I can't figure out why, before they lost so many Boats, they didn't put a team of boats together tasked with destroying the destroyers, and protective craft.
Destroyers are too fast, manoeuvrable, have specialised detection equipment and weapons to attack submarines. The odds of survival are very much against the subs in such battles. And destroyers can be produced faster than subs are likely to sink them.
The U-boats were charged with the task of strangling the UK by cutting off its sea-borne supplies. Intercepting the materials of war was of foremost strategic value. At the outset, U-boat losses were minimal and allied losses rocketed because the allies simply had no effective means of combatting submarine stealth. Initially ships were unescorted and U-boats could pick them off on the surface using their deck guns. But then allies fitted guns to merchantmen. Eventually, the convoy system was adopted, but no specialised escort was available and little more than glorified mine-sweepers were used. Then, an attempt was made to improve things using corvettes, such as the flower-class ships. even so, U-boats had the edge. As the loss of merchantmen soared, destroyers were adopted as well, but they were thinly stretched in numbers. Finally, a dedicated escort - the frigate - fitted the bill. In the meantime, detection systems drastically improved, weapons systems and tactics likewise advanced, the Enigma code were broken, and air-cover became almost universal. Allied anti-submarine defence simply leapfrogged German attempts to counter it. Germany never had enough U-boats to do as you suggest. In the early stages of the Battle of The Atlantic, U-boat successes were such that the escorts were of little or no threat. These were the submariners "Happy Times". Hitler meanwhile was obsessed with beating the Royal Navy at its own game, with powerful surface ships like Bismarck, Scharnhorst, Tirpitz et al. He was less interested in submarines. Only when Bismarck and Scharnhorst were lost did he turn to U-boats, but by then it was too late. Towards the end of the war, the Germans did indeed develop a specialised submarine - the Type XXI. This was a whole new ship. But it came too little too late. By then the allies were routinely carpet-bombing German factories and docks and it had to be fabricated piecemeal with all the sections delivered for final assembly. Few were completed and I don't believe any saw combat service. Though its design set the template for submarines for the next 20 years
Just remember a few points, one yes the U Boats were a problem, and yes we lost ships to them. The US alone produced more trans Atlantic specialized escorts than the Axis produced subs. Not counting escort carriers, long range bombers, and destroyers. And the reality was that much of that production effort was not going to deal with Uboats. Part of the Authors problem was he was focused on what he was doing, so he could see the improvements were great, but could never come fast enough or in sufficient volume. If the Uboats became more of a problem the British could divert it's entire night bomber program if necessary. Also to be fair, he was projecting his view of technical progress in Uboats to other wonder weapons, without thinking that over 40 years of progress on Uboats got them to that point. also France was next door to Spain, and ironically ended up being a quasi black market gateway to imports from Spain and Portugal. Ironically that black market (both the NAZI "regulated" side and the actual black market, )was basically what kept france afloat untill 1944, despite the hemorage to Nazi Germany.
Interesting/informative/entertaining. Excellent photography picture 📷of the U-Boat leaving the harbor. Wonder if the crew returned to a celebratory return -??? Fortunately for the allies arrogant/disillusioned admiral doughnuts 🍩. Refused to come to terms with the fact that Bletchley park broke the enigma code. Sending submariner crews to " King 👑Neptune " seabed.😇😇😇😇. There was never a shortage of fresh U-Boats crews. The U-Boat captains given the U-boats missions. Should not have been radioed while at sea. Thus giving away it's position/to allied radio trackers.
How could Doenitz “come to terms” with something he didn’t know had happened? He was an Admiral, not a telepath and the code breaking was a well-kept secret.
Donitz ordered several inquiries into code failure and compromised orders. They thought adding another rotor to the enigma machines would eliminate any small chance of allied code breaking. The time to read the new enigma was only short,and direction finding was being improved by the allies. The Germans lost the technology war,and the submarine sailors paid for it.
“…in the year one thousand, nine hundred and forty three…” Another GD robot narrator. I wish people would stop making these. I won’t be able to watch anything from this channel if it’s all like this.
Great series of vids,thank you.
Exceptional U-boat captain whose experience saved them from relentless depth charges and bombs.
Thank you for these reminders of the human cost of war.
Like your audiobooks😊
43? Wow, these guys had some balls.
This has been a great story
Man these uboat stories are so sketchy. I couldn’t imagine living in those claustrophobic death traps for weeks at a time
The too frequent ads make this difficult to listen to.
"Iron Coffins" H. Werner
Thank you
why can't AI guy say the damm year right.lol
I can't figure out why, before they lost so many Boats, they didn't put a team of boats together tasked with destroying the destroyers, and protective craft.
Destroyers are too fast, manoeuvrable, have specialised detection equipment and weapons to attack submarines. The odds of survival are very much against the subs in such battles. And destroyers can be produced faster than subs are likely to sink them.
The U-boats were charged with the task of strangling the UK by cutting off its sea-borne supplies. Intercepting the materials of war was of foremost strategic value. At the outset, U-boat losses were minimal and allied losses rocketed because the allies simply had no effective means of combatting submarine stealth. Initially ships were unescorted and U-boats could pick them off on the surface using their deck guns. But then allies fitted guns to merchantmen. Eventually, the convoy system was adopted, but no specialised escort was available and little more than glorified mine-sweepers were used. Then, an attempt was made to improve things using corvettes, such as the flower-class ships. even so, U-boats had the edge. As the loss of merchantmen soared, destroyers were adopted as well, but they were thinly stretched in numbers. Finally, a dedicated escort - the frigate - fitted the bill.
In the meantime, detection systems drastically improved, weapons systems and tactics likewise advanced, the Enigma code were broken, and air-cover became almost universal. Allied anti-submarine defence simply leapfrogged German attempts to counter it.
Germany never had enough U-boats to do as you suggest. In the early stages of the Battle of The Atlantic, U-boat successes were such that the escorts were of little or no threat. These were the submariners "Happy Times". Hitler meanwhile was obsessed with beating the Royal Navy at its own game, with powerful surface ships like Bismarck, Scharnhorst, Tirpitz et al. He was less interested in submarines. Only when Bismarck and Scharnhorst were lost did he turn to U-boats, but by then it was too late.
Towards the end of the war, the Germans did indeed develop a specialised submarine - the Type XXI. This was a whole new ship. But it came too little too late. By then the allies were routinely carpet-bombing German factories and docks and it had to be fabricated piecemeal with all the sections delivered for final assembly. Few were completed and I don't believe any saw combat service. Though its design set the template for submarines for the next 20 years
Who calls 1943 "One thousand nine hundred and fortythree"?
Is this a book ?
Herbert Werner's "Iron Coffins." I think..
Just remember a few points, one yes the U Boats were a problem, and yes we lost ships to them.
The US alone produced more trans Atlantic specialized escorts than the Axis produced subs. Not counting escort carriers, long range bombers, and destroyers. And the reality was that much of that production effort was not going to deal with Uboats. Part of the Authors problem was he was focused on what he was doing, so he could see the improvements were great, but could never come fast enough or in sufficient volume. If the Uboats became more of a problem the British could divert it's entire night bomber program if necessary. Also to be fair, he was projecting his view of technical progress in Uboats to other wonder weapons, without thinking that over 40 years of progress on Uboats got them to that point.
also France was next door to Spain, and ironically ended up being a quasi black market gateway to imports from Spain and Portugal. Ironically that black market (both the NAZI "regulated" side and the actual black market, )was basically what kept france afloat untill 1944, despite the hemorage to Nazi Germany.
I’m starting to think these were the good guys.
You guys are down heroes all all I can say
Interesting/informative/entertaining. Excellent photography picture 📷of the U-Boat leaving the harbor. Wonder if the crew returned to a celebratory return -??? Fortunately for the allies arrogant/disillusioned admiral doughnuts 🍩. Refused to come to terms with the fact that Bletchley park broke the enigma code. Sending submariner crews to " King 👑Neptune " seabed.😇😇😇😇. There was never a shortage of fresh U-Boats crews. The U-Boat captains given the U-boats missions. Should not have been radioed while at sea. Thus giving away it's position/to allied radio trackers.
How could Doenitz “come to terms” with something he didn’t know had happened? He was an Admiral, not a telepath and the code breaking was a well-kept secret.
Donitz ordered several inquiries into code failure and compromised orders. They thought adding another rotor to the enigma machines would eliminate any small chance of allied code breaking. The time to read the new enigma was only short,and direction finding was being improved by the allies. The Germans lost the technology war,and the submarine sailors paid for it.
“…in the year one thousand, nine hundred and forty three…”
Another GD robot narrator.
I wish people would stop making these.
I won’t be able to watch anything from this channel if it’s all like this.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_submarine_U-415 Spoiler alert do not read if you don't want to know how it ends for U-415