Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Aircraft and Vehicles => Topic started by: SMIDSY on December 18, 2005, 02:56:46 AM
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In my endless free time, I found this interesting goodie on a website about U-boats. It is a "Flak-Unterseeboot". it is armed with 2 quad 20mm mounts and a 37mm. it was designed to escort standard U-Boats and protect them from allied air cover. I havent found any information about their effectiveness against aircraft though.
(http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/4305-bilder/u441/u441.jpg)
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While i have no exact numbers at hand right now, i can say that the overall effectiveness of this measure was quite low. There were some spectacular successes, especially when such boats first showed up in 1943. But a small submarine makes a bad and unstable firing platform, constantly rolling and stompin in any but the calmes sea states. To fight it out with one ore more bombers was in fact a desperate measure by by the german navy, as the uboats were more frequently caught on the surface by radar equipped planes with no time to crashdive to a safe depth. In absence of any "true" submarines, there was the choice of a) fighting back or/and b) install a snorkel. In the long run, the snorkel was FAR better for survival than mounting additional flaks, even if it severly limited the tactical and operational capabilities of that boats.
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ahh, never fully trust your own memories ;)
According to this page (http:///http://www.uboat.net/history/aircraft_losses.htm) , 125 aircraft were shot down by 91 uboats. On the other hand, 31 submarines were sunk during the attack or shortly after. Comparing the cost and strategic value of a fully manned uboat and a typical patrol bomber, it was a bargain for the allies...
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Try this:
http://www.uboat.net
Nice site ;)
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yah, thats where i got most of the info.