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Type II (1934)


U 2 in Kiel, 1935

A small submarine for coastal operations. It had 1 hull and a inner ballast tank for fast submerging. This type is named "II" but it actually was the first type build in Germany after WW1. This submarine is related to the finnish Vesikko, which was build by german engineers in Finland during the treaty of Versailles. They were small submarines with a great maneuverability and a short range. Many improvements were made over the years, which led to 4 "Ausführungen": A,B,C,D. Also the design was changed a bit from year to year.


You already know this picture from the first post: the plans of the type II class

The production of this type was stopped after 1941 because the other types of high sea U-boats like VII and IX were more important. They were used mostly in the coastal water around Germany, the english channel in 1939/40 and later against the Soviet Union in the Baltic Sea in the summer 1941. Many were also used as training submarines for the new crews. Some of the managed to get through the east european channels in the Black Sea where they disturbed the supply of the Red Army (for example the siege of Sewastopol) until 1944. Most of the type II U-boats were sunk by their own crews at the end of the war.

• crew: 25
  
• shipyard: Deutsch Werke, Kiel and Krupp Germania Werft, Kiel
  
• displacement: 253 ts to 314 ts surfaced, 303 ts to 364 ts submerged (A-D)
  
• length: 40,9m (IIA); 42,7m (IIB); 43,9m (IIC); 44m (IID)
  
• width: 4,1m (IIA and IIB); 4,2m (IIC); 4,9m (IID)
  
• depth: 3,8m (IIA); 3,9m (IIB); 3,8m (IIC); 3,9m (IID)
  
• maximal depht: 120m
  
• fuel: 12 ts (IIA); 21 ts (IIB); 23 ts (IIC); 38 ts (IID)
  
• fastest submerging: 35 to 25 seconds
  
• engine: 2 Diesel MWM, 2 E-motors
  
• engine performance: 700 ps surfaced (all); 360 ps (IIA, IIB) to 410 ps (IIC; IID) submerged
  
• speed: 13 knots surfaced (all); 6,9 knots (IIA; IIB) to 7,4 knots (IIC; IID) submerged
  
• range: 1600 sm (IIA); 3100 sm (IIB); 3800 sm (IIC); 5650 sm (IID); 35-56 sm submerged
  
• armament: 3 torpedo tubes in the bow (533mm standart caliber), 1 2cm Flak (1942: 4 X 2cm)
  
  
  
  

You are of demanding, Ich am of writings. Soon when I am a bit more organized.

Introduction

Hey guys,
we already have a lot of threads with pictures and discussions about the war ashore. So how about the naval warfare? To be honest, the naval history is more interesting for me and I have read a ton of books about it so I thought I want to share my knowledge a bit with you. The poll will show if you like it or not. If you do, I would be happy to write more about the german submarines. This thread is about the beginning of the german submarines (also called "U-boats") in the Kriegsmarine. The next episodes would be about specific types, their armament and so on. I apologize for the grammer mistakes, etc.


U 18, a type II B submarine, is heading towards the sea, 1937

After Versailles

On 16th March 1935 Germany terminated the treaty of Versailles. A part of this treaty was the prohibition of developing own submarines, which was a hit in the nerve since the german submarines were quite successful in WWI. The building of U 1 started already in 1934, but this violation of the treaty was not punished in any way. In June 1935 the english-german naval agreement was signed and only eleven days later, on 29th of June, U 1 was armed in Kiel, the later main base of the submarines. Versailles maybe prevented Germany from developing and building its own submarines, but german engineers were also designing submarines for other countries like Finland, the Netherlands and Turkey in the past 17 years. This means that the engineering was still quite modern. With the english-german naval agreement the Kriegsmarine was still limited in the quantity, but it was a start.


The type II plans. U 1 belonged to this

Start

The first problem was: who is going to be the commander of the submarines? You need a man with experience and strategic knowledge who is hard-working. Erich Raeder (1876-1960), the supreme commander of the Kriegsmarine, already had an idea: Karl Dönitz (1891-1980). Dönitz was an successful U-boat commander in WWI. Unfortunately, his submarine UB 68 was sunk in September 1918 and he was captured by british forces. He returned to Germany in 1919 and continued his career. He just came back from a long travel through Asia when he got promoted to the commander of the submarines. The second problem was the naval agreement between the UK and Germany. The goal was a big fleet with big submarines with a long range, but on the other side the tonnage was limited. Dönitz decided to build many U-boats who were small and for coastal operations. The type II was designed. For better understanding: the U-boats also had diffrent A's (Aufsführungen) who were also named A, B, C, etc. Dönitz also invented the "Rudeltaktik", the "wolf packs". This strategy was designed to attack convoys. It was simple: many submarines were patrolling in the same part of the ocean, but the distance between them was big enough to have a wide "screen" of submarines. One submarine detects a convoy and sets a signal for the others. They follow the convoy through the day and slowly surround it. The attack happens always at night, when dodging torpedoes was harder. With a submarine fleet like this, Dönitz wanted to cut off the supply lines of the enemy and to make him surrender as fast as possible. An ideal strategy to fight the UK - but thats a spoiler.


Karl Dönitz in 1943 Erich Raeder

The coming types

This was just a simple introduction. I am more likely to write about the types and their stories.
If you like this idea, I would write about the following types of german submarines:

- Type I
- Type II (for coastal operations)
- Type VII (the workhorse)
- Type IX (most successful)
- Type XB
- Type XIV (the "milk cow")
- Type XXI (the first modern submarine)
- Type XXIII
- mini subs
- captured submarines (from France, Norway, Netherlands and more)

Thank you for reading this far. As said this is a test. Waiting for your reactions .

I've had the game since release, over 900 hours play time, level 178, and a score of : 117,322 units killed, 60,352 units lost in total. When I play with friends my win ratio is over 80% and when I play with randoms (who usually end up being noobs) my win ratio is around 60%. As you can see I'm not using my armor or other units wrong, and trust me, I'm not trying to snipe anything with a Panther or Tiger like a noob would.

And if you would have played some Allies you would see that the grass is not always greener on the other side.

The problem is the German armor (especially after the Oct-2014 patch) have poor accuracy. What generally happens in armor engagements is: the Panther/Tiger gets spotted before it spots the enemy tanks, then takes 1 or 2 hits (which 90% of the time score penetrating frontal armor hits) before it can even return fire. And when I do return fire I miss say 50% of the time unless the Panther happens to be Level 2 vet or higher.

And why are your tanks in the first line? This is a L2P issue. The other thing is called "RNG".

By this time the Panther's healths is at half while the enemy armor is full, which means good bye Panther since it can't even pull back due to its ridiculous slow speed.

Panther max. speed (both factions): 6.6

Normal Sherman: 6.4; EZ8 just 6.1 Jackson: 6.5

T34/76: 6.5 T34/85: just 6.3 SU85: 5.7

And Panther has a abillity called "Blitzkrieg". You should try it. This means the Panther is even without Blitzkrieg faster than nearly every tank the Allies have except M10 (7.0) and with Blitzkrieg you get a free out-of-jail-card. Tank micro is really hard, isn't it?

Flanking is out of the question, unless you're playing against a lower level (noob) opponent, because the speed of German armor in this game is again pathetic and any veteran allied player will easily counter this.

Blitzkrieg. Smoke. Offmaps for AT-guns. By the way, why are you attacking with tanks alone? You do realize that the times of Panther-solo-everything are over? Use some supporting infantry. In other words: L2P.

The only other option is to have Pak's move with your tanks or PZGren's with Schreks but this defeats the point of mobile warfare altogether. Also a Jackson rush with 3 or 4 Jacksons easily spells doom for the overpriced two Panthers you might have been lucky to save up for at this point in the game.

As if you would have read my post while I was writing it. Jacksons are TDs, you know? They have no AI capabilities. You just named the right thing. PAK + PGrens with Schreck.

So my point is: What's the point of having such an expensive tank compared to allied tanks when it performs worse? At this point no one can say German units are OP because it just isn't true, at this point its an issue of balance in terms of unit cost. If German units are performing the same, or worse than allied units, they should be as cheap to build and reinforce. It's only fair.

As pointed out, Panther does not perform worse. It is faster, has good range and a strong frontal armor.

Yes Grenadier rifle grenades can be deadly but again by the time they're fired an experienced allied player can easily dodge them costing you 30 munitions for no return. In comparrison the Shock Troop grenade, Guards Rifle grenade, and Rifle Squad grenades are insta-launched. Like I said, all units are equal after the patches, no German units are OP and no allied unit is OP (except the ISU-152), so since all units now perform the same they should cost the same and have the same abilities.

I must be some kind of Übermensch. I have the abillity to dodge Guards/Schocks/Rifles grenades . Again L2p.

The game is just not punishing heavy losses. You can still come back after a 30 min basepin and 3 lost tanks and still float manpower (tanks to stupid upkeep system). Just make manpower upkeep dependant on mapcontrol again and unfair comebacks won't be so easy anymore.