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Originally Posted by Tonnage_Ace
Were any American/Japanese subs 'better' than the XXI? I know about the Japanese submarine aircraft carrier, but I don't think that will be in the game.
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Probably the closest equivalent to the German Type XXI in the Pacific Theater was the Japanese Ha 201 Class.(Type STS) The Sen Taka Sho (submarine, high speed, small) which was designed to defend the coasts of the Japanese home islands.
In bursts of speed, the HA-201 class could run almost 14 knots submerged. The HA-201 class was largely fabricated by welding. Some units of the HA-201 class were fitted with snorkels and Type 22 Radar. They carried four 533-mm (21-inch) torpedoes and were fitted with two tubes. 22 boats were laid down, but only 10 were completed before the end of the war. None made operational patrols
As for the Americans...well they didn't need anything like the Type XXI. They already had a submarine with excellent endurance, radar, sonar and capable of diving deeper with each model (albeit cursed with lousy torpedoes for the first two years.) Japanese industry was never capable of putting up the sort of saturation air and escort cover that influenced the creation of the Type XXI, so consequently nothing like it ever appeared on USN drawing boards during the war.
Ironically enough, in the exact opposite of the situation in the Atlantic, American submarines actually increased the number of guns on deck to go after the shallower draft vessels the Japanese were forced to use as they tried to flee the Allied submarine onslaught by hiding at night in creeks and inlets. Kinda funny how two different submarine campaigns in the same war went in different directions.
