WWII Capital Ships

Nergal said:
ok here we go best ship of them all the USS Flasher SS 249 sank more tonnage of ships than any other sub in WW2 accounting for 132383 tons of ships the conning tower of this boat now sits at teh WW2 sub memorial in groton conn with a wall listing the 3500 men who died in subs during ww2
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First up, this thread is about capital ships, and as far as I know, nobody considers subs to be capital ships (though I reserve the right to be wrong ;)).
Second, the USS Flasher most certainly did not sink more tonnage than any other sub in WWII. The U-107 sank a total of 217.786 tonnes, which is double that of the Flasher's confirmed sinkings (which range between 100,000 and 104,000 depending on where you look). Indeed, the U-48 sank 307,935 tonnes (triple the Flasher's sinkings). In short, the Flasher can go sit on a pack of ice somewhere :p.
 
Haha, a little pro-Nazi are you? Just kidding, I was about to say the same thing, the german u-boats were much more effective than any others in the oceans by far. Still, one thing to note...it takes a special kind of person to serve on a sub, I certainly don't think I could do it. Another thing...lots of subs got sunk by fighters so like everything in life, there is counter-balance for everything.
 
I believe in the theory "...the right tool for the right job...". Whatever else warships might be, old or new, they are tools. You don't hammer nails into a wall with a screw driver, even though the screw driver is a far more effective killing instrument. History has shown us repeatedly that firepower always eventually comes out over defense, and that developing technology allows for greater firepower on a smaller platform. But, regardless, all instruments have their place. One particle beam sattelite could kill an entire carrier group or infantry division from orbit (a debate on whether we have this technology now or not is irrelevant, only because if we don't have it now, we will have it soon). You still will need troops on the ground, ships in the harbours, subs on patrol and fighters in the air. And yes, Marines will need local heavy fire support.

So where one tool may appear to become obsolete over another, it in effect is just changing its role. Tell modern day fighter pilots that they are obsolete because of UAV technology.

Subs have their place like any other warship. While they are not considered capital ships (neither technically are cruisers, destroyers and frigates). I welcome their inclusion on this thread. Although, I don't believe any tool is superior or inferior to another, just different.
 
TopGun said:
And don't forget that the US only captured ONE U-Boat and it was towards the end of the end. Whatever U-571 says
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I think that there was one that came back to port after the war was over and surrendered, it was one of the latest models, was equipped with a snorkel, and was the largest class ever built. Guess I'll have to look up some info on them. :)

The one I read about was a Type XXI. Pretty cool boat. :D
 
Read into the US subs in the pacific they were pretty much all that stood between US soil and the japanese fleet after pearl harbor
 
Ripper said:
I think that there was one that came back to port after the war was over and surrendered, it was one of the latest models, was equipped with a snorkel, and was the largest class ever built. Guess I'll have to look up some info on them. :)
The one I read about was a Type XXI. Pretty cool boat.
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Well, pretty much all the surviving U-Boots surrendered after the war, but that's not quite the same thing as getting captured ;).

(and yeah, Type XXI was pretty neat indeed... very hard to detect, thanks to their rubber coating)

An interesting little side-note about snorkels... the Germans started using them midway through the war. The Dutch, meanwhile, had them way back in 1939. However, when the remaining Dutch submarines fled to Britain (after the Germans invaded Holland), the British ordered the snorkels dismantled, claiming that they were too dangerous... some people just can't appreciate innovation :p.
 
Nergal said:
Read into the US subs in the pacific they were pretty much all that stood between US soil and the japanese fleet after pearl harbor
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The surviving dreadnoughts from Pearl Harbor: Maryland and Pennsylvania; along with the New Mexico-class Battleships New Mexico, Mississippi, and Idaho which weren't present on December 7th, plus the USS Colorado (BB-45) which was at Pudget Sound during the attack all formed a Task Force that patrolled the West Coast of the United States.

The Fast Battleships North Carolina and Washington were diverted from the Atlantic.

The carriers Lexington, Saratoga, Yorktown and Enterprise were raiding up and down the Eastern Pacific.

The carriers Wasp and Hornet came online soon thereafter along with the completion of the South Dakota-class Fast Battleships.

There were also plenty of hevy cruisers from the Salt Lake City, Northampton, Portland and New Orleans-classes deployed. Along with many Omaha, Brooklyn and the new Atlanta-class Light Cruisers in different Task Forces.

Actually, all-in-all, Pearl Harbor was very bad, but it didn't by any means destroy the US ability to project naval power in the Pacific. Incidetally, all of the American BBs sunk in the Harbor were refloated and deployed for service in WWII with the exception of the Arizona, Oklahoma and the old gunnery training vessel Utah.
 
Quarto said:
Well, pretty much all the surviving U-Boots surrendered after the war, but that's not quite the same thing as getting captured ;).
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Nit pick, nit pick.
 
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