Quote:
Originally Posted by 0rpheus
I've never been able to figure out how historically accurate this effect is. I understand that buoyancy should drop below a certain depth (I think), but I also assume subs would have gone lower than 170 in some circumstances (and survived). Any history buffs have anything to weigh in?
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From what I know, the boat would have to manually adjust trim to compensate both weight and air compression due to Boyle's Law. When coming back up, the trim and air pressure levels would have to be vented to avoid rupturing the tanks as the air pressure increases as depth decreases. Even then, I would hazard a guess and think that at least 2-3kts would still be needed. However, the issue is possible cavitation and sound propagation at that depth. Active sonar, especially late war should still have little issues with a boat at ~180-200m. However, water pressure should allow a boat to operate at faster speeds without passive sonar picking the boat up. I know the Sonalysts sims model this, but I do not think any of the SH games do. Add thermoclines to the mix and there are all kinds of fun variables that should be in play, but the sims either do not deal with or oversimplify to a degree that either gives too much favor to either the sub or the destroyer, depending on game and instance.
I know that this copy of the Type VIIC manual has all kinds of fun performance data with sound propagation and detection.
http://www.uboatarchive.net/Manual.htm