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Originally Posted by Aimbot
I've dove to 140 feet on a clear day and was able to see pretty well even without light. In clear pacific water you'd have decent vis to 200 feet, I'd guess.
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Been there, and deeper. (168' on SCUBA, in the Bahamas, but not by choice) You can see, but how far, and with what color resolution - none. it's all blue and grey and black down there unless you bring your own light - and WW II subs didn't have headlights. And you're talking about the clearest, calmest possible conditions with the most possible ambient light (clear day) - not something I'd want to count on as a sub skipper for U/W navigation. Cloudy day, current stirring up particulate matter, and forget it. Your vis would be very limited. Certainly not enough for Bernard to hang out in a torpedo tube shouting directions :rotfl: Which were then shouted into a voice tube, which were then relayed to the engine room telegraph, which were then,
CRUUNNNCHHH!!! "We're taking damage sir!"
I don't claim to have all of the answers - I'm just not buying that scenario. How did they do it? Did they keep a certain minimum depth under keel based on their charts? periodic sonar soundings? I don't know. I'm a sailor, and as such, my depth under keel (5') is always on my mind. But I have GPS charts with spot depths, and a sonar depth sounder which is continually updated, and sounds an alarm if I get too shallow. These guys had none of that. Nor could they see what was around them...
Mylander