[mookiemookie]

Ducimus is right, and I missed that point in my earlier post. Codebreaking and radio intercepts were also a major downfall for the U-boat arm. After all, what is a submarine when you take away it's greatest asset, which is stealth?

But I still disagree with RR. After Dunkirk in mid-1940, the Germans had Britain on it's heels. They had effectively confined them to the home isles and had free reign of France. A lot of people will say that Germany declaring war on the US was a mistake, but I disagree. If they had enough U-boats to cordon off Britain, they certainly could have declared war on the US and sunk every supply ship that was sent over. If you want to blame anyone for losing the war, I'd say blame the Luftwaffe. They came very close to knocking the RAF out of commission and clearing the way for Operation Seelowe. They switched tactics at the end to bombing civillian targets in order to break the will of the people. If they had continued focusing on military targets like airfields, ports and radar installations, they would have had air superiority and could have attacked at will. All the Allied ships in the world wouldn't have helped if there were no ports left to receive them.

It certainly would have cleared the way for an invasion of Britain, which would have been no easy fight, but it would have had the effect of taking away the staging point for D-Day. They had enough problems getting an invasion force across the English Channel....there's no way they could have done it across the Atlantic Ocean, especially if Doenitz had the numbers of U-boats he wanted. With a Type XXI prowling the seas at this point, (let's call it late '41/early '42 for arguments sake) the air gap would have been a non-issue. And by removing the escort carrier issue, you effectively remove the U.S.'s production advantages. Who cares if they can put a million planes in the sky if they can't find your U-boats, of which you have significant numbers to sink any supply ships that attempt to reach Britain?

By consolidating gains in the West, you deny the US a staging ground for any meaningful assault on Germany and certainly could be in a very strong bargaining position. All because you used U-boats in the way they should have been used and in the critical mass needed to make a difference.