IIRC I've seen reference to ~90 meters being the maximum dive depth of the British T-class, and I'm assuming that's the
real maximum depth and not the "shipyard warranty" version. Slightly more for some of the later S-class boats.
I think the depth charges in use by the RN at the very start of the war had a max depth of 100 meters or so? Plenty deep enough to take out one of their own subs, but not a u-boat if it could escape to anywhere near its max depth.
Wikipedia says that after capture of the U-570 (aka HMS Graph) in Aug 1941,
Quote:
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Her safe diving depth was discovered to be 230 metres (750 ft)... At the time, Royal Navy depth charges had a maximum depth setting of 170 metres (560 ft)
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So yeah I can see why the depth dial would've been a rather unpleasant shock.
