What are the Top Ten Sinkings in WW2 by a Sub?

[Mush Martin]

I was Just reading the thread Crab Walk where they are talking about
the sinking of Wilhelm Gustloff.

Many or assumably most of us are familiar with the worst sinking of the war

But my question is what are the top ten sinkings of the war.

list some nominees and we will put up a poll.

arguments should be supported with info.
So post a blurb on the sinking your nominating.

MM

[leeclose]

the HMS Royal oak has to be one of hem sunk at Scapa flow on October 14, 1939. with the loss of 833 lives ive also attached a sonar image of her as she lies it seems to be one of the greatest feats of the U-boats but such a tragic loss of life.

Plus she is an offical War grave and is still leaking Fuel oil more than 65+ years later. When she was sunk, while providing anti-aircraft protection for Kirkwall, it was laden with 3,000 tonnes of furnace oil. After the sinking, around 1,000 tonnes remained on board and has been slowly leaking ever since.

This prompted a rescue operation by the MoD's Salvage and Marine Operations branch, starting in 2001, which has so far tapped into some of the 70 fuel tanks and slowly extracted almost half of the remaining oil.

Of the 390 servicemen who survived, only around a dozen are still alive, most in their 80s. It is a night that Robert Edmunds, now 88 and living in Hull, will never forget.

The crew of the U-47 must have thought xmas had come and no doubt Priens most prodigous sinking for the whole of WW2.
Prien described the devastation in his log: "After three tense minutes comes the detonation… There is a loud explosion, roar and rumbling. Then come columns of water, followed by columns of fire and splinters fly through the air."

For Prien he received a heroes welcome back home while 833 families received thet telegram of fate to say a father/son/brother etc had died serving king and country probablu for me one of the Best and worst sinkings of WW2.

[Mush Martin]

I for one would rank Priens attack among the top ten
on Dash and Boldness alone. Never Mind the actual
effectiveness.

all of the sinkings submitted of course will usually involve deep
tragedy.

that is the sad and darkside of our fascination.
but I think for most here at subsim it is the situational
mental game of submarine operation that fascinate us
and consume us. I am not given to the impression
that we are bloodthirsty. on the contrary as a matter
of fact as a community we seem to fairly consistently
try to remember the cost in lives.

[leeclose]

Yup mush we deffinatl;y know the diffrence between fact and fiction r more to the point having fun theres an old saying and its true "War is Hell" never a truer word spoken. Any way its gota be my fav sinking Prien had balls in my honest opinion

[Brag]

SH3 & GWX bring out a historical awarness and understanding difficult to achieve by other means alone (books,films, archives).

In a little way, we've been there.

[Warmonger]

I regularly check the "What happened on..." section over at uboat.net and click through the ships sunk or damaged especially in '44 or '45.

When I look at some of the locations where those ships have been torpedoed I always wonder "How on earth did the sub manage to do this?", sink ships in the Channel or in St. George's strait or close to the English coastline with all the planes, DDs, mines and whatever around.

So my nomination would be just about every ship sunk in late '44 or '45.

[Mush Martin]

Originally Posted by Brag

SH3 & GWX bring out a historical awarness and understanding difficult to achieve by other means alone (books,films, archives).

In a little way, we've been there.

That is exactly correct more so than books or movies we create a living
history here.

we are privelidged to understand the subject today in a way our fathers
never could.

this is why The Conservative Lobby that Strive for Historical Correctness
are so Important to this community.

I am quite likely viewed more as a pariah than a purist by the action Uberboot is getting. But Historical Correctness was the whole driving
force behind River Class frigate. The game was missing the second most
common commonwealth combatant. 136 ships needed to be put back into
the game. (Thanks again BBW)

I am a lover of subsims and have played them since 8bit nintendo but
I think of myself as a student of History first.

[Shaffer4]

Originally Posted by Mush Martin

I was Just reading the thread Crab Walk where they are talking about
the sinking of Wilhelm Gustloff.

Many or assumably most of us are familiar with the worst sinking of the war

But my question is what are the top ten sinkings of the war.

list some nominees and we will put up a poll.

arguments should be supported with info.
So post a blurb on the sinking your nominating.

MM

Watching History's Myteries on the History Channel about the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff. I'd say it definately falls under high contention for one of the top sinkings. I dunno about Dash (or Audacity) but they talk about the S-13 (russian sub) floating amidst the survivors while trying to push the 4th Torp which got stuck halfway out of the tube back in.

He also went on to sink the Steuben, a Hospital Ship with 4300 German Soldiers on her.

the patrol accounting for the greatest loss of life at sea, over 14,000 people

The Sub captain wound up rather scorned as he didn't fit the Communist Ideal of perfection (basically a stereotypical Salty Dog..). He went to prison in 1946 for allowing a friend to take bricks from a construction site.

[Jimbuna]

He went to prison in 1946 for allowing a friend to take bricks from a construction site.

A bit of poetic justice there....even if a little dilluted

[Mush Martin]

It was a conversation about the sinking of
Gustlaff that sort of inspired this thread
Im glad to see its been picked back up
I felt we didnt have enough entrants yet
for a fair review.

MM

[Shaffer4]

Originally Posted by jimbuna

A bit of poetic justice there....even if a little dilluted

Stalin was probably just jealous...

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Shaffer4

Stalin was probably just jealous...

Stalin just didn't want any opposition to his ideals

[Mush Martin]

stalin had a higher career score but maybe it was professional jealousy
after all it was a better single hour than stalin ever did the old fashioned
way.

It is remarkable how well the russians did considering the shape
of there instituitional knowledge after the purges.

the soviet/russian peoples are a great people as I have learned over
a few decades of studying the war.

They suffered much by the enemy and much by their own
leadership.

Regarding the thread I think that as I am trying to reduce the number
of projects Im doing and as I havent really gotten a new entrant
in the last two days that I will leave it for one last day for late entries
and then I will assemble the poll for voting tommorow.

MM


In light of recent experience I would gladly take some advice on which is
the best thread to post the poll itself on.

[leeclose]

Some people have all the luck LMAO:rotfl: