Moreover, the engines´ efficiency was nearly doubled, giving the Type XXI a top submerged speed of nearly 18 knots for short periods of time. The streamlined shape of the hull and the conning tower produced less noise and made detection by acoustics harder. The new boat’s hull was designed for high underwater speeds its shape reflected a change in design: All earlier submarines had essentially been surface vessels that submerged for short spells – this would be a real submarine for the first time. The Type XXI was a bigger boat than the Type VII it was well designed and resembled in no way a stopgap construction. Until their deployment, the current types, successively equipped with snorkels, had to soldier on despite staggering losses and somehow bind Allied forces. This were the types XXI and XXIII which should help turn the tide of the war. In this situation in the spring of 1943, with dozens of boats lost to Allied forces, as an interim solution it was decided to mate the hulls of the projected Walter boats with conventional powerplants, although with three times the battery capacity than hitherto. Moreover, the current production of Hydrogen peroxide was much too small for the projected needs of a large submarine fleet so adequate capacities would have to be built up beforehand. The project was delayed by the complicated and largely untested power plant: It was felt that it would take several years for it to achieve sufficient reliability for combat use. The smaller craft, the Type XXII, would be used near the shore and was much smaller. Thus, the hull grew rather large, yet was designed with a streamlined perfection hitherto unknown. It combined a diesel-electric powerplant for long-range duty (getting into the operations area and back) with a Walter turbine (for underwater attack use only). The larger one, the Type XVIII, was designed for long-range operations. Two submarine hulls were in the developing stage that would make use of the system. It utilised Hydrogen peroxide as fuel this system would give the boat a hitherto impossible underwater speed of more than 20 knots, yet only limited range. Walter for his RATO pods used to bolster the thrust of German aircraft on take-off). In the long run, the Germans saw their biggest potential in a propulsion independent from surface air, made possible by the Walter turbine (we aircraft modellers know Mr. A future submarine would have to be fast, silent and able to operate submerged for any given time to evade enemy aircraft. These were meant to overcome the shortcomings of the current types VII and IX, especially their low speed and little underwater endurance. The German high command saw its best reaction in the speedy development of improved submarines. Improvements in Allied escort material and tactics, combined with cracking the German military code dramatically increased the U-Boats´ losses, rendering them near useless. In the spring of 1943, Germany was clearly losing the battle of the Atlantic. The Boat That Changed the Submarine Warfare 1 i Artiklar / Magazine / Volume 7 - 2003 av Olle Lindau
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