What happens when your uboat gets rammed by a destroyer ?

[longam]

Have to agree, running aground on a reef can tear open your hull, so a steel hull sub would be worse.

[Letum]

Originally Posted by longam

Have to agree, running aground on a reef can tear open your hull, so a steel hull sub would be worse.

Ramming a sub and floundering on a reef are very, very different
experiences for a DD's hull.

I have never heard of a DD taking serious damage from ramming a ubat.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Letum

Ramming a sub and floundering on a reef are very, very different
experiences for a DD's hull.

I have never heard of a DD taking serious damage from ramming a ubat.

Donald MacIntyre (the man who captured Otto Kretschmer), in his book U-Boat Killer, does tell the story of one destroyer who rammed a u-boat at full speed, ran completely over it and ripped both propellors off. But no, it didn't sink, and I don't recall reading of any destroyer that sank after ramming a submarine either, except for USS Borie. In that case the two ships were locked together after the ramming, in a raging storm. They also fought a duel with small arms at close range. U-405 finally sank, and then Borie sank the next day.
http://www.destroyerhistory.org/flus...rie/index.html

But that was a rare case, not the norm. Destroyers almost never sink after a ramming. Part of the reason is the extreme compartmentation of a surface warship. They are designed to float even after losing the bow in a storm, and there was one British destroyer that survived having both bow and stern blown off by torpedoes.

[jwilliams]

I was under the impression that ramming subs was a common tactic used by destroyers.

sure the destroyer would suffer damage, but that damage was off set by the fact that the sub would prob sink.

This is just my thoughts on the matter. i have done no research.

[Cptn_Enth]

I would also think that alot would have to do with the angle of impact between the two ships, and at what point the prow of the destroyer makes contact with the hull of the U-Boat. I would think that if a DD catches a U-Boat on the surface and rams her dead center, such that the prow of the DD and the Conning tower collide first, I would think that the U-Boat would either be split in half/rolled along the Longitudinal axis of the sub like a barrel, causing all manner of damage to men and arms/ordnance/equipment. The destroyer, on the other hand would probably go up and over the sub, probably causing the boat to broach along at least a good part of her hull, and depending on how much buoyancy the sub had left to resist against the Destroyer's displacement, might end up compromising her keel and ripping the bottom out of her/splitting her in half.

If the sub were rammed in the bow or stern, I would think that the sub would be pushed along and out of the way, with the destroyer either deflecting off but still sustaining damage...but it would depend on how far far forward/aft of the conning tower she was hit. Kind of the same principal as in an auto accident, where differing degrees of energy transferrence between the colliding vehicles would depend on point of impact, speed, vectors at time of collision, etc...

This is just me thinking out loud...feel free to correct me if I am wrong...

[GermanGS]

Nothing happens for me at all except sub rocking side to side and falling on their butts 1 min later LOL. I guess they are a bit slow HeHe

I recive no damage whatsoever i hope this will be fixed

[Armistead]

Originally Posted by jwilliams

I was under the impression that ramming subs was a common tactic used by destroyers.

sure the destroyer would suffer damage, but that damage was off set by the fact that the sub would prob sink.

This is just my thoughts on the matter. i have done no research.

You are right..It was common for DD's and even merchants to ram. I think the confusion is on the surface. Few got rammed on the surface, most got rammed as they submerged or just got under.

[CCIP]

But reefs aren't 1" thick and filled with a lot of athmospheric-pressure air and meat, are they. Nor would reefs be pushed under water if something run over them. Nor are subs made of solid rock

There's no question that ramming would damage the attacker, but it was most definitely considered a worthy risk. The end result would normally be a crumpled bow, but not a sinking.

Nor was the outcome always fatal for the boat.

See this one:
http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/2236.html

On 6 Oct, 1942, U-333 fought an epic battle with HMS Crocus (K 49) about 60 miles southwest of Freetown. The U-boat was rammed twice and a gun duel was fought out on close distance. Both vessels suffered damage and sustained casualties. The boat lost three men dead (including the IWO) and several men wounded, including the commander. U-333 was heavily damaged and limped back to base with help from a replacement WO from the Milk Cow U-459. Cremer then spent three months in a hospital.

[longam]

Yes it would all depend on mass. If the object you strike would have more mass then your vessel, more damage would happen. It's like having a collision with an iceberg twice the mass of your ship, that would rip your hull!

So a u-boat would definitively be less weight then a destroyer, and I could see riding up over it because of the pressure hull design. I would just hope your propulsion would survive.

[CCIP]

Also on the topic of ramming...
http://uboat.net/boats/u222.htm

vs.

http://uboat.net/boats/u439.htm
http://uboat.net/boats/u659.htm

So even between two uboats, things often went very differently, yet often deadly.

The real issue for a sub is not its rigidity or how strong the ship that hits it is. The real problem is that a sub relies on operating at very close to negative buoyancy, and so unlike a surface ship almost any loss of buoyancy for it is a giant and easily fatal problem. Not always fatal, but can easily end that way.

[Turbografx]

Yet another issue unattended. Bring on the modders and settle down for the year long wait.

[minispace]

Originally Posted by CCIP

Also on the topic of ramming...
http://uboat.net/boats/u222.htm

vs.

http://uboat.net/boats/u439.htm
http://uboat.net/boats/u659.htm

So even between two uboats, things often went very differently, yet often deadly.

The real issue for a sub is not its rigidity or how strong the ship that hits it is. The real problem is that a sub relies on operating at very close to negative buoyancy, and so unlike a surface ship almost any loss of buoyancy for it is a giant and easily fatal problem. Not always fatal, but can easily end that way.

How the heck did these u-boats end up colliding with each other, hard enough to sink one, or both?

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by minispace

How the heck did these u-boats end up colliding with each other, hard enough to sink one, or both?

The morale of both crews got so low, nobody reported any contact info to the commanders. And they were all out of magic soup.

[Noren]

...moral got so low that the the boat refused to turn.