Quote:
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Originally Posted by Ducimus
Quote:
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Originally Posted by bigboywooly
Your snorkel is visible from the air as it leaves a wake
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Not meaning to be argumentative, but is there any proof of that?
Using a snorkel, a sub couldnt do more then 2 or 3 kts or it would knock the mast down. That can't leave much of a wake. And visibility of that is doubtful if you consider sea state (even small waves can obscurve visilbity with an object that size), and altitude and speed of an aircraft. In short, it was more then likely, TOO SMALL to see unless it was glassy calm sea.
Radar however, is another matter. |
Hi!
As BBW pointed out (citing
www.uboat.net), the maximum speed IRL was 6 knots. The problem with the sea state is that it cuts both ways: waves large enough to disrupt the wake or to create whitecaps that would obscure the wake could also flood over the
schnorchel head, temporarily cutting off the air flow into the U-boat and possibly damaging the
schnorchel itself.
Running with the
schnorchel higher out of the water could keep the air flowing but would also make it more visible to the S-band radar with which almost all Allied search aircraft were equipped by the time the
schnorchel came into general use: they might not see the exposed head in rough seas, but they could definitely detect that fat stovepipe rising above the waves.
The ascendency of ASW detection and destruction technology over submarine technology extant at the end of WWII was one of the main justifications for pushing ahead with nuclear-powered submarines.
Pablo