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Originally Posted by Heibges
The thing is, you really should be snorkelling all the time, so this really doesn't give you the opportunity to get ahead of a convoy.
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Snorting all the time is not accurate....U-boats used to snort only for a couple of hours a day, leaving them almost blind because the vibrations from the engines running at high speeds made the use of the periscope almost impossible and tended to disturb the alignment of the glasses in it, running submerged with diesels clanking makes use of the hydrophones pretty useless as well, making the U-boat alomost deaf.
Running around submerged making a lot of noise, while yourself being almost blind and deaf, now that is inviting trouble.....they had to do it though to charge their batteries.....or surface into the hornets nest above.
I am reading The hunted by Clay Blair....I devoured the first volume and the first part of the second book; I do have some trouble getting through the last part from the end of 1943 onwards. It is a pretty sad tale of scores of U-boats being destroyed without standing a chance, many on their first patrols. Pure sacrifice of young men to keep intact the 'outer defense' for Germany.
The 'Happy Times' were named that for a reason.................