Deck guns

[Sniper_Fox]

what were the largest deckguns used historically, and did they ever mount 2 of them? i think it'd be possible within realistic limits on lets say a XI or XXI and it would make surface defence alot easier:hmm:


what say you?!

[A6Intruder]

Originally Posted by Sniper_Fox

what were the largest deckguns used historically, and did they ever mount 2 of them? i think it'd be possible within realistic limits on lets say a XI or XXI and it would make surface defence alot easier:hmm:


what say you?!

I am not a friend of adding deckguns where they did not belong too (XXI) but i would like to use deckguns against aircraft like they did in WWII.
Kind regards

[looney]

At the end of WW2 it was clear that deck guns weren't for submarines.. Stealth and torpedoes is what you need. Thus no guns

[Boris]

Well I guess deck guns were no good for what submarines had become... Generally WW2 subs can be seen as temporarily submersible weapons platforms. Deck guns were fine when the target didn't fire back, they were removed because they were becoming useless due to the increasing threat.

Besides, deck gunning is fun

[gimpy117]

Originally Posted by A6Intruder

I am not a friend of adding deckguns where they did not belong too (XXI) but i would like to use deckguns against aircraft like they did in WWII.
Kind regards

actually my crew was doing this, i think it was a glitch though

[Kpt. Lehmann]

Originally Posted by gimpy117

actually my crew was doing this, i think it was a glitch though

Are you sure it wasn't a 37mm flak you saw them firing at aircraft? It does look like a deck gun generally speaking.

[gimpy117]

Originally Posted by Kpt. Lehmann

Are you sure it wasn't a 37mm flak you saw them firing at aircraft? It does look like a deck gun generally speaking.

no, it was the 10.5 cm Deck gun on the IXD2....
i don't know what good it would of done maybe bernard told them it would work...
anyways it kept popping up the aircraft spotted bubble many times and finally the AA guns started firing. i think it all went back to me clicking the "engage aircraft button when the bubble first appeared when planes were sighted. you guys might want to look into it

[Pablo]

Originally Posted by Sniper_Fox

what were the largest deckguns used historically, and did they ever mount 2 of them? i think it'd be possible within realistic limits on lets say a XI or XXI and it would make surface defence alot easier:hmm:


what say you?!

The largest deck gun used by a German U-boat was the 10.5cm SK ("schiffskanone") C/32. A Type IX U-boat carried one of these until the Germans started removing their U-boat deck guns later in the war.

I'm not sure adding deck guns to the late-model U-boats is realistic, since German tactical doctrine was that guns would be used only against unarmed targets, and by the time the Type XXI showed up almost every merchant ship had a deck gun of some kind. The 1943 edition of the Handbuch für U-boot-Kommandanten ("U-boat commander's handbook") was pretty clear in that regard:

"The submarine as a gunnery vessel is in itself properly a contradiction in terms. Being incapable of offering powerful resistance, and because of its low and unstable gunnery and controlling platforms, which are directly exposed to the action of the sea, it cannot be said to be built for artillery combat. In the use of gunnery, the submarine proper is fundamentally inferior to any surface vessel of war, because every gunnery duel means that for the submarine, unlike its advesary on the surface, everything is at stake, since a hit on the body of the submarine may render it incapable of diving, and thus lead to its total loss.

"A gunnery duel between the submarine proper, i.e., the torpedo-carrying submarine as a weapon of attack, and surface vessels of war, is therefore impracticable."

Once a U-boat was caught on the surface, manning the deck gun was tantamount to suicide, since it was standard operating procedure for warships to target their automatic antiaircraft cannon (20mm, 37mm, 40mm, etc.) to blast anyone who got anywhere near the deck gun or who looked like they might be manning the U-boat's antiaircraft guns. For example, a number of crewmen from U-515 were literally blown to bits when they mistakenly ran towards the deck gun, rather than towards the stern, when abandoning ship.

Pablo

[sh3rules]

A deck gun on a XXI

[TarJak]

AFAIK the largest DG installed on any sub during WWII were the two 203mm whoppers aboard the French Submarine Surcouf: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_submarine_Surcouf

The Japanese I-400 only had a single 140mm DG:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-400_class_submarine

Nothing like this size was ever installed on a U-boat. The largest gun produced for the German Navy in WWII were the 8×380 mm/L48.5 SK-C/34 installed on Bismarck. You could do what CCIP did with a Catalina a couple of years ago and install a BB turret on the front of your boat if you want to get involved in surface engagements.

[Sniper_Fox]

i think the uboat is a decent gun platform considering its speed and manouverablility... the armour is just a downside... ive taken out a flower corvette on the surface when i was out of torps. i took heavy damage yes.. but hes at the bottom of the drink... im not... also consider i took damage from earlier in the patrol, and that im grossly outclassed for a surface engagement, you can say im either lucky, or awesome at out manouvering a corvette. the key to survival is moving to the rear and around, never showing your broadside for too long. if i had 2 deckguns on my XI i could certainly fair very well in self-defence of course...

food for thought i guess... anyone want to give me 2 deckguns for the hell of it.. please do. id appreciate it. as im sure number of XI kaleuns would.


if theres one thing in the atlantic i hate more than hunter classes... its that f**cking BB-armed catalina.

worse than the ME-109 with the 120mm cannon

[danurve]

Every once in a while for fun I do enjoy sneaking up behind a forward armed merchant and 88'ing some tonnage. Having said that I would be willing to sacrifice the deck gun 'if' that would better the sub's underwater speed. Ok, after '41. If I remember correctly the affect is not modeled into the game, sub kinda looks cool without it though.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Sniper_Fox

i think the uboat is a decent gun platform considering its speed and manouverablility...

That's because it's a game, and you can't really die.

... ive taken out a flower corvette on the surface when i was out of torps. i took heavy damage yes.. but hes at the bottom of the drink... im not...

I seem to be repeating Nicholas Monsarrat's story a lot these days: A u-boat surfaced behind his corvette; before they could get the deck gun unlimbered and ready to fire (they do have to take that tampon out and get the shells ready) the corvette's 40mm AA gun had killed everyone on the u-boat's deck.

you can say im either lucky, or awesome at out manouvering a corvette.

I'd say you're awesome at playing a game.