Plus, if you think about it for a moment the premise of the Dynamic Campaign video is unrealistic.
It advises that we can "change history" by attacking Force H & other groups of capital ships, when in reality sinking these units was extremely difficult. You had to:
A) Be in a position where they were sailing towards your sub, since BB's and CV's usually were faster than 20 kts
B) Get close enough to avoid detection
C) Calculate speed, bearing, and range on an object moving much faster than the average merchant ship.
The only BB's and CV's sunk at sea by U-Boats during WWII were the following:
Courageous
Ark Royal
Barham
Eagle
Block Island
Avenger
Audacity
That comes out to little more than one heavy unit sunk per year of the war by the ENTIRE U-BOAT ARM. It's also worth noting that "Block Island", "Avenger", and "Audacity" were basically mercantile units with speeds slower than a U-Boat (15-16.5 kts) & poor protection. Plus the sinking of "Ark Royal" was a very lucky, 1-in a million shot.
Hunting task forces was not feasible until the post-WWII era, when submerged speeds began to approach the speeds of surface ships. Recognizing this, the Kriegsmarine usually assigned U-Boats to sink merchant vessels alone, only attacking heavy ships under the most favorable circumstances. But hey, I suppose the all-important "casual players" need a dozen battleship scalps to make themselves feel good.
|