Surcouf-type submarines - hypothetical question...

Say one has a submarine like the historical Surcouf (2x8" guns) in a WW2-ish timeframe.

If her magazine included several dozen chemical or biological weapons shells, would she make a credible deterrence/terror weapon?

If she were to surface at night, off a port or city, and spend five minutes shooting these projectiles into the target, what sort of effect might she have on the place?

An unpleasant scenario, certainly, but is it technically feasible?
 
Feasable, yes.
Effective, not so much. Chemical warfare requires a lot of rounds to reach 'effective' concentrations, and the low rate of fire of Surcouf and similar ships wouldn't accomplish much.
Biological warfare has its own issues. As a terror weapon, it would be just as effective to lob a dozen HE rounds into city limits. Or better, White Phosphorus.
 
hg wells got there first on this one

if you find a copy of HG Well,s the shape of things to come which describes a world war lasting for a few decades, he describes terror submarines doing what you describe, if your interested i think there are a few on line versions you can find. It describes large raider subs used to attack with poison gas, you might find it in what is something of a confusing book.
 
Wouldn't it be simpler too just have poison gas on the subs deck?

Surface at night with the wind blowing towards the shore, press the button to release the gas, submerge and sail off. That being said, I know little to nothing about chemical weapons in general, so I might be wrong.

Alternately, a load of incendiary rockets could be a good solution.
 
Given the roasting that U boats got from maritime aircraft a WMD Surcouf might get away with attacking a city once. It is unlikely to get a second opportunity. The best place for a submarine to attack a target is when submerged.
 
Given the roasting that U boats got from maritime aircraft a WMD Surcouf might get away with attacking a city once. It is unlikely to get a second opportunity. The best place for a submarine to attack a target is when submerged.
Well, with WW2 tech. Depends on whether you actually want to hit anything.
 
DoomBunny said:
a load of incendiary rockets could be a good solution.
That's more my thinking, too. A surfaced sub is enormously vulnerable. Better if she carries a deckload of rockets in waterproof canisters, launches them all in a salvo (like an LCTR) from awash, & runs.

Gas or fire warheads, IMO, this still isn't going to amount to more than a nuisance weapon. Not unless you can target a specific target, like the St Nazaire docks or the interior of the sub pens, or the Navy Yard at Portsmouth or Pearl, or maybe the Panama Canal.
 
The trouble with this idea is that the next night you're likely to find squadrons of enemy bombers over the nearest feasable target to the attacked country loaded with poison gas bombs.
 
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