U Boat released early access.

[wodin]

U Boat

PC game of the boardgame U Boot.

[Zap]

That link did not work

[Aurelian]

ORIGINAL: Zap

That link did not work

https://store.steampowered.com/app/494840/UBOAT/

[Red2112]

Thanks for the info! Take my money [:D]

Red

[Rising-Sun]

ORIGINAL: Red2112

Thanks for the info! Take my money [:D]

Red

Got mine on wish list, game look interesting and want it too

[GaryChildress]

So on the topic of history, how successful (or not) were U-Boats in their efforts to strangle off supplies to Britain? I've heard mixed things about it now. It seems like the classic view is that the U-Boat war was a life and death struggle which came harrowingly close at times to having a pronounced effect on the war effort and then I've conversely heard views that the U-Boats were relatively ineffective overall in making much of a dent against supply lines. Is there a consensus somewhere out there on which it is? Were U-Boats an effective weapon or were they overrated?

[Kuokkanen]

ORIGINAL: GaryChildress

So on the topic of history, how successful (or not) were U-Boats in their efforts to strangle off supplies to Britain? I've heard mixed things about it now.

Lindybeige has made a video about it. To sum it up: it started well, but then doctrine was developed to counter it in efficient manner.

[stuart3]

Were U-Boats an effective weapon or were they overrated?

There were never enough of them. The numbers varied, but they were always governed by the Rule of Three. At any one time, one third of the total number of theoretically available U-Boats were in dock undergoing maintenance or repairs, one third were travelling to or returning from their patrol zone, and only the remaining third, minus the ones that Hitler insisted on stationing in the Mediterranean to blockade Malta, were actively patrolling the Atlantic convoy routes..

[wodin]

I was thinking how you must be abit crazy to be a submarine crew member. However with regards to Germany it does give you freedom from the regime. The death rate was appalling. Also what a horrible way to go. I imagine many killed themselves as the boat went down.

[TulliusDetritus]

ORIGINAL: wodin

I was thinking how you must be abit crazy to be a submarine crew member. [...] The death rate was appalling.

Indeed.

Gary, to be honest, the first part of the campaign was not a decisive struggle. The nazis knew (just like every one of us know) the British would never defeat alone the Germans in the continent. Harrassing here and there was the only option left to islanders. And that's what the sub campaign was too: harrassing here and there a potential harasser. They sank 13 million tons but supplies kept arriving, the population did not starve, the divisions, materiel amassed to open the second front.

Ergo they utterly failed. But Doenitz knew that too. A hardcore nazi à la Guderian et all but his memoirs are worth reading. It's worth noting that both sides made the very same mistake. Doenitz wanted very long range planes to patrol the ocean and thus improve the killings, and his British counterparts wanted planes diverted to Coastal Command to hunt and kill subs. Both demands were refused.

As a Silent Hunter fan, the game looks amazing from what I have seen on youtube.

[wodin]

Unfortunately after patch I'm getting crashes that didn't have before.

[CGGrognard]

You have to consider the supply lines to Russia in the Pacific also, and that the Axis didn't put forth any or much effort to stop them. Partly because of the severe sea conditions there, and just the vastness as well.

[TulliusDetritus]

ORIGINAL: CGGrognard
You have to consider the supply lines to Russia in the Pacific also, and that the Axis didn't put forth any or much effort to stop them. Partly because of the severe sea conditions there, and just the vastness as well.

Or the Indian Ocean: Iran?

The biggest idiocy of all was the Japanese doctrine. They totally ignored the US lines of communication. Necessarily very long and remote, therefore very vulnerable. The funny thing is their subs were in fact perfect for the task, big and long range.

Maybe it would not have made a big difference but if you can harass the enemy, just do it. That should have diverted resources, stopped the enemy from concentrating overwhelming forces.

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: CGGrognard

You have to consider the supply ...... in the Pacific also, and that the Axis didn't put forth any or much effort to stop them. Partly because of the severe sea conditions there, and just the vastness as well.

warspite1

Japanese submarines were as far from perfect for the task as its possible to get. Large, slow submerged speed, with excessive diving times, noisy underwater, poor manoeuvrability, low diving depth, outdated radar and acoustic equipment.

[Rising-Sun]

Of course they going to need to patch it several times to polish the game. One thing I really want to see, be able to play the Japanese Sub Sims. Too bad cant do that on Silent Service for the opposite side, get the feel what it is like.

[histgamer]

While effective at times, Germany came far closer to strangling Britain in WWI than WWII... Germany never was able to replicate their successes of WWI in WWII. They were far better at sinking ships in convoys in WWII but I'd argue Germany was never really that close to winning the U-Boat War in WWII.

Most historians I've read seem to suggest that while Germany had a few good periods that could have been decisive if that success had been sustained, Germany was never able to sustain it for anything close to long enough to actually be decisive or even threaten to be decisive. Drumbeat is a great example, crippling ship losses for the US off the US East Coast but they had no way to sustain that over more than a few months and so the success was short lived and in the end never really came close.

ORIGINAL: GaryChildress

So on the topic of history, how successful (or not) were U-Boats in their efforts to strangle off supplies to Britain? I've heard mixed things about it now. It seems like the classic view is that the U-Boat war was a life and death struggle which came harrowingly close at times to having a pronounced effect on the war effort and then I've conversely heard views that the U-Boats were relatively ineffective overall in making much of a dent against supply lines. Is there a consensus somewhere out there on which it is? Were U-Boats an effective weapon or were they overrated?

[TulliusDetritus]

For some weird cosmic force the Japanese managed to hit and sink some of the most valuable and protected ships in the theatre: CVs. Saratoga hit, Wasp sunk. Slow merchants had nothing to fear from these "obsolete machines", nah, not in one million years.

[GaryChildress]

ORIGINAL: TulliusDetritus

For some weird cosmic force the Japanese managed to hit and sink some of the most valuable and protected ships in the theatre: CVs. Saratoga hit, Wasp sunk. Slow merchants had nothing to fear from these "obsolete machines", nah, not in one million years.

They must have had the "Japanese Sub Doctrine" toggle switched to the "on" position. [:D]

[Blond_Knight]

At least in port it ran terribly for me, better performance once I was at sea. My issue was I ran all the way to Gibraltar before I encountered the enemy, and promptly sunk by an aircraft. The world just seemed kinda empty. Maybe I was ignoring contacts?

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: GaryChildress

ORIGINAL: TulliusDetritus

For some weird cosmic force the Japanese managed to hit and sink some of the most valuable and protected ships in the theatre: CVs. Saratoga hit, Wasp sunk. Slow merchants had nothing to fear from these "obsolete machines", nah, not in one million years.

They must not have had the "Japanese Sub Doctrine" toggle switched to the "on" position. [:D]

warspite1

Lol. Nothing to fear......

Now of course what needs to be supposed here is that the Japanese get a grip on the importance of attacking merchant shipping - effectively turning Japanese Sub Doctrine er... on or off or whatever it requires to change Japanese thinking [;)]. This is a big 'what if' in itself, but even if they did, the US are going to react to it with their escort carriers and ASW skills being developed in the North Atlantic.

What did the Japanese submarines achieve? Almost 200 boats sinking a couple of CV and a couple of cruisers. They sank less than 200 merchant ships equating to less than 1m GRT. Not exactly an impressive return is it given the target?

Would the Japanese have had more success if they had recognised the importance of attacking merchant shipping? Of course, that is a given - particularly in the first year of the Pacific War. But to suggest they would have been perfect for the task is wrong and even more wrong to even hint that the USN would not have taken appropriate steps to counter.