Who had the best submarines in wwII?

[msalama]

But that would be something for a Mod... the Russion subs :hmm:

Yah, that would rock. Could be difficult to implement, though, because Russian sub warfare during WWII is a subject no-one seems to know anything about, at least in the West...

Gotta read this methinks: http://uboat.net/books/reviews.html/title/2247

[Torplexed]

The Soviet Union had the largest sub fleet in the world when Germany attacked in 1941. Over 200 boats of various types. But they were victims of Russia's rambling geography being divided between four widely separated fleets; the Baltic, Black, Northern and Pacific. Given the Soviet Union's obvious army-centric approach, they also seem to have been poorly maintained and to have lacked sonar or modern fire control equipment. Other than the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff late in the war with heavy loss of life I can't think of too many Russian submarine successes that come to mind.

You can read about the Wilhelm Gustloff disaster here: http://www.wilhelmgustloff.com/

[Jimbuna]

I don't think the navies position was helped by Stalins purge:

http://www.gendercide.org/case_stalin.html

[Synthfg]

Originally Posted by Torplexed

The Soviet Union had the largest sub fleet in the world when Germany attacked in 1941. Over 200 boats of various types. But they were victims of Russia's rambling geography being divided between four widely separated fleets; the Baltic, Black, Northern and Pacific. Given the Soviet Union's obvious army-centric approach, they also seem to have been poorly maintained and to have lacked sonar or modern fire control equipment. Other than the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff late in the war with heavy loss of life I can't think of too many Russian submarine successes that come to mind.

You can read about the Wilhelm Gustloff disaster here: http://www.wilhelmgustloff.com/

Think the main issue with the Soviet sub fleet is that the secrecy inherant in the communist system, combined with the traditions of the silent service means that there is very little published material on there role in the war,
There were several significant victories inclunding the Gustloff however

Does anyone here have a decent summary of soviet sub activity in the war ?

[kaptkirkU4467]

Does anyone here have a decent summary of soviet sub activity in the war ?

Yes..but right now the book's 400 miles from me.

I see now how old the thread is...wow.
.the XXI was a real junker and would never have survived action in the Atlantic.It looked cool,but was put togather in a real stupid way.

The US Fleet boats of the Balo class were good for the job they had to do..but there flaws were as many as the Type VII and IX.

But all here have forgot the Dutch boats!!

[kaptkirkU4467]

Originally Posted by Synthfg

Does anyone here have a decent summary of soviet sub activity in the war ?

My book for the USSR subs is "Submarines of WWII" by Erminio Bagnasco
Covers all boats used by everyone.
They were on the most part M class,Shch class,K and S class with some prewar L and D class....S class being the best.*based on the Turk "Gur" built in Spain.*

The USSR was the only country to have fewer boats at the end of the war then it had at the start.
Best opening kill:
Shch 307 sinks U 144 on 8/9/41.

[Pvt. Public]

from a technical aspect a admire the germans handywork, they achieved some amazing breakthroughs in technology. but if i had to choose any sub (excluding the XXI since its not fair to the rest) i would take a tench or balao. mainly because it is fast, has lots of destructive power, and most important in my mind are the crew comforts. a happy crew performs better under stress!

[Task Force]

I have a hard time decideing which boat was best, because they worked in different enviornments, and conditions.

U boats had it get progressivly harder on them, and had multiple nations working against them, also had technology from the allies get worse on them/ air power that made them caused alot of problems.

The us boats had it harder at the begining of the war. Faulty torpedos and other things made them have issues, but as the war went by things got somewhat easyer, and working conditions got better. Because the japanease wernt as advances as the allies when it comes to anti sub warfare.

So in my opinion nither sub was realy that much better than the other, there working conditions, and enviornments were different.

Things swhiched off, uboats got it harder, and fleet boats got it alittle easyer, and better technology.