Technology and Operations
This forum is for discussing technological & operational matters pertaining to U-boats.
RE: Achilles heel outside of pressure hull?
Posted by:
J.T. McDaniel
()
Date: April 18, 2001 03:35PM
The problem for the crew wouldn\'t be working in a pressurized environment so much as it would be that they couldn\'t rapidly shift from a pressurized to a normal environment, which would obviously be necessary for fighting -- or even just operating -- the boat.
For instance, if the hull was pressurized to 50 psi, and remained submerged and at that pressure for six hours, it would require a total of 329 minutes (5 hours, 29 minutes) to decompress. This is from US Government OSHA (Occupational Health & Safety Administration) tables for workers in pressurized environments.
While it\'s possible to work at higher pressures, and for longer periods, decompression times can then run into several days, which isn\'t of much use for the purposes of this discussion. All in all, pressurizing the hull simply wouldn\'t be worth the trouble and risk for the slight gain in depth potential. And, in a WWII-era
boat, it would probably be more dangerous than the risk of depth charging. And you\'d probably gain more pressure resistance from a 5mm increase in hull thickness than from 100 psi inside the hull.
J.T. McDaniel
For instance, if the hull was pressurized to 50 psi, and remained submerged and at that pressure for six hours, it would require a total of 329 minutes (5 hours, 29 minutes) to decompress. This is from US Government OSHA (Occupational Health & Safety Administration) tables for workers in pressurized environments.
While it\'s possible to work at higher pressures, and for longer periods, decompression times can then run into several days, which isn\'t of much use for the purposes of this discussion. All in all, pressurizing the hull simply wouldn\'t be worth the trouble and risk for the slight gain in depth potential. And, in a WWII-era
boat, it would probably be more dangerous than the risk of depth charging. And you\'d probably gain more pressure resistance from a 5mm increase in hull thickness than from 100 psi inside the hull.
J.T. McDaniel