How to Command a WW2 Submarine
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- čas přidán 26. 08. 2024
- The first 100 people to use code SIDEQUEST at the link below will get 20% off of Incogni: incogni.com/si...
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We all know how important Germany's U-Boat wolfpacks were to their war effort against the Allies in World War 2. But what was it like to actually command one of those submarines? Spoiler alert: it wasn't fun... and you only had a 25% chance of surviving to the end of the war.
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Further Reading:
“Wolf Pack: The Story of the U-Boat in World War II” by Gordon Williamson
- books.google.c...
"German U-Boat Losses During World War II: Details of Destruction" by Axel Niestlé - books.google.c...
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Thank you for supporting SideQuest, dear viewers!
U-boat information was stolen by british code breaking, so its not perhaps best selling point about safety...
Can you guys cover the incident with Napoleon being attacked by rabbits?
I love your videos but (as an amateur music producer) the sound mix is off consistently - narrator voice is too loud compared to background noise. Hope this helps your channel expand and grow!
Congrats on the Cards, The Universe, and Everything advertising money. Think of your channel every time I get the ad.
Imagine if this is another DuckDuckGo incident
an interesting fact worth mentioning would have been that submarines back then mostly traveled on the suface because they were much faster that way, and only dived when they knew of enemies nearby. that's why planes were good at spotting and often also destroying submarines - submarines trying to get somewhere would normally be on the surface. the submarines were typically equipped with flak cannons to fend off planes while surfaced, because it was a common problem.
Also why submarines surfaced at night harder to detect
Yep, Diesel engine could only run on surface. I believe when submerged they could only use electric engine on or something?
@@LarryCroft111 If the submarine wasn't equipped with a snorkel, it used an electric engine.
At the start, U-boats orders were to crash dive before the plane could strafe it and drop depth charges.
As the war progressed, U-boats were fitted with more anti air machineguns and ordered to battle it out because if they were forced to dive, they could not attack untill the plane had disappeared.
Underwater speed for any U-boat or Allied submarine was too slow to maneuver and keep up with any targets.
A U-boat would approach a potential target on the surface, trying to remain undetected by the weather or time of day.
After identifying the target and its course was established, the U-boat would retreat and, once out of sight, sail at full speed to the projected interception point.
There it would lie in wait wait till the target appeared over the horizon. And if all went well, the target would sail right past the U-boat's position and it would launch a few torpedos from the best possible angle (positioned parallel to the target's course and slightly ahead).
When the attack was being executed during night time, the U-boat would wait till the escorts were on the other side of the convoy (when applying Wolfpack tactics, one of the other U-boats ordered to attack the same target would hopefully distract the escorts).
A daring U-boat commander would use the enemy convoy's ships as visual cover from the escorts and of course at night and on the surface, it could also use its cannon to slow down enemy ships or finish them off.
Escorts themselves were overall not attacked because they were too fast and maneuverable so a U-boat captain would not waste any torpedos on them.
even today, planes are some of the better detection methods for submarines, even submerged.
unless you are at a high depth, (it gets harder the deeper you go, and I think you're pretty much undetectable visibly at about 200 or so, but I dunno) the dark silhouette can be seen from directly above in a plane. plus, there are many high tech plane mounted ASW tools that I can't describe how they work, (I was a submariner, not an ASW guy, so I don't actually know of all their gizmos and such) although this would not be a factor in WWII.
also from a plane it is easier to spot a periscope in some instances, I am told. even today, many otherwise successful subs in wargames are detected out of dumb luck by some pilot as he lands seeing an inexplicable pole jutting out of the ocean for no apparent reason.
Fun fact: When U-Boats returned from mission, it wasn't entirely uncommon for the janitors to immediately climb out to vomit because of the awful smell, which reeked of a mix of diesel, the crew's sweat, and other nasty smells the crew were desensitized to along their journey.
Nose blind to those awful smells? Try Febreeze!
@@ryanotte6737 lol
US Diesel subs were known as ‘pig boats’ for a reason
This may be a dumb question but did people get sick physically from the over exposure to the large amount of diesel fumes? And by sick I don’t mean throwing up I mean like illness.
@@bruhdon4748 I’d assume so, exhaust exposure is certainly not good for you and can be lethal
One nitpick, the Germans used primarily electric powered torpedoes that were quite difficult to spot, except at the very beginning of the war. The Americans used mostly steam powered torpedoes that were much easier to see.
The steam powered torpedoes had their own advantages though, they were faster and had longer range.
And both German and American torpedoes had design defects that caused them to be unreliable until halfway through the war!
Jepan torpedo is better
@@carkawalakhatulistiwa They were steam powered but used oxygen instead of air for combustion, so had enormous ranges for the time. Surfaced launched torpedoes were also much bigger than the allies.
Lol, the infamous early American Mark 14 torpedoes.
You mean the magnetic detonators which were not testet outside of the home waters?
All nations had this problem because the theory of earth magnetic field was very new and incomplete.
However, the Americans had problems with impact detonators too.
However, many japaneese sailors in early war own they life to the mark 14 and the American ministry of ordnance.
@@molybdaen11 The Americans had the unfortunate additional problem that the people in charge refused to admit that there might be any problem at all, and initially didn't agree to test fire a single torpedo despite repeated reports from ship captains. It turned out that there were a lot of problems with them beyond just the detonators.
thank you sidequest, I was wanting to command a ww2 submarine this e p i k tutorial that hasn’t even premiered yet really helped me out.
As a German Submarine Commander NEVER hire a mechanic named Hans to work on your ship
So just tell them, Hans off?
Just rename him Walter.
If you know, you know, if you don't know, don't worry about it.
Too bad 90% of Germany’s population was named either Hans, Franz, or Karl
@@pizzamovies23 AND there are here to PUMP *clap* YOU up!
I dont get it. I need a Captain
This will help greatly with my newly bought German U-Boat! it didn’t come with a manual 😢
You should have asked for the instruction manual!!
@@stevenlubick2689 I did!
You bought on eBay?
@@aka99 yeh
@@yourfavoriteauntishere ah, than the manual was surley lost in time. i hope the seller was fair and you did not need to pay the full price, because of the missing manual. anyway have fun with your german u boat and its crew! good to know, when i gonna make my own u boat movie, i will contact you!
If anyone is interested, the background song is Varshavianka (or the Warsawian in English) by the Red Army Choir.
I also heard "Dem Morgenrot entgegen" + "Die Thälmann Kolonne" + "Brüder zur Sonne zur Freiheit"
@@AlexandraBryngelsson kleine trompeter as well, kind weird for the selection of music, most of it is East German military marches.
Excellent video as always! One minor nitpick though :) A typical U-boat's speed was only limited to 8 kn while submerged, on the surface they could make about 14-16 kn, which was comparable to the top speed of most escort ships and well above that of a laden freighter.
8 kts for less than an hour, and more like 2-3 if they wanted to stay on the battery during the whole day.
Quite nice that you used the Warszawianka as the background song
I’ve never come across your channel before - this is outstanding !
Side quest is so underrated. He sounds like the voice of that cards, universe and everything.
I never knew how much I needed my history delivered by the monopoly guy until I saw it.
Excellent Tutorial! This is the exact same way I command my U-Boat on my journey to work!
Isn't the U-Boat your workplace?
And if it's not, what, in the seven seas, do you work?
One love ❤️
Ive been catching up on the back catalouge, but im glad that im finally able to support a sidequest video when it releases! Keep up the great work
1:22 that's the modern US Flag with 50 stars. During WWII, the US Flag only had 48 stars
quite strange that alaska and hawaii didnt get statehood until very recently
"I know my heart will go on, as will my torpedo."
I don't know where, but I'm going to use that somewhere eventually.
The Titanic ref was amazing!
You forgot to mention one quirkful tactic: instead of reversing after firing the salvo the sub would go INTO the formation of vessels, underwater of course, so they had no chance of spotting it. It would then hide for a while and either carry on with the slaughter or leave to replenish supplies.
He didnt forgot, that never happend.
If they could get into the convoy, they would have done it befor the attack.
A U-boat couldnt keep up with a convoy submerged, the batteries would be empty in less than one hour.
What they did was sneaking into a convoy on the surface befor the attack
80% death rate among U-Boat crews.
Four out of five.
Wow.
You're such a talented creator and I'm glad you're growing so fast!
Yeah it took a while lol I remember when all his videos had sub 10k views. Consistent, hard work pays off
THANK YOU! My friend gave me a British WW2 submarine(crew included) for my birthday and I’ve been looking for a video on how to operate it, you literally saved me and my crew.
Found you not too long ago this year and have watched as much as I have the time for. Glad you are starting to get the recognition you deserve and you are starting to get advertised more. Keep it up. Nice voice work on the phone trivia card game. Cant remember the name right now.
I come from Malta 🇲🇹 an island nation in the Mediterranean. I am really proud of our history and culture. I would really appreciate it if you could maybe do a video about Maltas victory in the great siege which was one of the greatest underdog victories in all of history.
Thank you sidequest !
Just watched the osp video on the maltese seige, you guys kick ass!
@@rexetelectric3811 Many appreciations
love the humour and animations mixed in with historical facts, guess that means it's time to sub (pun intended).
If y'all like this you should play the game Wolfpack, it's pretty fun and realistic, you basically operate your own submarine with your friends. Thought the servers are pretty much dead nowadays
Have you seed Grim Reaper's videos on that game? He and his crew are the only people I have ever seen play that game, and others like it, with any degree of competency. Well worth the watch if you enjoy that kind of gameplay.
I think it's worth mentioning "UBOAT" too, it's singleplayer and the closer there is today to the old Silent Hunter games, even if it's "easier" (not a bad thing for people learning about U-Boats tho) and you do get to command and upgrade your own Type VII U-Boat.
@@Kyo-kf6jf Hmmm, I've never heard of that one, I'll have to give it a look!
@@Kyo-kf6jf SH3 with gwx is also good although i heard that SH5 mods is good too.
@@resurgam_b7 good hunting, kapitan!
If anyone wants a good movie about a German UBoat watch “Das Boot” it’s in German but with subtitles it’s a great movie
„The enemy below” is a good movie too if you want to see accurate uboat warfare (OK technicaly it was filmed on a American uboat but still).
@@molybdaen11 The enemy below shows hollywood uboat warfare and it was filmed on a set, not in a uboat, not even US uboats had that much space.
@@wolf310ii I found the tactics of following courses, showing oscilligraphs and the details of the stations quite interesting.
Also both sides were shown equally, which is rare in such movies.
Honestly I don't care about WW2 submarines, but I'm still gonna watch for the animation and the jokes.
My Heart Will Go On lyrics coming out of nowhere got me cackling lol.
And also for the BGM selection and the sound effects! Whoever is doing the audio deserves a raise because it's so, so good!
these videos have amazing animation like oversimplified but they dont take ages to come out its amazing
(oversimplified should not stop making such amazing animation though even if it does take time)
One of the first things I learned in the three years I was on an SSN was how to properly flush the toilet. If you tried to open the ball valve while they were blowing sanitary tanks overboard...I don't want to think about it.
The animation and script never disappoints
Fun fact: the germans would later develop noise makers to counter hydrophones and an experimental ( which proved to break off due to sea salt and corrosion) rubber coating to counter sonar.
"near far wherever you are my heart will go on as will my torpedo"😂😂
Keep up the great work! I love this channel so much, it’s one of my favourites! :)
Thermal layer, was the aim of every U boat being hunted by escorts.
The issue with depth, is that the deeper you are the bigger are the chances of a depth charge to destroy the hull.
There's one thing that should be noted, the merchant ships didnt have full escort in the whole trip until 41-43. That meant in some place in the middle of the Atlantic they were alone without escorts. Something germans knew and used to hunt in that area at full extent. And probably the big thing that helped merchants was the dud chance of torps in the early war.
My Dad's theory on the Flower class names - Imagine being the U-boat captain whose combat record ended with: 'Rammed and depth-charged by HMS _Petunia,_ _Candytuft,_ _Buttercup,_ and _Periwinkle._ '
Thank you for this very helpful tutorial
Fun tid bit, you can totally determine torpedo trajectories without a computer/TDC just by using a periscope, and some quikmaths. The TDC however, did give the significant advantage of allowing for gyro(?) angles, allowing freer movement of submarines.
The gyro angle could be set manually, the advantage of the TDC was you didnt need quickmaths, the TDC did the math
@@wolf310ii Thanks! It's been a while
I remember visiting the U-Boat exhibit in the Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry, and it was extremely cramped even for the tour group
And that is a type-IX - it's much bigger!
this is so useful, i just bought mine yesterday and had no idea how to use it! this helped me so much
Too bad you need friends to operate it
If the Captain is screaming "Schnell!", then all is well
If he is screaming "Nein!", then all is fine.
If he whispers "Wir brennen', it's the end, then.
War Thunder reference?
Thank you SideQuest, these videos really prove that you can learn more on CZcams than in all 12 years of school!
I'm amazed by the medley of proletarian fight songs playing in the background. :D
I heard "Varshavyanka" + "Dem Morgenrot entgegen" + "Die Thälmann Kolonne" + "Brüder zur Sonne zur Freiheit"
Fun fact: in the First World War, u-boats we’re even more deadly, with only 1 in 4 operators making it out alive
I love how the videos topic is about World War 2 german U-boats while “the International” is playing in the background.
I spent 2 nights on the uss pompanito in 6th grade as a field trip. We also stayed on the uss hornet aircraft carrier that week. It was probably my most memorable school trip.
theres a movie about a german submarine called "Das Boot" really a movie worth watching
Wonderful timing for a reccomendation
This came in my recommendation when I listen to "Das Boots" theme song, I love the song. Anyway nice detail and video "God Speed"
If you're side quest, what and where's the main quest?
Wow u actually used "Varshavyanka" as bgm! Glad to see someone still remembers a song basically been banned in the western world.
I also heard "Dem Morgenrot entgegen" + "Die Thälmann Kolonne" + "Brüder zur Sonne zur Freiheit"
3:16 is probably wrong, because submarines in WW2 needed to measure the distance, course and size of targets through periscopes. Which means it's impossible to fire torpedoes accurately in too dark or too high waves.
Otto Kretchmer said germans allways played same melody when he returns from mission . When he got capured he relise the melody was "Star and stripes forever"....
An intern at WATU beat an admiral by wargaming. She figured that U-boats liked to hunt not from the fringes of a convoy but from within. She figured that if you've got 50 vessels coming off and on your sonar then one or two more dots goes amiss.
Her work upset an Admiral, saved thousands of lives and created Raspberry. Her name was Janet Okell. She was a WREN and only 19 years old.
Remember her name, remember her achievements. She earned your attention and so much more.
I've watched the 30/30 videos, and all of them are 1000/100 💯🔥🔥🔥 love this channel.
I dream of an episode of 1hr :( and a weekly new episode
by this time when the U boats were telling the boss what they were up to the British were reading the decoded messages before the Germans, the Germans wondered why it was so difficult to find convoys but never once suspected the British knew where they were
Very good work on the animations
A Las Barricadas is an interesting music choice
I also heard "Dem Morgenrot entgegen" + "Die Thälmann Kolonne" "Brüder zur Sonne zur Freiheit"
Biggest Innovation was the snorkel, 48 us got serious, add the albacore hull and you got a winner
Another awesome episode!!! Thank you!!
Advertising works. This dude paid for his videos to show up in ads and he went from a thousand subscribers a year ago to on the way to half a million
Great video.Humor and history lead to entertainment.
Thanks for the guide
I have notifications turned on but for some reason I don't get notified when u upload. Anyone else? Great content tho!!
You forgot to mention that besides of Coca Cola and Food those Liberty Ships also carried guns, tanks and bombs.
Thanks, needed that
You sent a depth charge through my soul 💔
But my heart will go on, as will my torpedo!~ 💥
Clearly you never hit a barrel with a sludge hammer if you think it will do no damage to the barrel.
Last time I checked you had 20k subs. Congrats on 400k, u deserve it !
What useful information for my next venture
Amazing video as usual! Keep it up!!
Cool music choice, the hymn of the CNT
Side Quest as always a fun watch.
I will surely use this information responsibly
Gwx silent hunter 3 players will understand
What's a GWX and what's a Silent Hunter?
I'll see myself out. 🤣🤣
smashing! well explain chap!
Sidequest is growing faster than my height
You have gigantism
me too.
well, I'm 27
2:24 I’m suprised phones had that type of range back then.
Love the animation style x
In _Das Boot_ it's mentioned that every meal had a thin film of diesel fuel on it.
And in rough seas the galley was unable to cook anything so you got stale bread sandwiches.
The fletcher class is considered a destroyer while the town class was considered a cruiser in everywhere Ive ever seen them mentioned.
Two uploads in a month! Is it my birthday?
Glad you got yourself a sponsor!
Das Boot crew greets you :)
Great socialist background songs - "Dem Morgenrot entgegen", "Der kleine Trompeter", "Thälmann Kolonne", "Brüder zur Sonne zur Freiheit" were the ones I gathered while watching. Probably a few I missed. FINALLY a use for me knowing those songs.
A las barricadas too, that's the one that stood out to me
They didn't have to get back to shore to pick up ammo and supply, they just had to meet one of the many supply ships on sea that provide food, diesel and torpedos
3:22 Absolutely love the Frank Sinatra joke.
Just watched one of your older videos and came hear to say you sound exactly like the narrator from little big planet and the stanley parable lol
Ok thanks, this video came just in time for me
A channel who truly understands the peoples interest
very interesting video - thanks
Thanks for the tutorial I'm going to take of Québec
if you want to find a good movie about it i suggest you watch das boot (1981)
Hey, that's the captain from Das Boot! Awesome!!
I really needed to know this so I can go into the black sea. Thanks mate
Interesting music choice the song of Warsaw
Well, all I know about how to command a WW2 submarine is that you don't flush the toilet. Or you migth sink it.
I am actually surprised that this wasn't in the video. A German submarine (U1206) sank in the spring of 1945 near the Scottish coast after a new toilet was installed. This toilet could only be operated by a specially trained crewman, which the captain of the boat, Commander Schlitt, semingly ignored. This lead to water floating into the submarine, which reacted with the batteries, producing poisonous chlorine gas. Commander Schitt ... er, sorry, Schlitt then ordered the boat to surface, where it was immediately spotted and attacked by British planes. Because they had no chance the commander then ordered the crew to evacuate the boat and sink it, which they did. One crewman was killed by the British planes and two or three (depending on the sources, one of these crewmen might have been the corpse of the crewman that got killed by the British plane) drowned when their life raft crashed against the cliffs near the beach (the other eight crewmen in the same liferaft managed to get to the beach).
Is that... the Warsaw Workers in the background my fear SideQuest?
Lovely video. I actually didn't mind the ad
The artist's rendition of a comfy villa in brinttany looks very much like the town hall of Norwich, Connecticut, USA.
The US East Coast is actually littered with sunken U-Boats. Some are scuba dividable if you are a tech diver. Some of the deeper ones are reachable by underwriting expeditions for scientific researchers to study them via submersibles (a compact citizen friendly version of a submarine). Its worth looking up!