General Discussions
This is the place to discuss general issues related to the U-boat war or the war at sea in WWII.
RE: Ready for World War II
Posted by:
Craig McLean
()
Date: December 08, 2000 03:15PM
<HTML>War wasn\'t supposed to come before 42 generally speaking. Hitler didn\'t want war with England and France with the invasion of Poland. The deal with Russia was supposed to help stave off war.
Who can say what would have happened if war had come later? More U-boats would have been a huge advantage, as the British were generally not worried about German subs...as they felt projects like Asdic and so on would neutralize them.
The U-boats Germany did start with (about 57, instead of the 300 Doenitz felt he needed to finish the job) had a field day as it was....and I feel confident in saying even 100 or 150 boats to start with might well have been able to starve England out of the war. Remember, only about 1/3 of the fleet was on patrol at any one time...with 1/3 being in port, and 1/3 either coming or going from patrol. And much of the fleet in 39 was made up of the more limited Type II coastal boats...much more limited than VIIs or IXs.
There will be some who disagree with my analysis here, but many historians say the same thing...and I will stick with this general position.
Best,
Craig </HTML>
Who can say what would have happened if war had come later? More U-boats would have been a huge advantage, as the British were generally not worried about German subs...as they felt projects like Asdic and so on would neutralize them.
The U-boats Germany did start with (about 57, instead of the 300 Doenitz felt he needed to finish the job) had a field day as it was....and I feel confident in saying even 100 or 150 boats to start with might well have been able to starve England out of the war. Remember, only about 1/3 of the fleet was on patrol at any one time...with 1/3 being in port, and 1/3 either coming or going from patrol. And much of the fleet in 39 was made up of the more limited Type II coastal boats...much more limited than VIIs or IXs.
There will be some who disagree with my analysis here, but many historians say the same thing...and I will stick with this general position.
Best,
Craig </HTML>
Subject | Written By | Posted |
---|---|---|
Ready for World War II | Ben | 12/08/2000 02:18AM |
RE: Ready for World War II | Craig McLean | 12/08/2000 03:15PM |
RE: Ready for World War II | Rich Mickle | 12/08/2000 07:13PM |
RE: Ready for World War II | Joe Brennan | 12/09/2000 07:30AM |