SUBSIM Radio Room Forums - View Single Post - What's the biggest failure of the uboat service?

Puster Bill · 11-03-08, 02:51 PM

I voted for Fail to discover/suspect a breach of the enigma code, but they actually *DID* suspect this.

Doenitz actually had the security of it investigated several times, and logged his suspicions in the BdU KTB, most notably after the Tarafal Bay incident:

"It is more likely that our cypher material is compromised or that there has been a breach of security. It appears improbable that an English submarine would be in such an isolated area by accident. The Naval War Staff is therefore taking the necessary steps to safeguard cypher material."
http://www.uboatarchive.net/BDUKTB30297.htm

I've often wanted the 'game' what would happen if you take the ability to know what the u-boats were doing away from the Allies. My sense is that it would have made life tougher for the carrier based Hunter/Killer groups, and would have prevented a number of losses (U-505, for example), but the submarine is an offensive weapon, and the only way to use them effectively is to close with the enemy, ie., attack convoys, and centimetric radar and advanced sonar and weapons like FIDO and Hedgehog would have still resulted in high losses (just not *AS* high).

11-03-08, 02:51 PM	#4
Puster Bill Grey Wolf Join Date: May 2006 Location: BA8758, or FN33eh for my fellow hams. Posts: 833 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	I voted for Fail to discover/suspect a breach of the enigma code, but they actually DID suspect this. Doenitz actually had the security of it investigated several times, and logged his suspicions in the BdU KTB, most notably after the Tarafal Bay incident: "It is more likely that our cypher material is compromised or that there has been a breach of security. It appears improbable that an English submarine would be in such an isolated area by accident. The Naval War Staff is therefore taking the necessary steps to safeguard cypher material." http://www.uboatarchive.net/BDUKTB30297.htm I've often wanted the 'game' what would happen if you take the ability to know what the u-boats were doing away from the Allies. My sense is that it would have made life tougher for the carrier based Hunter/Killer groups, and would have prevented a number of losses (U-505, for example), but the submarine is an offensive weapon, and the only way to use them effectively is to close with the enemy, ie., attack convoys, and centimetric radar and advanced sonar and weapons like FIDO and Hedgehog would have still resulted in high losses (just not AS high). __________________ The U-Boat Commander of Love