I fully agree, there's a big difference between becoming better at a job and pushing the machinery to magical new heights. Operational officers were'nt supposed to invent or radically improve operational speed, turning rate etc... I imagine all they cared about was reability and solid engineering.
On the note of the diesels, I've heard that big ships use 50% of their available power to achieve flank speed, which is why they are so economical with fuel at cruising speed. With that in notion, there's no way that the uboat engineer can suddenly and reliable milk +7 knots (whats that, like a +5000 horsepower?).
Last edited by Noren; 04-22-10 at 09:36 AM.
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