I went through that u-boat database when this subject came up before, and found that the number of fish required to sink ships of similar sizes was actually MORE for german torpedoes in most cases compared to the Mark 14. ( I also went through every single US submarine torpedo attack of the war and made a database of them).
It was not at all the answer I expected, but it's what the reports/narratives spit out if you start counting up 1 hit sinkings vs 2 or more.
The guy I was arguing with, BTW, counted ships that made it back to port, but were written off as losses a "sinking" to try and bolster his 1 hit, 1 sinking notions. Not so, writing a hull off is an economic decision, allies were making so many hulls, repair cost more than scrapping (just like remodeling costs are more [per ft^2 than new builds for houses).
Some links:
Below link I compared warship attacks, virtually no difference in numbers of fish to sink between u-boat and fleet boat attacks that matters.
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...2&postcount=53
Below, I compared Hog Islander sized targets, and the US sinking rate with only 1 hit was 88%.
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...1&postcount=67
The German rate (from u-boat.net) to ALL attacks on Hog Islanders was 94% successfully attacked were sunk. Since it gives no fish count, that 6% difference accounts for attacks with 2 fish, AND deck guns added in. Even if you assume none were every attacked or hit with more than 1 fish, and none were ever attacked with the DG, that difference is well within chance (or sea state differences between the N Atlantic and PTO).
I later went through all the narratives for the hog islander attacks and figured out the hits per sinking:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...6&postcount=74
ONly 50% sank with 1 hit compared to 88% of jap ships of similar tonnage (I actually counted ships larger than the hog islanders, too, since most of the similar jap ships were slightly larger than that).
For late war, I checked Liberty Ship stats, I read every Liberty Ship attack u-boat narrative and:
Quote:
Liberty (~7k t) vs U-Boats, 18.18% sunk after hitting with 1 torp (1944)
7k t jap vs Fleet Boats, 79.17% sunk after hitting with 1 torp. (entire war)
|