# Simple WWII U-Boat Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 6, 2010, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-wwii-u-boat-question/527922 "2010-02-06T15:11:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/13edae/32.png) [@Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interconnected_Series_of_Tubes)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-wwii-u-boat-question/527922/41 "2010-02-08T00:48:33Z")
> [@Snnipe\_70E](#): > > The bars could last at least one patrol. Merchant ships go into dry dock at the most every year and most of the zincs are still there. Right. In fact, as long as the guns were in electrical contact with the hull, which I imagine it would be, one bar could protect pretty much everything. Did they use these at all? Seems like it’s an easy way to overcome corrosion entirely. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-wwii-u-boat-question/527922/42 "2010-02-08T02:28:53Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > You could make yourself play more realistically by giving more consequences to your action. Invest time in a career and make a rule that if you die in the game, that career is over - no reloads. Crank up the realism settings. It’s hard to pull yourself away from viable targets, but if you start playing with that mindset you can - and it’s more interesting. I play at 67%; about as high as I can go before the game just gets too tedious for me. But I’m coming into early-mid 45 game-time-wise, and air patrols are !@$%#& murder. Trying to stay up on the surface is becoming increasingly difficult. I’ve been rebased in Bergen, and getting out past England is a chore. I should’ve stuck with the Type IX. ETA: Enough already with the grammar bullshit! Start a GD thread about it, for Christ’s Sake! ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-wwii-u-boat-question/527922/43 "2010-02-08T03:08:15Z")
67% is for sissies! 100% or stay in port. Edit: This reminds me of a guy from the [subsim.com](http://subsim.com) forums who played entire campaigns in real time for realism. Yep, when he went to bed he’d crank his speakers up so that when the watch officer yelled “AIRCRAFT SPOTTED” he’d wake up and go handle it. Now that was some dedication. Someone joked that if he died in the campaign, he’d feel compelled to drown himself in the bathtub… ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-wwii-u-boat-question/527922/44 "2010-02-08T03:18:53Z")
> [@ExTank](#): > > I play at 67%; about as high as I can go before the game just gets too tedious for me. I tried one of those sub games at something like 10x real time. Then I tried speeding the patrol parts up another order of magnitude. Still totally boring. Four days between contacts is an hour of staring at nothing. And as I was playing 1942, after all that wait my torpedoes were as likely as not to be duds. My brother, a sub nut who spent part of his last visit in U-505 but spent his active duty on carriers, gave it to me and I appreciate it, but screw that waiting noise. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-wwii-u-boat-question/527922/45 "2010-02-08T03:20:12Z")
The SH games go up to 1024x speed, which is what you should generally run at during the dull parts. ---
**Author:** ![Incubus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@Incubus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incubus)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-wwii-u-boat-question/527922/46 "2010-02-08T06:26:36Z")
Later on in the war, many of the deck guns and anti-aircraft equipment was specially adapted to be submerged underwater and survive normal operating depths. It should be noted (learned this from SH 3 ) that due to conditions, German U-boats could dive deeper than many other countries’ boats. The type VII boats in particular were interesting pieces of technology for their day- well suited for the conditions of fighting in the North sea. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-wwii-u-boat-question/527922/47 "2010-02-08T16:12:48Z")
> [@ExTank](#): > > …ETA: Enough already with the grammar bullshit! Start a GD thread about it, for Christ’s Sake! Done and done: [Double negatives make a positive! No, they don't! - Great Debates - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=551273) ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-wwii-u-boat-question/527922/48 "2010-02-08T23:09:22Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > 67% is for sissies! 100% or stay in port. Showing my libertarian streak: 😛 When _you_ pay for _my_ games, you can tell me how to play.😛 As far as “sissy,” all I have to say is: “Get a life!” 100% realism is just waaaaay too tedious for a little fun-time shoot-'em-up. I can do the approaches, and work up my solutions, but ye-flipping-Gods is that tediously boring. I say let the Weapons Officer handle it; it’s what he’s there for. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-wwii-u-boat-question/527922/49 "2010-02-08T23:24:59Z")
> [@abel29a](#): > > A German destroyer in the middle of the North Atlantic? A single engine aircraft also? This. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-wwii-u-boat-question/527922/50 "2010-02-09T02:03:03Z")
> [@ExTank](#): > > I play at 67%; about as high as I can go before the game just gets too tedious for me. But I’m coming into early-mid 45 game-time-wise, and air patrols are !@$%#& murder. Trying to stay up on the surface is becoming increasingly difficult. > > I’ve been rebased in Bergen, and getting out past England is a chore. > > I should’ve stuck with the Type IX. > > ETA: Enough already with the grammar bullshit! Start a GD thread about it, for Christ’s Sake! Dude, _you_ are talking about _a game_ are you not? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![matt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@matt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-wwii-u-boat-question/527922/51 "2010-02-09T04:58:44Z")
> [@Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](#): > > Right. In fact, as long as the guns were in electrical contact with the hull, which I imagine it would be, one bar could protect pretty much everything. Unfortunately it doesn’t quite work that way. The current paths through the water between the anodes and the surfaces to be protected are important. Deep recesses and holes are not well protected by external anodes because the current doesn’t penetrate far into them. Even internal anodes don’t work well for narrow tubes such as gun barrels. Hard to find an online cite, but the last paragraph on page 2 of the following pdf mentions it: [http://www.npl.co.uk/upload/pdf/cathodic\_protection.pdf](http://www.npl.co.uk/upload/pdf/cathodic_protection.pdf) ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-wwii-u-boat-question/527922/52 "2010-02-09T06:23:52Z")
> [@ExTank](#): > > Grammar quibbles aside, this thread makes me want to break out Silent Hunter III again and give it a go. Screw that , red storm rising is the way to go. 🙂 mark 48 wire guided torpedos and harpoons. Declan ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-wwii-u-boat-question/527922/53 "2010-02-09T21:38:24Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Dude, _you_ are talking about _a game_ are you not? :dubious: Yeah, but at least it’s a realistic sim/game _about_ WWII-era German submarines, _not_ what constitutes a double negative in English grammar in a thread _about_ WWII-era German submarines [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-wwii-u-boat-question/527922.md?page=2)