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As the title says, I want to explore the earliest that a SUBMARINE can actually be built and operated. When I say submarine in all caps, I am referring to a submersible vessel that is designed and built to operate primarily submerged, so all pre WWII sub classes are excluded, and most every WWII sub class with the exception of the type XXI (with snorkel) are also excluded. Some interesting historical sub classes are linked too below, both to show what was possible and when OTL, and to get folks thinking along the lines I want to explore.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_submarine_Deutschland
Launched in just 5 months, and on her maiden voyage in 8, carrying 750 tons of cargo. Took 22 days from the states to Germany.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_XXI_submarine
Has a submerged speed more than three times faster than the cargo sub did, and could do 1.5 times its surfaced speed, while submerged (although I don't have any info if that was a sustainable speed rather than a short duration, high speed dash type of thing):p

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-400-class_submarine
The I 400's were built to be able to make a round trip to any location on the planet, without needing to refuel. They were also about three times the size of either German sub.

So what I am looking for here is, something like a purpose built non-combatant submarine, on the scale of the I 400 class, but with the type XXI class speed/sustainable submerged capability, that can carry say 2000+ tons of cargo per trip. This is based upon the cargo subs ability to haul 750 tons on a total displacement of some 2200 tons, so something 3 times bigger should get right about that, as it's cargo capacity.

Any thoughts?

My focus is on non-combat roles for submarines, and here I could see cargo, troop transport, and tanker roles being filled
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