Quote:
Originally Posted by Admiral Halsey
I have a quick question. Did any of the German WW1 subs have comparable performance to any of the WW2 German subs?
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Several classes were roughly equal to the Type VII series of WWII. The U-87 and U-93 class, for instance, had 4 bow and 2 stern tubes, along with 12 torpedoes and a top speed of 15 - 17 knots. The Type UB-III were extremely similar to the Type VII's externally - to the point where some photographs misidentify them as World War II boats. They, too, had a similar configuration, with 4 bow tubes and 1 stern tube, although only 10 torpedoes were carried.
Some World War I classes were even better (on paper) than the Type VII's and Type IX's. The U-139 series (shown here) were huge submarines with armor plating, 19 torpedoes, a displacement of 2,000 tons, and a 13,600 mile range, and could still reach about 16 knots. They also had two large 150mm deck guns, and were supposed to be able to fight escort ships on the surface. The problem with them was that they were built with the prize warfare concept in mind, and diverted resources from the medium-sized attack boats that Germany really needed to win the war. As it turned out, the war was almost over by the time they went into service, and they sank less than 50,000 tons of shipping.
It would be interesting to see how large cruiser submarines would have performed in the Atlantic in WWII. I imagine it wouldn't have gone well for them, due to factors like air attack & slow diving time. Plus, even with 150mm guns I can't see a cruiser sub winning against a hunter-killer group attacking from multiple directions. Any thoughts? It's fun to speculate.
