A Brief History Of Submarines Up to the 1950s
qadir
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Vice Adm (Retd) IQBAL F QUADIR
covers the development of submarines over the years,
providing an in-depth study of their potential
The following are extracts from Encyclopaedias and Journals.
The submarine is a vehicle capable of carrying out a wide variety of tasks, some of which are unique and multilateral. Consequently, this type of vessel continues to receive special attention of all types of countries, developed or less developed. Submarines can remain at sea for long periods, requiring only limited logistic support. They possess high combat strength, in the form of either conventional or nuclear weapons or a combination of both. This fighting capability may either be tactical or strategic i.e., carrying weapons with shorter or longer ranges. Under certain circumstances, the tactical weapons may be used for strategic purposes and some strategic weapons may be equally effective in tactical use. Depending upon the size, these vessels have good staying power at sea, anything from a week to three months for the conventional type and almost unlimited with nuclear propulsion. Nuclear submarines are known to have circum-navigated the earth without refueling, replenishment or putting into any port.
They are capable of operating in all types of weather and are relatively invulnerable.
Being cost effective and with a scope of wide variety of actions they are able to operate far away from their bases. The mere possibility of the presence of a submarine, still more the knowledge that one is out there, can tie down large resources of an adversary without a shot being fired. Even if its presence becomes known, the ability to evade its hunter makes it more potent.
Due to their small crews, a submarine's output to input ratio is high. Because they are difficult to detect, they can be deployed more readily in sea areas controlled by hostile forces. These vessels are capable of employment against surface ships and submarines, and when suitably equipped with cruise or ballistic missiles, against shore targets also. They are ideal for reconnaissance, surveillance and clandestine operations in many areas where other naval forces cannot be used. Submarines are equally suited to defending own sea areas of interest to us, as also other key areas against attack by hostile forces, and of attacking those of the opponent.
A submarine is a vessel designed to operate most effectively under water. Till recently, it was understood to be a weapon of war only. Now-a-days, submarines are also being increasingly utilised for oceanographic researches, locating underwater objects and treasure ships, and even for pleasure trips for sight seeing purposes. During World War I (1914-1918), the Germans deployed them as commerce destroyers in the North Atlantic by sinking merchant ships bringing supplies from the North and South Americas to Britain and France. In WWII (1939-1944), they became a major factor of war when Germany employed them again for commerce destruction i.e., sinking merchant ships bringing much needed civilian and military supplies to Europe over the North Atlantic; and by Japan and the United States for similar purposes against each other in the vast ocean areas of the Pacific.
The nineteen sixties saw the emergence of true submarines, those with nuclear propulsion which could sustain themselves under water for months at a time i.e., without having to come to the surface to breathe air like the conventional diesel submarines. Nuclear submarines armed with torpedoes as well as anti-submarine and anti-ship missiles were from the 1970s considered a key element of naval warfare. But even earlier, from the late sixties onward, nuclear submarines armed with long-range nuclear tipped missiles came to be regarded as most important of all the strategic weapons. 1991 saw the most effective use of precision guided long-range low flying cruise missiles by the United States Navy ships and submarines, in the Gulf War against targets in Iraq.
For centuries, man had attempted to descend into the depths for scientific observation, for salvage, to reap the animal and mineral riches of the oceans, and for purposes of attacking enemy ships in time of war. Herodotus, Aristotle and Pliny the Elder, all mentioned attempts to build diving bells or other such devices. A 13th century French manuscript, La Vrai Histoire d'Alexandre (A True History of Alexander) described a fictitious underwater venture by Alexander (356-323 BC) in a glass barrel. Amongst his many inventions Leonardo Da Vinci is also associated with a device for underwater exploration. In 1578, William Boune a British mathematician and writer of naval subjects, published 'Inventions or Devises', in which the 'eighteenth devise' was a completely enclosed boat, composed of a wooden frame covered with waterproof leather, which could be submerged and rowed underwater. However, Cornelius van Drebel a Dutch inventor, is usually credited with building the first submarine. Between 1620 and 1624, he successfully manoeuvred his craft at depths of from 12 to 15 feet beneath the surface during repeated trials in the Thames River (near London in England). In the eighteenth century a number of submarine boats were conceived and in 1747, an unidentified inventor described in the 'Gentlemen's Magazine', proposed an ingenious method of submerging a submarine and returning to the surface by use of inflated goat skin bags. This arrangement was the fore-runner of the modern submarine's ballast tank.
The submarine was first used as an offensive weapon in naval warfare during the US Revolution (1775-83). The 'TURTLE' a one man craft invented by David Bushnell, a student at Yale, was built of wood in the shape of a walnut standing on end. The plan was to have the 'Turtle' make an underwater approach to an English warship, attach a charge of gun powder by a screw device operated from within the craft, and leave before the charge was exploded by a time-fuse. The submarine made a night attack on His Majesty's Ship (HMS) EAGLE in New York harbour. After repeated failures to force the screw through the copper sheathing on the warship's hull, the submarine crew released the charge and withdrew safely. The powder exploded but the 'Eagle' was not damaged. Robert Fulton, famed US inventor and painter, in 1800, while in France, built the submarine NAUTILUS under a grant from Napoleon Bonaparte. Completed in May 1801, this craft was made of copper sheets over iron ribs. It had a collapsible mast with sails for surface propulsion and a hand-turned propeller to propel the submarine underwater. A precursor of a conning tower fitted with a glass-covered porthole permitted observation from within the craft. The 'Nautilus' submerged by use of ballast tanks, had a horizontal rudder, the forerunner of the diving plane, and the vessel contained enough air to keep four men alive and two candles burning for three hours under water. Later, a tank of compressed air was added to provide greater endurance but France's interest in Fulton's submarine waned, and he left for England, offering his invention to his former enemy.
In 1805, the 'Nautilus' sank the brig 'DOROTHY' but it did not inspire the Royal Navy to back Fulton's project. He then moved to the United States and succeeded in obtaining congressional backing for a more ambitious undersea craft. This new submarine was to carry 100 men and be powered by a steam engine. Fulton died before the craft was ready and the craft, named 'MUTE was left unfinished. During the War of 1812 between the United States and England, Bushnell built another submarine, which attacked HMS RAMLIES at anchor off New London, but the attempt failed. The next US attempt at submarine warfare came during the American Civil War (1862-65) when the Confederate States financed the building of 'PIONEER' (10 meters long). This submarine was lost with all hands onboard during a dive while en-route to attack Union ships. The second boat by the same builder sank without loss of life in heavy seas while seeking to attack the enemy. The third submarine, the 'HUNLEY', a modified and lengthened iron boiler with ballast tanks and a system of weights, powered by eight men cranking its propeller and towing a 41 kilograms powder charge astern, at a speed of about four knots, blew up the Union Warship 'HOUSATONIC' on the night of 17 February, 1864 in Charleston harbour. The 'Hunley' itself was destroyed by the force of explosion of the Union ship's magazines.
Another intrepid submarine inventor was Wilhelm Bauer, a non-commissioned officer of Bavarian artillery. He built two vessels 'Le Plongeur-Marin' (1851) and 'Le Diable-Marin' (1855). The first sank in Kiel harbour during trials but Bauer and his assistants successfully escaped after being five hours under water. The second submarine he built for the Russian Tsar and reportedly made 134 dives before finally sinking at sea. In September 1856, during the coronation of Tsar Alexander II, Bauer submerged his submarine in Kronstadt harbour, in the Baltic, with several musicians onboard. It is said that an underwater rendition of the Russian national anthem was clearly heard by persons inside ships in harbour.
A major limitation of these early submarines was their lack of a suitable means of propulsion. In 1880, an English Church official, the Reverent George Garret, successfully operated a submarine with steam from a coal-fired boiler that had a retractable smokestack. The fire had to be extinguished before the craft would submerge, for it would quickly exhaust the air in the submarine, but enough steam remained in the boilers for travelling several miles underwater. Meantime, a Swedish gun designer Torsten Nordfelt built a steam-powered vessel driven by twin propellers and was the first to be fitted with practical torpedo tubes. Several nations built submarines to Nordfelt's design. Two French naval officers built in 1864, 'Le Plongeur', run on compressed air engine but the air would quickly run out. With the development of electric motors two Englishmen constructed the 'NAUTILUS' in 1886, an all electric craft. But the need to recharge the batteries restricted its range to 80 miles before the need of a recharge. Towards the end of the 19th century the most successful French Navy submarine was the 'NARVAL' (1899). Double hulled, 34 meter long, it was powered by a steam engine on the surface and electric motors under water. Ballast tanks were located between the two hulls as is the case even today. To prove its battle worthiness, the 'Narval' cruised 48 hours in a simulated war mission in the busy English channel and at the end of which it fired its four externally carried torpedoes at pre-selected targets.
In the United States, two competing inventors Holland and Lake were designing their own craft for the United States Navy (USN). Lake's second submarine, the 'PROTECTOR', launched in 1901 was rejected by the USN. He then offered the same to Russia and Japan, who bought several of them each. Of interest at this stage was the indifference of Britain, one of the major world naval powers, towards submarines. It was not till 1901 that the Royal Navy obtained five of Holland's craft for itself. Germany completed its first submarine, the 'UNTERSEEBOOT No.1' in 1905, forty two meter long and run with heavy oil motors on the surface and by electric motors under water. This signified the birth of the modern day type conventional diesel electric submarine. It carried a single torpedo tube. During WW I, the Germans developed the 95 meter long 'DEUTSCHLAND' class merchant U-boats capable of carrying 700 tons of cargo at 12-13 knots on the surface and seven knots under water. Despite the British naval blockade, in 1916 the 'Deutschland' itself carried out two successful missions to the United States. Later, before the close of that war, armed with torpedoes and guns, eight of this class of submarines served in war operations. For comparison, the standard submarine at that time measured hardly 60 meters.
During WW I, there were three other variants of the normal gun and torpedo mounted combat submarines. The Germans particularly specialised in modifying its craft to carry mines for laying at entrances to enemy harbours while the British developed anti-submarine submarines, claiming seventeen German subs in this manner during WW I. Another variant the Royal Navy developed was the steam and electric driven craft capable of high speeds (23.5 knots) on the surface and ten knots under water, to act as scouts for surface fleet, in much the same manner as the nuclear powered attack submarines are doing for the USN Aircraft Carrier groups today. The in-between the two world war period, 1918 to 1939, saw the submarine being tried out for a variety of roles. The heavy gun mounted commerce raider cum destroyer, the anti-aircraft gun mounted to deal with increasing threat of patrolling aircraft at sea, and the aircraft/seaplane carrying submarines to augment their surveillance/reconnaissance capability. The United States in this period built the largest conventional type submarine it has ever built so far, the 116 meter long, 2,710 ton 'ARGONAUT', completed in1928. This design led to two most highly successful in WW II classes, the 'GATO' and the 'BALAO'. The Soviet Union, too, with its new Communist zeal after the revolution of 1920, tried to break out into the open ocean in the 1930s with a construction programme of large number of mainly coastal submarines, rather than surface ships, but the quality of its vessels or of training of their crews left much to be desired and were no match to that of Germany when in 1940 war broke out between the two.
Three wartime German submarine designs, had these been achieved earlier, would have had a profound effect on the outcome of the Battle of the North Atlantic. Incidentally, same was the case with the German V-3 and the short range ballistic missile programme, and the in the development of the world's first jet fighter. Their earlier availability could have made the Battle of Britain a one sided affair. The three German submarines mentioned above were the VHF design to replenish U-boats at sea with torpedoes, spares and personnel. The Type XXI, considered the ultimate diesel electric sub at that time, 1,600 ton and 75 meter long. With the newly developed scnorchel (snorkel) device, which allowed the submarine to breathe and recharge batteries under water, the Type XXI could sustain 17.5 knots under water for one hour, six knots for two days and lower speed for four days without having to surface. It had an operating depth of 260 meters (850 feet) almost twice that of others at that time. The third was with a revolutionary Hellmuth Walter propulsion designed to run diesel engines under water fed by oxygen from hydrogen per-oxide. This was the fore-runner of the now being introduced in various world navies, the AIP (Air Independent Propulsion) type e.g., the under construction Agosta 90 class for the Pakistan Navy. The German Walter Type XXVII under trials in early forties achieved a maximum under water speed of 25 knots for brief periods and sustained under water speed of 20 knots for five and a half hour.
In the Pacific, the Japanese developed a variety of submarines from human torpedoes, midgets to different larger types. Two of these latter are of interest. The first was the I-201 Class, 79 meters long displacing 1,291 tons capable of 15 knots on the surface and 19 knots under the surface for almost one hour. The I-400 Class was unique of its type the world over. 122 meter long and displacing 5,700 tons it could carry three float planes and part of a fourth in a 31 meter hangar. The aircraft were launched from the deck by a catapult.
Immediately after the end of hostilities in Europe, the three Allied Powers the United States, the Soviet Union and Great Britain taking advantage of captured German submarine design technology brought many changes in their own submarines. The United States Navy converted 52 war built submarines to the GUPPY version i.e., with greater under water propulsion power with 'y' added for phonetics. Pakistan's first submarine the GHAZI was of this class. The Soviet Union developed and constructed 235 of the 'W' Class. And the United Kingdom toyed with the hydrogen peroxide technology but soon gave it up in favour of the newly developed American nuclear propulsion for submarines. In conclusion, it must be recorded that during WW II, the German Navy experimented with small guided missiles and large ballistic missiles launched submarines and submarine-towed containers respectively. These indeed were bold concepts, far ahead of their time but too late for the purpose they were being developed.
The readers may also have observed through this article on the history of submarines up to the 1950s; that concepts, their development and mass production take their own time and that the whole process may not necessarily either be smooth or always successful. In research and development one has to be prepared for delays and even complete failures. That research, development and even production need not be the monopoly of public sector alone but that any or all of these can be run concurrently or even independently with the private sector. The best would be when the private and public sectors augment each other and act as force multipliers. That newer technologies as they emerge make many impossibles - possible. Finally, that a country's international politics must not run ahead of its developing sinews of war but remain in consonance with it. While condemning Hitler's and Saddam's acts of aggression on their neighbours it must be said that, had they allowed time for development of their weapons of war, before launching out, the outcome of their actions could have been materially different.
qadir
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Vice Adm (Retd) IQBAL F QUADIR
covers the development of submarines over the years,
providing an in-depth study of their potential
The following are extracts from Encyclopaedias and Journals.
The submarine is a vehicle capable of carrying out a wide variety of tasks, some of which are unique and multilateral. Consequently, this type of vessel continues to receive special attention of all types of countries, developed or less developed. Submarines can remain at sea for long periods, requiring only limited logistic support. They possess high combat strength, in the form of either conventional or nuclear weapons or a combination of both. This fighting capability may either be tactical or strategic i.e., carrying weapons with shorter or longer ranges. Under certain circumstances, the tactical weapons may be used for strategic purposes and some strategic weapons may be equally effective in tactical use. Depending upon the size, these vessels have good staying power at sea, anything from a week to three months for the conventional type and almost unlimited with nuclear propulsion. Nuclear submarines are known to have circum-navigated the earth without refueling, replenishment or putting into any port.
They are capable of operating in all types of weather and are relatively invulnerable.
Being cost effective and with a scope of wide variety of actions they are able to operate far away from their bases. The mere possibility of the presence of a submarine, still more the knowledge that one is out there, can tie down large resources of an adversary without a shot being fired. Even if its presence becomes known, the ability to evade its hunter makes it more potent.
Due to their small crews, a submarine's output to input ratio is high. Because they are difficult to detect, they can be deployed more readily in sea areas controlled by hostile forces. These vessels are capable of employment against surface ships and submarines, and when suitably equipped with cruise or ballistic missiles, against shore targets also. They are ideal for reconnaissance, surveillance and clandestine operations in many areas where other naval forces cannot be used. Submarines are equally suited to defending own sea areas of interest to us, as also other key areas against attack by hostile forces, and of attacking those of the opponent.
A submarine is a vessel designed to operate most effectively under water. Till recently, it was understood to be a weapon of war only. Now-a-days, submarines are also being increasingly utilised for oceanographic researches, locating underwater objects and treasure ships, and even for pleasure trips for sight seeing purposes. During World War I (1914-1918), the Germans deployed them as commerce destroyers in the North Atlantic by sinking merchant ships bringing supplies from the North and South Americas to Britain and France. In WWII (1939-1944), they became a major factor of war when Germany employed them again for commerce destruction i.e., sinking merchant ships bringing much needed civilian and military supplies to Europe over the North Atlantic; and by Japan and the United States for similar purposes against each other in the vast ocean areas of the Pacific.
The nineteen sixties saw the emergence of true submarines, those with nuclear propulsion which could sustain themselves under water for months at a time i.e., without having to come to the surface to breathe air like the conventional diesel submarines. Nuclear submarines armed with torpedoes as well as anti-submarine and anti-ship missiles were from the 1970s considered a key element of naval warfare. But even earlier, from the late sixties onward, nuclear submarines armed with long-range nuclear tipped missiles came to be regarded as most important of all the strategic weapons. 1991 saw the most effective use of precision guided long-range low flying cruise missiles by the United States Navy ships and submarines, in the Gulf War against targets in Iraq.
For centuries, man had attempted to descend into the depths for scientific observation, for salvage, to reap the animal and mineral riches of the oceans, and for purposes of attacking enemy ships in time of war. Herodotus, Aristotle and Pliny the Elder, all mentioned attempts to build diving bells or other such devices. A 13th century French manuscript, La Vrai Histoire d'Alexandre (A True History of Alexander) described a fictitious underwater venture by Alexander (356-323 BC) in a glass barrel. Amongst his many inventions Leonardo Da Vinci is also associated with a device for underwater exploration. In 1578, William Boune a British mathematician and writer of naval subjects, published 'Inventions or Devises', in which the 'eighteenth devise' was a completely enclosed boat, composed of a wooden frame covered with waterproof leather, which could be submerged and rowed underwater. However, Cornelius van Drebel a Dutch inventor, is usually credited with building the first submarine. Between 1620 and 1624, he successfully manoeuvred his craft at depths of from 12 to 15 feet beneath the surface during repeated trials in the Thames River (near London in England). In the eighteenth century a number of submarine boats were conceived and in 1747, an unidentified inventor described in the 'Gentlemen's Magazine', proposed an ingenious method of submerging a submarine and returning to the surface by use of inflated goat skin bags. This arrangement was the fore-runner of the modern submarine's ballast tank.
The submarine was first used as an offensive weapon in naval warfare during the US Revolution (1775-83). The 'TURTLE' a one man craft invented by David Bushnell, a student at Yale, was built of wood in the shape of a walnut standing on end. The plan was to have the 'Turtle' make an underwater approach to an English warship, attach a charge of gun powder by a screw device operated from within the craft, and leave before the charge was exploded by a time-fuse. The submarine made a night attack on His Majesty's Ship (HMS) EAGLE in New York harbour. After repeated failures to force the screw through the copper sheathing on the warship's hull, the submarine crew released the charge and withdrew safely. The powder exploded but the 'Eagle' was not damaged. Robert Fulton, famed US inventor and painter, in 1800, while in France, built the submarine NAUTILUS under a grant from Napoleon Bonaparte. Completed in May 1801, this craft was made of copper sheets over iron ribs. It had a collapsible mast with sails for surface propulsion and a hand-turned propeller to propel the submarine underwater. A precursor of a conning tower fitted with a glass-covered porthole permitted observation from within the craft. The 'Nautilus' submerged by use of ballast tanks, had a horizontal rudder, the forerunner of the diving plane, and the vessel contained enough air to keep four men alive and two candles burning for three hours under water. Later, a tank of compressed air was added to provide greater endurance but France's interest in Fulton's submarine waned, and he left for England, offering his invention to his former enemy.
In 1805, the 'Nautilus' sank the brig 'DOROTHY' but it did not inspire the Royal Navy to back Fulton's project. He then moved to the United States and succeeded in obtaining congressional backing for a more ambitious undersea craft. This new submarine was to carry 100 men and be powered by a steam engine. Fulton died before the craft was ready and the craft, named 'MUTE was left unfinished. During the War of 1812 between the United States and England, Bushnell built another submarine, which attacked HMS RAMLIES at anchor off New London, but the attempt failed. The next US attempt at submarine warfare came during the American Civil War (1862-65) when the Confederate States financed the building of 'PIONEER' (10 meters long). This submarine was lost with all hands onboard during a dive while en-route to attack Union ships. The second boat by the same builder sank without loss of life in heavy seas while seeking to attack the enemy. The third submarine, the 'HUNLEY', a modified and lengthened iron boiler with ballast tanks and a system of weights, powered by eight men cranking its propeller and towing a 41 kilograms powder charge astern, at a speed of about four knots, blew up the Union Warship 'HOUSATONIC' on the night of 17 February, 1864 in Charleston harbour. The 'Hunley' itself was destroyed by the force of explosion of the Union ship's magazines.
Another intrepid submarine inventor was Wilhelm Bauer, a non-commissioned officer of Bavarian artillery. He built two vessels 'Le Plongeur-Marin' (1851) and 'Le Diable-Marin' (1855). The first sank in Kiel harbour during trials but Bauer and his assistants successfully escaped after being five hours under water. The second submarine he built for the Russian Tsar and reportedly made 134 dives before finally sinking at sea. In September 1856, during the coronation of Tsar Alexander II, Bauer submerged his submarine in Kronstadt harbour, in the Baltic, with several musicians onboard. It is said that an underwater rendition of the Russian national anthem was clearly heard by persons inside ships in harbour.
A major limitation of these early submarines was their lack of a suitable means of propulsion. In 1880, an English Church official, the Reverent George Garret, successfully operated a submarine with steam from a coal-fired boiler that had a retractable smokestack. The fire had to be extinguished before the craft would submerge, for it would quickly exhaust the air in the submarine, but enough steam remained in the boilers for travelling several miles underwater. Meantime, a Swedish gun designer Torsten Nordfelt built a steam-powered vessel driven by twin propellers and was the first to be fitted with practical torpedo tubes. Several nations built submarines to Nordfelt's design. Two French naval officers built in 1864, 'Le Plongeur', run on compressed air engine but the air would quickly run out. With the development of electric motors two Englishmen constructed the 'NAUTILUS' in 1886, an all electric craft. But the need to recharge the batteries restricted its range to 80 miles before the need of a recharge. Towards the end of the 19th century the most successful French Navy submarine was the 'NARVAL' (1899). Double hulled, 34 meter long, it was powered by a steam engine on the surface and electric motors under water. Ballast tanks were located between the two hulls as is the case even today. To prove its battle worthiness, the 'Narval' cruised 48 hours in a simulated war mission in the busy English channel and at the end of which it fired its four externally carried torpedoes at pre-selected targets.
In the United States, two competing inventors Holland and Lake were designing their own craft for the United States Navy (USN). Lake's second submarine, the 'PROTECTOR', launched in 1901 was rejected by the USN. He then offered the same to Russia and Japan, who bought several of them each. Of interest at this stage was the indifference of Britain, one of the major world naval powers, towards submarines. It was not till 1901 that the Royal Navy obtained five of Holland's craft for itself. Germany completed its first submarine, the 'UNTERSEEBOOT No.1' in 1905, forty two meter long and run with heavy oil motors on the surface and by electric motors under water. This signified the birth of the modern day type conventional diesel electric submarine. It carried a single torpedo tube. During WW I, the Germans developed the 95 meter long 'DEUTSCHLAND' class merchant U-boats capable of carrying 700 tons of cargo at 12-13 knots on the surface and seven knots under water. Despite the British naval blockade, in 1916 the 'Deutschland' itself carried out two successful missions to the United States. Later, before the close of that war, armed with torpedoes and guns, eight of this class of submarines served in war operations. For comparison, the standard submarine at that time measured hardly 60 meters.
During WW I, there were three other variants of the normal gun and torpedo mounted combat submarines. The Germans particularly specialised in modifying its craft to carry mines for laying at entrances to enemy harbours while the British developed anti-submarine submarines, claiming seventeen German subs in this manner during WW I. Another variant the Royal Navy developed was the steam and electric driven craft capable of high speeds (23.5 knots) on the surface and ten knots under water, to act as scouts for surface fleet, in much the same manner as the nuclear powered attack submarines are doing for the USN Aircraft Carrier groups today. The in-between the two world war period, 1918 to 1939, saw the submarine being tried out for a variety of roles. The heavy gun mounted commerce raider cum destroyer, the anti-aircraft gun mounted to deal with increasing threat of patrolling aircraft at sea, and the aircraft/seaplane carrying submarines to augment their surveillance/reconnaissance capability. The United States in this period built the largest conventional type submarine it has ever built so far, the 116 meter long, 2,710 ton 'ARGONAUT', completed in1928. This design led to two most highly successful in WW II classes, the 'GATO' and the 'BALAO'. The Soviet Union, too, with its new Communist zeal after the revolution of 1920, tried to break out into the open ocean in the 1930s with a construction programme of large number of mainly coastal submarines, rather than surface ships, but the quality of its vessels or of training of their crews left much to be desired and were no match to that of Germany when in 1940 war broke out between the two.
Three wartime German submarine designs, had these been achieved earlier, would have had a profound effect on the outcome of the Battle of the North Atlantic. Incidentally, same was the case with the German V-3 and the short range ballistic missile programme, and the in the development of the world's first jet fighter. Their earlier availability could have made the Battle of Britain a one sided affair. The three German submarines mentioned above were the VHF design to replenish U-boats at sea with torpedoes, spares and personnel. The Type XXI, considered the ultimate diesel electric sub at that time, 1,600 ton and 75 meter long. With the newly developed scnorchel (snorkel) device, which allowed the submarine to breathe and recharge batteries under water, the Type XXI could sustain 17.5 knots under water for one hour, six knots for two days and lower speed for four days without having to surface. It had an operating depth of 260 meters (850 feet) almost twice that of others at that time. The third was with a revolutionary Hellmuth Walter propulsion designed to run diesel engines under water fed by oxygen from hydrogen per-oxide. This was the fore-runner of the now being introduced in various world navies, the AIP (Air Independent Propulsion) type e.g., the under construction Agosta 90 class for the Pakistan Navy. The German Walter Type XXVII under trials in early forties achieved a maximum under water speed of 25 knots for brief periods and sustained under water speed of 20 knots for five and a half hour.
In the Pacific, the Japanese developed a variety of submarines from human torpedoes, midgets to different larger types. Two of these latter are of interest. The first was the I-201 Class, 79 meters long displacing 1,291 tons capable of 15 knots on the surface and 19 knots under the surface for almost one hour. The I-400 Class was unique of its type the world over. 122 meter long and displacing 5,700 tons it could carry three float planes and part of a fourth in a 31 meter hangar. The aircraft were launched from the deck by a catapult.
Immediately after the end of hostilities in Europe, the three Allied Powers the United States, the Soviet Union and Great Britain taking advantage of captured German submarine design technology brought many changes in their own submarines. The United States Navy converted 52 war built submarines to the GUPPY version i.e., with greater under water propulsion power with 'y' added for phonetics. Pakistan's first submarine the GHAZI was of this class. The Soviet Union developed and constructed 235 of the 'W' Class. And the United Kingdom toyed with the hydrogen peroxide technology but soon gave it up in favour of the newly developed American nuclear propulsion for submarines. In conclusion, it must be recorded that during WW II, the German Navy experimented with small guided missiles and large ballistic missiles launched submarines and submarine-towed containers respectively. These indeed were bold concepts, far ahead of their time but too late for the purpose they were being developed.
The readers may also have observed through this article on the history of submarines up to the 1950s; that concepts, their development and mass production take their own time and that the whole process may not necessarily either be smooth or always successful. In research and development one has to be prepared for delays and even complete failures. That research, development and even production need not be the monopoly of public sector alone but that any or all of these can be run concurrently or even independently with the private sector. The best would be when the private and public sectors augment each other and act as force multipliers. That newer technologies as they emerge make many impossibles - possible. Finally, that a country's international politics must not run ahead of its developing sinews of war but remain in consonance with it. While condemning Hitler's and Saddam's acts of aggression on their neighbours it must be said that, had they allowed time for development of their weapons of war, before launching out, the outcome of their actions could have been materially different.
