Technology and Operations  
This forum is for discussing technological & operational matters pertaining to U-boats. 
Re: Depth A
Posted by: Ken Dunn ()
Date: October 06, 2021 01:50PM

Hi Bruno,

A = 80 meters (262 feet). You frequently also see A + or - a number in KTBs. For example A + 80 = 160 meters and A - 20 = 60 meters, etc.

One source claims that 80 meters was the boat’s safe diving limit as guaranteed by the building shipyard. However during WWII U-boats routinely dived and operated much deeper than 80 meters.

Perhaps it was a holdover from WWI U-boats or even meant to fool the enemy into thinking they couldn't operate much deeper than that. It might even have been an overly cautious peacetime number but Brit depth charges couldn't be set to detonate much deeper than 300 feet at the beginning of WWII.

Regards,

Ken Dunn

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Subject Written By Posted
Depth A BB1982 10/06/2021 08:59AM
Re: Depth A Ken Dunn 10/06/2021 01:50PM
Re: Depth A BB1982 10/06/2021 02:02PM


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