Type XXI.

This is coolbert:

From a comment to the blog:

"if the Germans would have gotten more of the the XXI in service it would have MASSIVELY changed the war,imagine a U-boat that was faster underwater than on the surface! The XXI could launch 6 torpedoes and reload all 6 in the same time it takes the crew to load 1 on a type VII/C."

This is of course, the German Type XXI submarine. The Electro-boat.



"Ex-German submarine U-3008 of Type XXI was taken over by the US Navy after 1945 and used as a test vessel. Photo from 15 April, 1948."

Innovative and advanced submarine design that could have been a war-winning measure for the German, if manufactured in numbers and sent to sea in time. The Battle of the Atlantic could have gone AGAINST the allied forces, if this particular class of submarine had been available at the time.

"Type XXI U-boats, also known as "Elektroboote", were the first submarines designed to operate entirely submerged . . . They were revolutionary when introduced and, if produced earlier and in sufficient quantity, could have seriously influenced the outcome of the Battle of the Atlantic."

Were FASTER UNDERWATER THAN ON THE SURFACE. ALL OTHER SUBMARINE DESIGNS AT THE TIME BEING THE OPPOSITE - - FAST ON THE SURFACE, SLOW UNDERWATER.

Revolutionary submersible boats that could, with "der schnorkel", operate more or less submerged during an entire voyage!

AND DID NOT HAVE TO GO TO PERISCOPE DEPTH AND VISUALLY OBTAIN A "SOLUTION" FOR FIRING ON TARGETS!! USED AN ADVANCED SONAR AND HYDROPHONE [??] SYSTEM FOR DETERMINING TARGET "SOLUTION"!!

"The XXI featured an advanced sonar system which allowed aiming torpedoes without using the periscope, increasing stealth."

Greatly influenced subsequent submarine design. Designs such as:

* "the USS Nautilus, the world's first nuclear submarine"
* "the USS Albacore, the first submarine with a teardrop hull"
* "the French Narval class submarine"
* "the British Porpoise class submarine"
* "the Soviet submarine classes known by the NATO reporting names Zulu and Whiskey"

Indeed, is is reputed that Admiral Rickover took one look at the German Type XXI and said "good to go" when the decision was made to build the Nautilus. The hull and design of the Nautilus compare very closely to the XXI??

Innovative design also in that the Type XXI was built from prefabricated sections, "final assembly taking place at the shipyards"! Sections of each boat built at a different location, each section shipped by barge to a shipyard where final assembly was accomplished.

"The hulls were constructed from 8 prefabricated sections with final assembly taking place at the shipyards"

This "modular assembly" was copied from the German automobile industry, and used at the behest of Albert Speer. By that period of the war, Speer was undoubtedly very worried about the allied strategic bomber offensive, and concerned, rightly so, that one massive strike could cripple submarine manufacture indefinitely. Modular construction makes sense when taking into account a massed strike by allied aircraft??

"Albert Speer's insistence that the sections be made by inland companies, even though these had little experience in naval construction"

coolbert.