General Discussions
This is the place to discuss general issues related to the U-boat war or the war at sea in WWII.
Re: Patrols
Posted by:
Robin
()
Date: November 26, 2001 01:06AM
<HTML>To: Jason
John is correct when he says it varied. It depended on where the boats operated, what year of the war etc.
One of the shortest patrols was only 9 days by U-99 in 1940 while u-196 was at sea over 220days operating in the Indian ocean.
Before the advent of the u-Tankers atlantic boats probably spent 30-45 days on patrol, but as the u-tankers became available and the area of operations extended to the U.S coast and Carribean and South atlantic then patrols could last from 90-120days of which a large % was spent travelling to and from operational areas. One of the problems with long patrols was that the longer the patrol was the more time was needed for the crews to recover and for the boats to be overhauled often resulting in a reduction of sustained pressure on certain operational areas. Also it may have depended on how quickly the boats used up their torpedoes and shells. Some boats were forced to terminate their patrols because they ran out of ammo, especially in 1940 and 1942 when there were many independent ships sailing
Mediterranean boats patrolled for 2-4 weeks while the small boats in the Black sea had shorter 1-2 week patrols.
Hope this helps
Regards
Robin</HTML>
John is correct when he says it varied. It depended on where the boats operated, what year of the war etc.
One of the shortest patrols was only 9 days by U-99 in 1940 while u-196 was at sea over 220days operating in the Indian ocean.
Before the advent of the u-Tankers atlantic boats probably spent 30-45 days on patrol, but as the u-tankers became available and the area of operations extended to the U.S coast and Carribean and South atlantic then patrols could last from 90-120days of which a large % was spent travelling to and from operational areas. One of the problems with long patrols was that the longer the patrol was the more time was needed for the crews to recover and for the boats to be overhauled often resulting in a reduction of sustained pressure on certain operational areas. Also it may have depended on how quickly the boats used up their torpedoes and shells. Some boats were forced to terminate their patrols because they ran out of ammo, especially in 1940 and 1942 when there were many independent ships sailing
Mediterranean boats patrolled for 2-4 weeks while the small boats in the Black sea had shorter 1-2 week patrols.
Hope this helps
Regards
Robin</HTML>
| Subject | Written By | Posted |
|---|---|---|
Patrols
|
Jason Phelps | 11/23/2001 04:06AM |
|
Re: Patrols
|
John Griffiths | 11/24/2001 04:06PM |
|
Re: Patrols
|
Robin | 11/26/2001 01:06AM |