I would not, and not because of the conditions I'd be living in or the risk. I'd actually relish that challenge.

No, the real reason I would not wish to do so is quite simple, really: When I torpedo a ship on SHIII, I'm sinking pixels crewed by pixels. In combat, for real, I'd be sinking real ships (which wouldn't disturb me) but I'd also be killing real people . . . and that does disturb me.

Britain came within 4 weeks of total collapse due to the supply lines being cut so drastically. The government could only have stayed in the war another 4 weeks, before they would have had to bow out. The U-boat men came close.

To the original question:

Hell, no!

I'd like to know the source of this because one of my sources 'Clay Blair-Hitler's U -boat War' states that the Germans seldom ever had more than 20 subs on station in the Atlantic at any given time....and NEVER sank any more than 3% of the merchant shipping available to the Allies. :hmm:

Are you stole my thunder. :lol:

Yep that's the point I was going to raise. :yep:

PS: Just as a side line the R.A.F during the Battle of Britain was not about too be knocked out. This is another historical error.

The book I refered to earlier, The Battle Of The Atlantic, says something similar; that the rationing was so bad in 1940 that Churchill was begging Roosevelt for any help at all that the Americans could give. Also they show that at one point in 1943 there were as many as 90 u-boats on station.

As to which is right, I have no idea.

One thing we must remember a lot of German records were destroyed. :yep:

Sailor Steve what did you answer buddy? I bet you're a one patrol kind of guy? ;)

Everyone who answered this question with yes is a big idiot imo. He would prefer fighting and killing other people from this forum, instead of enjoying the games with them.

My answer is: never! The only place war is fun for me is on a computer screen.

Well I don't think the people who answered yes, were thinking about it quite in that context...
Maybe going back and living as a simple crew member instead of the captain would have been a less complicated question.
My poll was really not meant to be so philosophical/ethical.

Certainly. Still I wanted to remind people of what the question means.

Seeing such a poll would be really frustrating to people who were there at the time. As far as I have seen it they are just glad to live, and asking them if they would go back would be mad.

I remember how I brought together my father (who was a flak gunner) and Johnny, a british bomber guy I met during my time in England. They didn't talk about the war, at least not that I remember, but they liked each other very much because they had been through the same experiences. If there is one thing I remember Johnny saying to me it was:

Don't forget how luck you are to live today!

I second that mate :up:.

In one of his books, Winston Churchil mentions the dire situation Britain was in (very close to what Penelope describes) I think in 1941. Fuel and food reserves together with goods coming through were only enough for a few weeks -- then the tide turned.

I didn't actually know the source, my brother told me, If Churchill himself said that... then I guess I was right then?:smug::lol:

Having read that same book, I got the distinct impression that Clay Blair had an axe to grind and he was awfully slanted. Just my opinion though. :smug: As I recall, the figure was 97 or 98% of allied shipping reached their destination safely. This is all well and good, however when you average out the percentage reaching port safely over the total war, you lose a sense of the ebb and flow of the way the war went. I could be wrong, but I find it hard to believe that during late 39 and throughout 1940 98% of shipping reached port safely. I feel Blair has distorted the numbers there.

uboataces says:

"The wolfpack attacks were extremely successful, leading to a colossal slaughter of British shipping. In the three month period from September 2 to December 2 1940, 157 allied ships had been sunk for a total of 847,000 tons. In the same period, only three u-boats had been lost, making the exchange rate of 1 to 52 - a horrendous rate of loss. Oil imports in Great Britain fell to half the normal rate covering only two thirds of her consumption. This rate of loss would soon bring Britain to her knees. Such was the calamity of the looming crisis, that it was at this point that British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had privately confided that he feared the Battle of the Atlantic may have been lost – along with Britain’s ability to continue fighting." http://www.uboataces.com/boa-fall-france.shtml