Why dont american subs have german like conning towers?

[Sawdust]

[quote=John Pancoast]

Originally Posted by Ghostieguide

Well, since the "U" in "u-boat" stood for a German word, I think it's safe to say that American boats weren't called "u-boats."

Here is a quote from Winston Churchill on the subject:
Enemy submarines are to be called "U-boats." The term "submarine" is to be reserved for Allied underwater vessels. U-boats are those dastardly villains who sink our ships, while submarines are those gallant and noble craft which sink theirs. --Winston Churchill

[Sawdust]

Originally Posted by Torplexed

I think he meant Mahan. Alfred Thayer Mahan.

You can get some free (public-domain) electronic copies of naval books by Mahan here: http://manybooks.net/authors/mahana.html

[Capt. D]

Touching base to the original question on this thread "Why don't American subs have a German like conning tower?

It may be a size difference to the actual conning tower which of course dictated the size of the fairweather surrounding the tower and the bridge configuration, along with the length of our scopes vs U-Boats - as our periscope depth was at 65 ft.

But take a look at the U-505's conning tower at her web site in the virtual tour:

http://www.msichicago.org/exhibit/U505/index.html

then go to the USS Cod site:

http://www.usscod.org/

or the USS Pampanito site:

http://www.maritime.org/pamphome.htm

and take their virtual tours of the conning towers. There is a huge difference between the equipment inside the German tower vs the US towers. Along with at least 7-10 men in the tower during the attack the US boats had a larger tower hence more fairweather/bridge/periscope shears areas. Our shears not only housed the scopes but we had lookout stands there for better visability and our radar (SJ and SD) standards were located there also. Different set up totally.

Happy Hunting

[Kruger]

The interior of USS Cod is astonishing. Really...it's a huge difference...it's alot more comfortable that a U-Boot.


I've seen the pictures, it's a magnificent boat...really. I'm sure that today, it would still make a beautiful sailing vessel, and it would be able to operate (even by today's sub standards) wuth success. After all...diese-electric subs have some advantages over the nuke ones.


I look forward to skippering such beauty in SH4.

[Deamon]

Why would they do this? What's the benefit?

Becose the longer the periscope is the higher is the sea state in that you can still operate savely at PD

A logical consiquence for boats that are made for oceanic operations. In the ocean the waves are much higher, you know ?

What a spoiler when you cannot attack a target becose the sea is to heavy.

Deamon

[AVGWarhawk]

If you are in Baltimore. Check out the Torsk.

http://www.hnsa.org/ships/torsk.htm

She did not have the painted teeth during the war but this is how she looks today. She is still afloat and is a blast to explore inside. She sunk the last ship by the Navy during WWII.

[Respenus]

I know this is OT, but lets face it. U-Boats had style

Submarines are just damn ugly with their conning tower

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by John Pancoast

Fwiw, there was/is phospherescence in the Atlantic too. Saw a video clip with some u-boat skipper (Kretschmer maybe ?) where they mentioned it.

I just noticed this. I've read the account of the sinking of U-47, and one of the British destroyermen said that apparently they had damaged one of the boat's propellors, and they could hear odd noises on the hydrophones, and he said that they could see the phosphorescence from the damaged prop deep down in the water.

[Deamon]

I just noticed this. I've read the account of the sinking of U-47, and one of the British destroyermen said that apparently they had damaged one of the boat's propellors, and they could hear odd noises on the hydrophones, and he said that they could see the phosphorescence from the damaged prop deep down in the water.

Didn't he turned that damaged prop off ?

[John Pancoast]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

I just noticed this. I've read the account of the sinking of U-47, and one of the British destroyermen said that apparently they had damaged one of the boat's propellors, and they could hear odd noises on the hydrophones, and he said that they could see the phosphorescence from the damaged prop deep down in the water.

In reading Blair's first volume, there's several skippers who noted it also to be common off the coast of Florida during Drumbeat, etc. too.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Deamon

Didn't he turned that damaged prop off ?

Obviously not. Maybe he was desperate to get as deep as possible as quickly as possible. I'll try to get the full quote tomorrow.

[Sailor Steve]

Got it!

From the log of HMS Wolverine, Lt. Commander Jim Rowland (I've done a lot of shortening and paraphrasing for the sake of time and space):

0023: Smoke was seen resembling diesel exhaust and hydrophone effect was reported on the same bearing a moment later. Course altered and speed increased to 18 knots.

0026: Wake sighted and Wolverine increased to 22 knots.

0029: U-boat spotted, "Full Speed Ahead" ordered. Fellow escort fired starshell, U-boat dived.

0044: U-boat detected with ASDIC, depth-charge attack started. Attack lasted more than an hour.

0320: Searchlight revealed oil slick in water.

0400: Hydrophones detected loud propellor noises. Assumed U-boat had surfaced and making high speed. Large oil track spotted, 50 feet wide.

0514: Large rumbling noises heard; assumed depth charge had knocked propellor out of alignment.

0519: U-boat sighted, increased to full speed ordered "Stand by to ram!"

0522: U-boat submerged. Considerable cavitation could be seen from her propellors.

Now phosphorescence seen around submarine, about 50 feet down. "A rush of bubbles was creating a patch of disturbed water and leading out of it was a V-shaped track, about 20 yards in length. Having served some six years in submarines it is my firm conviction that the latter was caused by air escaping from the bow buoyancy vent and that I could see the bubbles underwater near the point of emission. The large patch gave me the impression of air from the main ballast vents with possibly some phosphorescence around the conning tower".

10 depth charges were dropped around the area of the visible bubbles.

0543: Large explosion shattered the surface. An orange light could be seen under the water, lasting 10 seconds.


Thus it seems that Prien was using both engines in a desparate attempt to escape, and did not submerge until the destroyer was very close.