watch crew underwater

[Khayman]

Originally Posted by slow_n_ez

Generally from what movies I have seen and such... the hatch was always open for the watch crew to get back inside in case of an emergency .. like a destoyer bearing down on them.... being under water, as in the game for too long a period, would certainly let the boat take on alot of water all at once.. probably drowning everyone in the command room ...............

I remember reading that one of the deficiencies in the Italian submarines was that the hatch had to be kept open - as they didn't have the diesel air intake the U-boats had. This led to them taking a lot of water in heavy seas. It was either in Donitz's Memoirs or the Clay Blair books, and was given as part of the reason Donitz didn't rate the Italian subs very highly. This suggests that in heavy seas the U-Boats would close the hatch. I don't know for sure though.