Type VIIC/41 Drawings

[Rokket]

It's complicated and all that, but bottom line, too bad U 995 can't be made as accurate as say the (presumably) U 505, and the Gatos Silversides, Cobia, and Pampanito. Cobia has working radio, and could have working radar except they share the same frequency with the local airport. They start one of the diesels once in awhile, too.

That list would be interesting!

[NZSnowman]

It's complicated and all that, but bottom line, too bad U 995 can't be made as accurate as say the (presumably) U 505, and the Gatos Silversides, Cobia, and Pampanito. Cobia has working radio, and could have working radar except they share the same frequency with the local airport. They start one of the diesels once in awhile, too.

That list would be interesting!

What could be funny seeing a plane trying to land on a deck of a Gato if they turn on radar I have started a list of changes for U-995. I will start a topic soon so we can check the list and add to it.

Simon

[Rokket]

Excellent work! (yes that would be funny!)

[NZSnowman]

It has been a while since I posted any new drawing of U-1308. For the last six weeks or so I haven

[Rokket]

Have you picked out a shipyard to build the full scale boat yet? and budget?

[NZSnowman]

Have you picked out a shipyard to build the full scale boat yet? and budget?

I wonder how much it would cost to build a full scale Type VIIC It must be well over 5 million dollers US, just for the casting, pressure hull and framing alone

[Pat]

LOL, Wink, that's a good one.

Perhaps not full scale, but maybe Simon could build a 1:10 scale, big enough for one or two crew at a reasonable cost.

[Rokket]

hmmm, 1:10...hmmm!


In 1938-ish, a Gato cost 7 million US$, by the mid/end 11 mill. I can only guess that in 1938+ a VII was about 2.5 to 3. Today? Wel, actually, now that I think about it, how much did Das Boot spend? True, those sets didn't submerge, but it would be at least a few times more than what they spent.

[NZSnowman]

I can not believe 7 to 11 million dollars for a Gato That seem so much money in 1940

[Pat]

Probably a cost/unit kill ratio wouldn't be enough.

It seemed that the Germans calculated it was worth it to build a U-boat even if it only got a couple of merchants before it too was sunk, usually with a loss of all hands.  The number of crew of two merchants might be about equal to the crew of one U-boat.

But other factors are that it takes a lot longer to train a U-boat crew than a merchant ship crew.

It takes longer to build a U-boat than a merchant ship.  (Liberty ships and Parks ships were coming off at about one a day)

A merchant ship might carry a couple squadrons of tanks, or a wing of fighter planes that if landed in England, could have created their own kill/unit ratio.

A merchant ship might carry fuel or food or building supplies that would keep a factory or combat unit going.

Merchant ships had to be protected, which meant more destroyers and corvettes to be built, armed and crewed, thus tying up more men and raw materials that could be used in other places.

The U-boat threat made the ships travel in convoys, not as efficient as sending ships across as soon as fully loaded, and creating bottlenecks in ports.

It becomes quite a complex calculation.

[Rokket]

Yes, very complex!  Yes, when the average US worker made about $1,200 a year, and wealthier ones $2,500, then $7,000,000 equals about 5,000 years of a salary! (yes, inflation, etc., so 5800 to 4,000 equiv still means a LOT of moolah!). Of course, look at a modern nuke, a Brit or Yank sub: 2 billion!

[Pat]

At Christmas, I asked my father-in-law how he was paid during the war.  (He was a Spitfire mechanic) and he said $2.50 a day.

I remember speaking to a DEMS gunner once (DEMS were the naval guys attached to man the cannons on merchant ships in convoy) and he'd told me $3.00 a day.  And that was to risk his life.

My father, who was a Lancaster/Halifax pilot and in charge of a wing of several other aircraft, I think once told me that he was paid about $5 a day.  And that was to go into enemy territory and linger (he was Pathfinder squadron) over the target for an hour during the raid, getting shot at all the time.

And these guys probably all were on duty 7 days a week, no weekends off like we have now.

So yes, it makes me wonder at the cost of a submarine, aircraft or tank.

[Rokket]

wow.

[NZSnowman]

It just happens I was reading "The Royal Oak Disaster" by G Snyder last night and on page 55, he said a Type VIIB is worth "four million marks' worth of steel..."

[Rokket]

Metaphorical or literal? In sense of steel - is that the steel price alone, or a way to say finished boat? Interesting!