Rocket Attack of June 22nd 1945

[steinbeck]

Something I've never come across before, this mention of rockets on a sub. I quote:
Shortly after midnight Barb launched the first rocket attack in US Submarine history, firing 12 5in rockets into the town at a range of 5250 yards. The town being 'Shari' on the north coast of Hokkaido. Unquote

This extract is from a booklet just given to me by a friend. This is full of pics photo's and the operational record of the USS BARB!


steinbeck..:roll:

[The Fishlord]

Something I've never come across before, this mention of rockets on a sub. I quote:
Shortly after midnight Barb launched the first rocket attack in US Submarine history, firing 12 5in rockets into the town at a range of 5250 yards. The town being 'Shari' on the north coast of Hokkaido. Unquote

This extract is from a booklet just given to me by a friend. This is full of pics photo's and the operational record of the USS BARB!


steinbeck..:roll:

Heh. Just remember "If the Americans did it in WWII, always remember, the Germans did it first, and better!"

In early 1942 they launched some 180mm rocket shells from the deck of a sub. In January of 1945 one Type XXI had been converted to fire a type of primitive cruise missile from a forward tube, but it couldn't hit much and had a nasty tendency to explode after a few second's flight.

Still very interesting, the dawn of the missile age is a cool period :p

[Ducimus]

Heh. Just remember "If the Americans did it in WWII, always remember, the Germans did it first, and better!"


My one word reply that invalidates that statement:


Radar. :rotfl:

[Madox58]

:up:
:rotfl:

[peabody]

:up:My one word reply 'winning'

[Ivan Putski]

Had the Germans spent as much on armament, as they did on pretty uniforms, and tons of decorations, the war may have lasted an hour longer. :D

[Madox58]

Thank whatever Higher Power you choose
that the Nazi's didn't do it all right!

We could very easily be liveing in a whole different world had
they done a few things differently.

[Rip]

Heh. Just remember "If the Americans did it in WWII, always remember, the Germans did it first, and better!"

My one word reply that invalidates that statement:


Radar. :rotfl:
I was thinking Atomic Weapon.

I was think the quote should have read.

"If the Americans did it in WWII, always remember, the Germans did it as well but half assed".

:-j

[gimpy117]

germans had better specialty weapons but they couldn't make many of them, the US made good stuff and lots of it

[Macdaddy4738]

Heh. Just remember "If the Americans did it in WWII, always remember, the Germans did it first, and better!"

Hell, if it wasnt for the Germans, we would have never had the technology to spy on the russians by 1950.

The Germans gave us the Schnorkal (sp) which in turn allowed diesel boats to run underwater full time. After WWII, we ended up with a few german boats with them. But then again, so did the Russians.

I guess our first test of the Snorkal went terribly wrong, and the Cochino sank to the bottom of the sea (around 950 feet i think..) I guess water flooded in through the snorkal, shorted out the batteries, causing them to arc, causing them to explode, causing the boat to become filled with poisonous gas.

[Fincuan]

The Germans gave us the Schnorkal (sp) which in turn allowed diesel boats to run underwater full time.

The snorkel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_snorkel) was a Dutch invention, though I assume it really was the germans that gave it to you.

[Petur]

Thank whatever Higher Power you choose
that the Nazi's didn't do it all right!

We could very easily be liveing in a whole different world had
they done a few things differently.


Also Germans were running out of oil i have heard, they were running out of resourches. Main Axis powers were Germans, Italy and Japan. Italy surrender 1943, Japan was busy fighting Us in the pacific. So it kinda was Germany vs Soviet, United kingdom, France and United states.

[seafarer]

I remember reading a Canadian Artillery officers assessment of German military technology. If I remember the piece right (it was many years ago), he used the breech mechanism of a 25 pounder versus an 88mm (same calibre field weapons so I guess he saw it as a fair comparison). He described the 88's breech as a thing of engineering beauty - many small finely and precisely refined parts all working together in an intricate manner. In comparison, he described the 25 pounder's breech mechanism as a simple erector set of relatively far fewer parts - a bit crude and simple, but it worked.

It could also be produced far cheaper, faster, with less material and the breech of any 25 pounder in the allied armies could be interchanged with parts from anyother. The 88 however, had a higher failure rate, and often required that specific parts be machined anew to repair the breech, as the intricate nature of the many parts meant that they could rarely be swapped out with any other part from another gun (especially as they wore together in field use).

He also made mention of the Tiger tanks - wonderfully conceived machines, but vastly over-engineered under the circumstances. Despite their many failings, our inferior M13's carried the tank war in Europe because we made about 55,000 of them, to the few hundred Tigers Germany was able to churn out (and okay, we weren't being bombed to blazes while we made them either).

His argument was that German/Prussian military mindset emphasized engineering perfection, while the Allies' attitude tended to be more pragmatic - things just needed to work and no more.

I remember another article about the STEN gun, when a decision was made to even further simplify the design to boost production. Some worker commented that the damn things wouldn't last 5 years they were so cheap. Minister Lyttelton, Minster of Production, commented back that if they still needed them in 5 years, they were doomed anyway as the war would be lost. He didn't care if they only lasted a month or a year - he just needed lots of them ASAP.

[Macdaddy4738]

The Germans gave us the Schnorkal (sp) which in turn allowed diesel boats to run underwater full time.
The snorkel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_snorkel) was a Dutch invention, though I assume it really was the germans that gave it to you.

May have been wrong about who created it...

BUT it was called the Schnorkel. At least thats how the Germans spelled it

[Fincuan]

BUT it was called the Schnorkel. At least thats how the Germans spelled it

That's correct, I just used the english word for it. It's underlined beause there's a link behind the word, not because I wanted to comment your spelling :up:

[Schroeder]

No, it's not.;)
In German we spell it Schnorchel.:know: (We also pronounce it differently than the English word)...

Boy I'm one hell of a smarta**.
:D

[Arclight]

He also made mention of the Tiger tanks - wonderfully conceived machines, but vastly over-engineered under the circumstances. Despite their many failings, our inferior M13's carried the tank war in Europe because we made about 55,000 of them, to the few hundred Tigers Germany was able to churn out (and okay, we weren't being bombed to blazes while we made them either).

Ehrm, I dunno, but don't you mean the M4 (sherman)? Only M13 tank I ever heard of was the Italian M13/40. :-?

[seafarer]

He also made mention of the Tiger tanks - wonderfully conceived machines, but vastly over-engineered under the circumstances. Despite their many failings, our inferior M13's carried the tank war in Europe because we made about 55,000 of them, to the few hundred Tigers Germany was able to churn out (and okay, we weren't being bombed to blazes while we made them either).
Ehrm, I dunno, but don't you mean the M4 (sherman)? Only M13 tank I ever heard of was the Italian M13/40. :-?
err, yeah - I don't know where my M13 came from :hmm: Early onset dimentia I guess (or blame it on Friday the 13th) :p

[Arclight]

err, yeah - I don't know where my M13 came from :hmm: Early onset dimentia I guess (or blame it on Friday the 13th) :p
:rotfl: I can understand that. It's not easy keeping track of all the different designations from all over the world. M13 for example is also used for a soviet rocket, and M4 for an US assault rifle. Easy to lose track now and again. ;)

[Macdaddy4738]

BUT it was called the Schnorkel. At least thats how the Germans spelled it
That's correct, I just used the english word for it. It's underlined beause there's a link behind the word, not because I wanted to comment your spelling :up:

Doh, didnt even see that.

[Hylander_1314]

Obviously, Herr Hitler never played Risk.

Seriously though, the German industry wasn't put on a real intense war production system until Albert Speer took the job as head of production for the war effort. Also, by July of 1943, America outstripped the entire Axis in war production. The Russians having moved their industry beyond the reach of German medium bombers, also were beginning to tip the scales in production, so that even with all the fine technical advancements that German engineering and science came up with, were outpaced by sheer numbers in men and machines.

Just a quick comparison, as mentioned above, the numbers of M4 Shermans produced was 55,000, but only 1200 Tigers were produced, because the Tigers were for the most part built in what would be thought of as a "carriage works" industry, where as the Shermans were built ala Henry Fords production line method. The mass produced Shermans weren't qualitatively equal by any means to the Tiger and the Panther, Jagdpanther, or the other heavy tanks that Germany produced, but by weight of numbers the American tanks were able to contend with the heavy and medium tanks they went up against. Combine that with the "round the clock" bombing of Germany, and the countries that were under Germany's control, and the sum of the matter adds up to disaster, unless one key falls into place. That German forces could quickly sweep all the opposition aside and win early. Just as Yamamoto said for Japanese advancements, I will run wild in the Pacific for 6 months. After that I can guarantee nothing. How prophetic were his words. After Midway, Japan basically had to go on the defensive to hold her takings in Asia, and the Pacific, but her production capacty again couldn't compete with America. Mostly because Japan lacked the resources at home and had to inport a great many of them for war production, and civilian needs.

So to sum it up, for the Axis Partners to be victorious, they needed quick decisive victories. A long protracted conflict would sway into the hands of the Allies, through production and the experience gained by the combat veterans. Along with the resources to conduct a long bloody war. Along with the attitude that these "evil people" needed to be stopped to prevent the world from "falling into the abyss of a new darkage".