The conning tower and navigation bridge that comes with it is not two inches. More like the side of a barn.
And, yet again,
they are not on the surface. So I don't give a tinker's damn how easy it is to spot something
completely submerged, because doing it through water is effectively impossible.
Detectable by 1942 radar at a range of ~ 8,000 meters.
And what kind of moron exposes 4' of periscope, ever? And leaves it up for long enough an escort gets a fix? And, even given detection, what makes you think the U-boat
remains on that spot? (That's not just stupid, that's suicidal.
) If there's more than a foot of periscope exposed for more than about 10 sec (& that's a long damn exposure!), I'd say he deserves to be sunk.
any faster and the periscope shaft bends, jamming it in the UP position
What kind of moron runs at any speed with the periscope up?
Christ, the feather it would throw off is begging for a half-blind nitwit in an escort to shoot at it.
Also you have to slow down to almost hover to fire rockets or launch torpedoes in a WW II boat.
So slow down after you've taken sightings, duh...
And, yet again, you seem to think the boat is visible through 20' of water: 'scope shears are not awash at periscope depth, sorry to say.
You mean the flame diverters and exhaust baffles bubbling away like mad as the launcher is raised from its shelter? Of course it is flow noise. It is popcorn in the headphones.
So it's not the grinding of the launch mechanism that provides the transient? Which is it, then?
Which raises 2 questions: how fast can the launcher be elevated? And if the goal is to shoot an escort, can the launcher put 5 rounds into the waterline at 500m?
Can't launch at 6 knots. More like < 2 knots (rockets are fragile things), and THAT takes time to slow down and speed up.
Even at 2kt, you're chasing a moving target. And if the goal is to shoot an escort, even 2kt is enough to put broadside on.
Escort is faster and it doesn't have to guess.
So how, exactly, does the escort know exactly where the boat moves to
after the transient? Without gaining sonar contact first? (It does take time to gain contact, after all.) While the escort is searching, I'd be maneuvering to get broadside on & shoot him. My money's on the U-boat, with initiative, getting the shot first.
Of course I know that story, but the USS Growler I was discussing is a GRAYBACK I know about. a sub that can launch a Regulus missile. She is is SSG 577 and she was never bombed or strafed.
You were talking about attacks by Japan. Since no Regulus-armed boat was even a gleam in Rickover's eye in WW2, I could hardly have known you were thinking of one, could I?
Incidentally that ramming is exactly the kind of result I would expect from a lunatic rocket attack on a convoy escort.
Just how deep do you think the draft of a corvette is?
Since you appear not to understand the meaning of "periscope depth".
Also, I'm unaware
Growler was lost to ramming, since Blair makes no mention of the cause being certain.
This, based on DANFS, suggests sunk by escort, but not how.
I do make mistakes and own them.
Could they? Ever hear of the hammer and anvil? And why was CUTIE successful against Japanese destroyers?
As I recall, Cutie couldn't exceed the top speed of a Type XXI. And I'd wager a DD can't turn fast enough to avoid.
Not to mention the likelihood of U-boats deploying CM.
It is not the speed of the launch platform, it is the speed and reach of the weapon. Why assume that the Wallies will not learn afresh: bracketing, sonar lashing, drive down and persistence? Adapt to the faster escape speeds and keep after them.
What part of "not enough escorts" was unclear?
And besides with rockets the dumb sub has signed its death warrant with a bullseye and a sitting duck posture anyway.
What part of "not sitting still at any point in this" was (is!) unclear?
Here is the hint; how fast can the Type XXI U-boat accelerate and dive from 2 knots and 40' to keel after rocket launch to its final op-depth and speed versus how fast the depth charges and torpedoes arrive? About 2 minutes. That ='s dead boat in 1943.
And just how close do you expect to launch those torpedoes from? 1500yd? 3000? More? So you really want a stern chase against a target that's as fast as the torpedo, & give it a big head start, with a torpedo that has limited endurance? So the U-boat only has to stay ahead of it a matter of minutes for it to run out of fuel... Yep, that's lethal.
Hedgehog you really do need to localize the target, first, within about 200m, so that takes time, & it's not like the boat's just sitting there waiting for you to find it, under that transient, or the smoke trail. (Unless the skipper's a halfwit
)
Depth charges... Same as Hedgehog, only moreso.
I-400, about 6000 tonnes submerged.
Yes, bigger, which is what I said.
Here is your problem. The best way to load cargo on a sub is containerize it. No cargo hatches. Put the stuff in pressure resistant cans and mount it externally.
You'll notice, that was my preferred option. (I have some concern about flooding & sail effect, but...) The length & beam of the carrier boat are obvious limits to the size of container pod. Ideally, some variety of quick-release would be fitted, too.
