Results matter. Not winning battles, but winning wars—or at least campaigns.
Fleet Type submarines wiped out the japanese merchant marine. Regardless of the initial design intention (the "fleet" bit), they turned out to be excellent commerce raiders (~90,000 tons per boat lost).
The KM boats were designed for commerce raiding, but for all the talk about superior depth, maneuverability, etc, they sank what, around 3 ships each before being themselves sunk (something like 11,00tons per lost boat)? Clearly they were neither deep-diving enough, nor maneuverable enough, which begs the question: were u-boats actually all that well suited to the Battle of the Atlantic?
If they evolved the superior form for their theater, they would not litter the bottom of the Atlantic.
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