Who had the best submarines in wwII?

[ridgewayranger]

Hi Everybody,
I find this discussion quite interesting although most of it is pure speculation and, in some cases, flag waving. I served in various classes of R.N boats in the 50's and 60's. We were seconded to the R.C.N. based in Halifax on an A boat and had several visits to places such as Brooklyn Yard, New London and Norfolk where we usually tied up alongside a Host boat. The U.S.crews were always very interested and, after being shown around, were almost unanimous that for comfort they preferred their boats but for operations they would prefer ours.
The hospitality we were shown was wonderful. Three of us, young(ish!) petty officers were trying to find our way out of Norfolk yard when a car drew up and we were invited to hop in. We were taken to the home of the Exec of our host boat, LtCdr Vincent Shirley Lunn, met his wife and were given a lovely dinner.
I hope he, or someone who knows him, will get in touch.
RR

[Hartmann]

Germany had better hulls and steel, and other things like dive times, maximum depth but allies had better ASW devices like radar, and better confort..but the electronics technology makes a big difference in the ressults of the war.

I think that a gato could easily survive a biscaia cross with the radar.

[Friedmann]

Originally Posted by ridgewayranger

Hi Everybody,
I find this discussion quite interesting although most of it is pure speculation and, in some cases, flag waving. I served in various classes of R.N boats in the 50's and 60's. We were seconded to the R.C.N. based in Halifax on an A boat and had several visits to places such as Brooklyn Yard, New London and Norfolk where we usually tied up alongside a Host boat. The U.S.crews were always very interested and, after being shown around, were almost unanimous that for comfort they preferred their boats but for operations they would prefer ours.
The hospitality we were shown was wonderful. Three of us, young(ish!) petty officers were trying to find our way out of Norfolk yard when a car drew up and we were invited to hop in. We were taken to the home of the Exec of our host boat, LtCdr Vincent Shirley Lunn, met his wife and were given a lovely dinner.
I hope he, or someone who knows him, will get in touch.
RR

Thanks for the information, always great to hear stuff first hand. My grandfather served on an A class boat, HMS Anchorite.

Your views seem to be somewhat similar to his, he felt that the Americans designed subs with crew comfort foremost while the RN would build a weapons system and more or less wrap crew quarters around it.