Quote:
Originally Posted by DicheBach
Interesting . . . I was under the impression that quite a few sinkings (particularly of unarmed merchants) were acheived with deck guns, no?
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Well, according to Michael Sturma in his book
Surface and Destroy: The Submarine Gun War in the Pacific, here is the complete tally 1942 to end of war:
Note that it does not say these were sunk, it only says they were attacked. Each submarine received 75 rounds of deck gun ammunition at the start of a cruise. Sinking a merchant took more than an hour and several dozen rounds. Do the math. It's not a pretty sight. In addition, getting the ammo to the deck gun was a hand to hand bucket brigade where at least one man had to manhandle a 65 pound shell over his head to pass it on deck.
These numbers reveal the futility of deck guns on submarines. 45 cargo ships fired on in three years! No destroyers or larger warships. Lotsa wooden stuff turned into toothpicks.
The deck gun was for drying laundry.