[misha1967]

Originally Posted by Stormfly

you`re maybe right yes, i renember there was also a stupid "Kaleun" who sank the boat by not knowing how to operate the new sea toilet system which was useable while the sub was at dept.

If you compare the hight and size of a german sub`s cunning tower or the boat`s mass with the american version, you see that a pre flooded german sub only need a little mistake done by one of the dive plane operators to sink it then. If you have the cunning hatch closed, the advantage of a faster dive is maybe gone in that case. I dont think that a smart Kaleunt would take such a risk for the little advantage having a allready invisible small cunning tower 1 meter deeper. If you follow the handbook, you see that a german sub using the right "stern trim" was nearly invisible while approaching in a "dog`s curve" from the dark side at night. Last by not least, running decks awash is only a replacement of risc`s, visual detection was not the only problem. Why should they trade a maybe 5% lower visbility against a 20% higher sonar signature, keeping the same speed running pre flooded means higher rpm.

I agree completely personally. I never use decks awash for that very reason. Too many things can go wrong in exchange for very little gain. The German boats were designed to have a very low silhouette even when surfaced and, if you ask me, if lowering that silhouette by 1m is enough to make a difference, then you shouldn't be surfaced at all.