Quote:
Originally Posted by Weiss Pinguin
Huh, seems like good vision wouldn't necessarily be a big requirement for a submarine crew... Then again they were the creme de la creme of the Kriegsmarine.  |
I thought it made perfect sense. For most of the history of seafaring and naval warfare, being able to spot and identify other (and potentially enemy) ships was dependent entirely on the visual acuity of the lookouts on yours. Prior to the advent of technology that made visual contact on the surface just one option out of many, normal or above average vision without the aid of lens that could be lost, broken, or rendered useless by bad weather would be a very big deal. In the era we're talking about, that technology was still relatively new, and it would take time to adapt the "naval mindset" to the changes that came with it. Old traditions die hard, lol, even when new technology makes the reason for them less important over time.
Also the requirements I read about were for enlistment in the Navy, period, not just the Ubootwaffe; of course you'd want the best possible eyes on a surface fleet, but u-boats were also primarily surface vessels then and the same sort of traditional thinking would apply.