Don't forget prewar doctrine influencing the design of those towers. Prewar skippers were taught to be surbmerged most of the time, surfacing only at night to recharge batteries. Such was the extent of the "thou must be submerged" doctrine that they were originally instructed to do Sonar only approches. Which proved to be insanely impractical. Anywho, my point is, much of that conning tower structure, was probably originally designed for better hydrodynamic flow/less drag since they were intended to be submerged most of the time. (and yet, they had to have the surface characteristics to be able to keep up with the fleet on the surface, go figure that one out)
edit:
Quote:
Originally Posted by She-Wolf
ah, that might explain why my US sub takes such a long time to submerge CCIP, compared to my little SH3 U-boat - what a rich store of info we have in the folk who post on this forum  |
They did however improve their dive. Less conning tower, more limber holes, and more training. It was not unheard of for fleet boats to get under in or around 34 seconds, give or take. If your playing TMO, pick up some engine specialists, that will cut your dive time.