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Originally Posted by DanCanovas
1. US Boats (Gato, Balao and Tench) seemed to have more tubes that German boats.
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Correct, those three classes carried 6 forward tubes and 4 aft tubes. The Germans u-boats carried 4 forward and 1 aft (or 2 in IX class). The US boats carried more torpedoes and had a more sophisticated TDC than their German counterparts.
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2. US boats seemed to have longer operational ranges in comparison to the Type VII. This was obviously necessary due to the size of the area in question.
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The US Fleet submarines had longer cruising ranges than most of the IX class.
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3. US boats had the capability to go slightly faster both surfaced and submerged than their German counterparts.
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This is correct, but only by several knots.
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4. German boats seemed to have considerably more flexibility in terms of depth. Figures Ive pulled from several sites show that maximum operational depth for a Balao or Tench was about 120m. Please note im comparing the sort of maximum depths not normal everyday operating depths.
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Generally the u-boats had a deeper diving depth across the board. However the Balao class had a thicker pressure hull than the Gatos. In his book Clear the Bridge Richard O’Kane (USS Tang) stated they took the boat down below 600 feet. I believe the US submarines had a wider safety margin in diving depth than what is stated by the builders.
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5. US Boats are uglier than there German counterparts. If you found this thread boring then you wont have got this far :rotfl:
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This is purely subjective, as I prefer how the US submarines looked. Especially when their conning towers were cut down to make them harder to spot on the surface.
As Frenssen said, they both had their pros and cons. Both has two completely different build philosophy due to the different challenges in each theater.