Exactly what is a U-Boat? A U-Boat is the basic German diesel-electric submarine that revolutionized submarine warfare during World War I (1914-1918) and World War II (1939-1945). U-Boats gained the notoriety during World War I thru Germanys policy of unrestricted submarine warfare, which declared that any and all ships straying into disputed waters including commercial shipping boats and civilian passenger lines, were to be regarded as outside targets. Quickly becoming a symbol of military gains and undersea technology, the U-Boat was the most talked about topic between World War I and the outbreak in World War II. Between the years of 1914 and 1945 German engineers produced several types of U-Boats. The various types were: Coastal, Long Range, Atlantic, Various, Special, and Walter U-Boats. Experts consider American and Japanese submarines of the same era to perform in a similar manner

America’s first year at the war with the U-Boats was gloomy at best. The early months of 1942 were a near disaster for the Allies. In March of that year, German U-Boats sank approximately a half million tons of shipping, a great deal of it within the eastern sea frontier boundaries. The well trianed, and by now seasoned, U-Boat commanders were creating a massacre of monstrous proportions. However, the United States proved strong enough to overcome the tremendous loss of shipping and hold the line against the U-Boats. Throughtout that year only 15 German submarines were destroyed by United States forces.

Boats had to spend many hours on the surface recharging batteries and getting fresh air into the boat. When the Schnorchel and the Elektro boats came along they spent more and more time beneath the surface and the anti-aircraft guns were mostly silenced. Coming in with 3-times the electrical power of the original U-boats it gave the boat enormous underwater range compared to the older types and this boat could submerge far beyond the Bay of Biscay from the French bases so the Valley of Death was a thing of the past for them really. This was the boat that perhaps could have won the war in the Atlan

Some topics in this essay:
War II, German U-boats, World War, American Japanese, German U-Boats, Schnorchel Elektro, Atlantic Germans, Nazi Germany, Soviet Navies, world war, German Navy’s, world war ii, war ii, anti aircraft, submarine warfare, german u-boats, conning tower,