If you want to really know what WWII submarine warfare was really like read Das Boot. That'll clarify the horror for you. All those U-boat/submarine crews were very brave men.

And don't take any Hollywood war movies for serious.

Sorry to bring up "Castles of Steel" but there is a passage where a British destroyer drops depth charges on a U-boat.  The boat is damaged, can barely move, scraping along the bottom.  Silence.  Then a sharp sound is heard over the echo locators in the RN destroyer - as that made by a pistol shot.  Then another, and another ... .finally, after 28 , complete silence.

To this day, I think that anyone who serves in submarines has ... "enlarged gonads".

I thought it was suffocation. Whatever the cause, it's not a pleasant thought. There's no way you would get me in a sub, never mind go to war in one. Those crews were/are all very brave men. IMHO

I am reading Das Boot. It's a good read.

I would never get into a u-boat. I would go for patrols in peacetime, but I wouldn't dare face a Brit destroyer, even if I got a million (or more) dollars to do so.

So the temperature got above fatal levels? So then did the sub explode into flames or what?

I don't know if this was Hollywood () or not, but here's something:

"Packing the emotional wallop of a deadly accurate depth charge and filled with as much tension as any two hour movie can withstand" --The Hollywood Reporter

Err..does Universal have something to do with anything?

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If the commander and crew were like in 'Das Boot', I'd go anytime.

Hey, did the narrator die in Das Boot? I never could work it out....



A.

But the commander? I thought he bit the dust?


A.

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Eeks, what's the status of the submarine when its sweaty crew has expired!?!
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And if he had been in his boat, wouldn't he have more like bit the 'mud'?

Thanks for that link Doug, I lost a Great Uncle in HM Submarine Thunderbolt.  My Great Aunt Elizabeth never re-married.  She lived with her spinster sister until she died in 1984 with his picture on her mantle piece for all those years.  He was a handsome young Petty Officer and for the two years that they were married apparently very happy, I had his medals until they were stolen a few months ago.

Will

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Outdoor pool and all, the Brits seem to sponser horribly rough Going Away parties.
I haven't perused all but I thought we were referenced to deeper water WW2 scenarios. Wartime recoveries were difficult when not in your own harbors* (and not always so easy within).
*harbours, Brit

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When they succumb to your scenario, all of their parts become quite diminished

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So was it mass suicide or the commander defending himself from a crew blaming him for their demise ???

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That's a very broad statement. I'm sure some commanders were better than others even in the Kriegsmarine. Remember what happened to Johann in Das Boot. Some of the most dramatic & tense scenes I've ever seen on TV. I'm sure that was based on fact. Nobody will ever know the full story or exactly what happens under these extreme circumstances & there's nobody left to tell the tale.

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Maybe I got the name wrong. The guy in the engine room that went berserk.

I don't remember now. It's been a long time since I last watched Das Boot, too long. He was one of the old hands & lost it. The Captain threatened to shoot him & he meant it.

Ah OK. I forgot about that. It's even longer since I read the book.

As far as I know and without looking for references, about 580 boats of all types.
Of the fine and advanced type XXI however, only 30 were built and only two of those were commisioned. The type XXI was the best U-Boat of the war and it was the first true submarine. It was two and a half times as fast as its predecessors when being under water and it was nearly undetectable.
But again, it was one of the "too little in numbers, too late" weapons of the Reich.

http://www.uboatwar.net/XXI.htm

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*the last thing*
Ugh... usurping my place as renderer of inane statements

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any survive the war? any in a museum or something?

I'm still reading Das Boot. After I read it I'll watch it (if I can get the DVD ).

There is a remarkable Type  IXC boat on display at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. It's the U-505 which was captured 2 days before D-Day off the coast of west Africa. Restored to near perfect condition.

That would be the USS Intreped. Just got off that boat a few months ago. The history on that ship is amazing. The carrier was hit by a few kamikazee's and bombs in the pacific and badly damaged. The skipper announced over the ships PA system the abandon ship order. But the PA system was inoperative and none of the crew received the message. They stayed at their stations fighting off attackers and repairing damage and actually kept the sinking carrier afloat. It returned to port mostly in one piece under its own power.

It is a great museum and is also home to such things as the the original Iwo Jima monument cast, F-16's the SR-71 a cool 360 degree pitch and roll full motion flight simulator (really fun) - Its presence is even graced with the concorde. I recommend a visit to the Intrepid to anyone.