kham wrote:The Submarine Service gets short shrift on just about every aspect of the war; from movies to writing. Despite sinking over 6 Million Tons of Japanese shipping, and slaughtering a large percentage of the Imperial Navy. If it wasnt for submarine movies, no one would know a damn thing. Even now, you mention "Mk14 Torpedo Scandal" and you get a WUT look of empty-headed retardation. Aint Political coverups great??
Fluckey knew about other submariners, notably Otto Kretschmer and how he employed his U-Boat. And a US Fleet boat is far faster on the surface than a Type VIIC.
The Bliss-Leavitt Mark XIV were horrible in the early war. The Mark XIIIs (Aircraft launched) were just as bad... The Earlier versions required dropping from not more than 100 feet and not more than 120 kts. The TBD devastators excelled at this as their top speed wasn't really much more than that, but it was what got them killed at Midway. More often than not they either wound up running on the surface, or not running at all. Late war modifications (1944 and later) allowed drops from as high as 2400 feet and as fast as 410 knots...