forsaw WWII starting when it did, and no one (on the German side) expected it to last as long as it did - until Stalingrad the Germans always thought \'the end of the war is only 6 months away\'.<\" Yes and no. If you substitute Hitler for German then I agree, but there were plenty of officers and civilians who had most of it figured out early on. For example most of the experts in the foreign office expected Britain to declare war, but Ribbentropp overruled them true to the old German adage that what should not be, can not be. One of the tragedies of the war was that Hitler and his cronies managed to suppress the warnings of their more thoughtful and careful subordinates.
\">As I have written before, pusueing the type XXI development before 1943 was not a realistic political possibility.<\" As I wrote in my other post on this thread, Doenitz had a good chance of getting such a project off the ground in 1941 if he had had competent technical advice. I agree that as long as Hitler was running things, am earlier proactive project was quite unlikely.
Regards,
SuperKraut</HTML>
| Subject | Written By | Posted |
|---|---|---|
Technical deficiencies in U-Boote
|
Io Chrysafidou | 08/06/2001 06:05PM |
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RE: Technical deficiencies in U-Boote
|
walter M | 08/06/2001 07:46PM |
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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 |
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RE: Technical deficiencies in U-Boote
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Comments | 08/14/2001 10:14AM |
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Ooops
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SuperKraut | 08/14/2001 10:41AM |