General Discussions
This is the place to discuss general issues related to the U-boat war or the war at sea in WWII.
Re: Claims?
Posted by:
kurt
()
Date: October 15, 2001 03:24PM
<HTML>It was very hard to know accurately whether ships got sunk, let alone their exact size and identity.
The U-boat comander would try to identify the ship prior to firing, using his ship recognition manual. Knowing the exact size, and therefore height, of the ship helped him determine the distance to the ship, helping him set up the shot.
After a sinking, if it was safe, he might surface and interrogate survivors, either via megaphone as they floated in the water, or by bringing one on board.
As the war wore on these tactics became impossible in all but the most remote areas (Henke did it quite a bit off the coast of Africa on U-515, but by the same period such actions were unknown in the North Atlantic).
As convoys became the norm even in remote areas, and convoy battles became more precarious, the accuracy of sinking claims became lower. Post-war research shows that sinking claims were grossly exagerated in terms of both number of ships sunk and the size of the victims. The ratio of tonnage claimed sunk versus actually sunk was as high as 2 to 1 in these situations. This is an inherent fact of sub warfare, in no way implies any deliberate exageration by the U-boat commanders. (US sub commanders also had about a 2:1 ratio of claims to actual sinkings. The Japanese were the claims champions - with claims that wildly exceeded actual sinkings that had to reflect little more than wishful thinking).
The falsely high tonnage claims of U-boat commanders, coupled with very pessmistically low estimates of allied shipping production, helped Doentiz, and all HQ, to have a falsely optimistic view of how well the BOA was going. This may have been one of many factors that delayed Doenitz's realization that the Type VII and IX's were obsolete, pushing off the start of the Type XXI.</HTML>
The U-boat comander would try to identify the ship prior to firing, using his ship recognition manual. Knowing the exact size, and therefore height, of the ship helped him determine the distance to the ship, helping him set up the shot.
After a sinking, if it was safe, he might surface and interrogate survivors, either via megaphone as they floated in the water, or by bringing one on board.
As the war wore on these tactics became impossible in all but the most remote areas (Henke did it quite a bit off the coast of Africa on U-515, but by the same period such actions were unknown in the North Atlantic).
As convoys became the norm even in remote areas, and convoy battles became more precarious, the accuracy of sinking claims became lower. Post-war research shows that sinking claims were grossly exagerated in terms of both number of ships sunk and the size of the victims. The ratio of tonnage claimed sunk versus actually sunk was as high as 2 to 1 in these situations. This is an inherent fact of sub warfare, in no way implies any deliberate exageration by the U-boat commanders. (US sub commanders also had about a 2:1 ratio of claims to actual sinkings. The Japanese were the claims champions - with claims that wildly exceeded actual sinkings that had to reflect little more than wishful thinking).
The falsely high tonnage claims of U-boat commanders, coupled with very pessmistically low estimates of allied shipping production, helped Doentiz, and all HQ, to have a falsely optimistic view of how well the BOA was going. This may have been one of many factors that delayed Doenitz's realization that the Type VII and IX's were obsolete, pushing off the start of the Type XXI.</HTML>
| Subject | Written By | Posted |
|---|---|---|
Claims?
|
Erik E | 10/15/2001 02:20PM |
|
Re: Claims?
|
oliver | 10/15/2001 02:42PM |
|
Re: Claims?
|
Rainer Kolbicz | 10/15/2001 08:39PM |
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Re: Claims?
|
kurt | 10/15/2001 03:24PM |
|
Re: Claims?
|
oliver | 10/15/2001 07:03PM |
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Re: Claims?
|
Derek | 10/16/2001 03:46PM |
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Re: Claims?
|
oliver | 10/22/2001 04:55AM |
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Re: Claims?
|
kurt | 10/16/2001 09:38PM |
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Re: Claims?
|
kurt | 10/16/2001 09:39PM |
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Re: Claims?
|
oliver | 10/22/2001 04:59AM |
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Re: Claims?
|
SuperKraut | 10/16/2001 03:32PM |