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Originally Posted by Sailor Steve
A different answer: hindsight is always 20/20. Yes, early war depth charges were limited, but exactly how aware of this were the Germans? I haven't seen a definitive answer one way or the other, and that means that if we could limit them, we would then be operating with information they may not have had.
Catch-22, no?
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I would think the Germans' would have been very aware of the limited depth of the Allied depth charge settings. The American submariners certainly were aware of the Japanese limits. In the early part of the war the American submariners had realized that the Japanese were unaware of how deep American boats could dive and so unless caught in shallow water they simply dived deep enough to avoid the depth charges.
Moreover, during the first part of the war, the Japanese tended to set their depth charges too shallow, unaware U.S. submarines could dive below 150 feet (45m). Unfortunately, this deficiency was revealed in a June 1943 press conference held by U.S. Congressman Andrew J. May, and soon enemy depth charges were set to explode as deep as 250 feet (76m). Vice Admiral Charles A. Lockwood, COMSUBPAC, later estimated May's revelation cost the navy as many as ten submarines and 800 crewmen. (from Wikipedia)
Considering the Allied subs had diving depths less than 100 meters, while the Germans' were over 200, I'd think 1) the Allies wouldn't consider setting charges deeper anymore than the Japanese had, and 2) that the German submariners would have just as quickly realized that was so. Granted I'm just conjecturing here, but it sounds good to me.
