Most Malicious Swimmer of the Sub-Maritime Domain:

The Second World War that can be unequivocally described as the worst manmade disaster ever witnessed, a mushroomed interest in submarines with almost every other country competing to manufacture faster, sharper and stealthier submarines. An interesting point of debate has been which was the best submarine in the whole of World War II?

A comprehensive analysis of submarines employed in the Second World War narrows down our quest for the best submarine of the wartimes to six options and they are: Japanese Sen Toku I-400 class, British X class, British T class, American Gato class, German Type VII, German Type XXI. Experts are of the opinion that the best submarine of World War II is irrefutably the German Type VII U-boat that resembles a materialization of malice itself.

Type VII U-boats were the most common type of German U-boat during the Second World War. They were the most indispensable assets to the German forces and they carried out efficacious operations in various parts of Europe during the war.

The men behind the making of this class of submarines, which has graciously adopted its features from the WW-I U-Boat III crafted by the dummy Dutch company, Ingenieurskantoor voor Scheepsbouw den Hag, were Neptun Werft, Rostock Deschimag, Bremen Germania werft, Kiel Flender Werke, Lubeck Danziger Werft, Hamburg Kriegsmarinewerft, Wilhelmshaven, F. Schichau, etc. These boats were commissioned from 1936-1970 and a staggering 709 boats were active during this period.

So what makes the German Type VII U-boat any special, one may ask! And the answer lies in its design and attack specifics. Displacing a mere 769 long tons when surfaced and 871 long tons when submerged, this boat definitely is lighter than almost all of its counterparts. The boat is about 67.1 m long end-end, is 9.60 m tall and the beam tips the scale at 6.2 m.

This submarine is propelled by two supercharged Germaniaweft, six-cylinder engines with four stroke M6V 40/46 diesels, and is powered at 2,800-3,200 hp motors that have a maximum frequency of 470-490 rotations per minute. The powerful motors give the submarine a decent push and therefore, an above-average velocity of 32.8 kmph when surfaced and a respectable 7.4 kmph underwater. The submarine is capable of operating at a depth of 230 m (750 ft.).

The boat is armed to the teeth with capabilities for fitting five 533 mm torpedo tubes, 14 torpedoes (which can be substituted with 26 TMS or 39 TMB mines), one C35 88 mm gun or L45 deck gun with a capacious 220 rounds and also various FLAK weaponry aboard.

This class of subs was further classified into various divisions such as Type VIIA, Type VIIB, Type VIIC (which has the U-flak and which further branches into Type VIIC/41 and Type VIIC/42), Type VIID and Type VIIF sub-classes of submarines.

Another noteworthy fact of the German Type VII class of subs is that they were used by navies of countries other than Germany’s (Kriegsmarine) too, some during the war and some after the same. A few of them are the Soviet Navy, the Royal Norwegian Navy, the Royal Navy, the French Navy and the Spanish Navy.

The flag of Germany still flies high with no submarine to beat the old timer and veteran of the WW-II, the Type VII class submarine! Take a bow!

Source     www.goindocal.com