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Originally Posted by rfunes
Hi all,
I was wondering, do anyone knows the number of ships sunk vs ships that "escaped" to be attacked by u-boats, in the real life?
I came to this question because once I reach a convoy in SH3, most of the time I can only manage to sink 2, 3 or at the most 4 ships, in an convoy of, say, 20 ships.
How the germans expected to build an "blockade" to "kill" the supplies to England, when so much ships still could complete the trip with no problems? (I'm talking about my experience in SH3)
It seems to me like this "blockade" tactics really never had any possibility of success.
Please correct me if I'm wrong. This is a conclusion I came while playing SH3, I don't know about the real life.
Thanks!
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Good question rfunes,
I think the best way to look at it is to try and see the big picture and think in terms of a "cumulative effect."
1) How many merchant ships are built / launched vs. howmany U-Boats built / launched per month from the beginning of the war to the end.
2) How much raw tonnage of supplies did England need to survive month to month
3) How much tonnage destined for England was sunk month by month.
Some convoys were never detected while some suffered multiple attacks by more than one wolfpack.... two ships here .... three ships there. Usually at least a few got through.
One situational idea to consider: In order to survive, you must drive 1000 miles per week, but only receive enough gas/petrol for 900 miles. What do you do? What consequences does it have for others when you fail?
At more than one point, England was losing the "tonnage battle" if I recall correctly. Something to keep in mind here too is that the citizens of England were already being rationed on many many things so that she might support her military efforts.
A drop in imported food and materials could be felt quickly.