Post by abclark on Nov 3, 2020 15:29:10 GMT -6
I know this isn't Surcoif class; but in WWII American fleet subs were fairly routinely replacing their 3" guns with 4" or 5" guns. A few subs supposedly added director control to them. "Late in the war, several boats were fitted with a pair of 5″/25s, as well as a simple director system, allowing coordinated fire." fleetsubmarine.com/guns.html So fairly heavy guns were still needed when your torps are bad and or the enemy doesn't have air-cover.
Quick re-cap, thank you for the response. I think the in-game position is that the "medium range SS" encompasses the larger "fleet subs". I would like to see larger more capable "fleet subs" added as some countries have a historical need of them in the Pacific. I think it would be easy to mod the design in by adjusting the SS numbers by same amount that already exists between SSC and SS. Heavily gun focused subs aren't of much interest on my end.
My understanding of the change from 3" guns is that the 3" HC/AA shells have roughly a 5.7% charge to weight ratio, whereas the 5" HC/AA shell for the 5"/25 has a 14% charge to weight ratio. In combination with the higher shell weight, it gave enough "oomph" to sink a merchant (which is considerably larger, although usually less well subdivided than, the destroyers the 3"/50 had been designed to counter) with a reasonable number of shells. Even though the number of shells that could be carried went down, the number of shells required to sink a merchant went down by an even larger ratio, so it was a net positive. The 4"/50 was an intermediate step in that direction because the guns were available. That being said, it was only a slight efficiency increase, not really adding new capabilities.
From the Navweaps page on the 5"/25:
Most submarines lacked effective surface fire control systems, but seven submarines (SS-229, 340, 399, 401, 406, 407 and 408) were converted to "gunboats" during 1945. These boats carried two 5"/25 (12.7 cm) guns, a Mark 6 stable vertical, a Mark 6 computer and a gun plot installed in the forward crew quarters. The computer drove repeaters at the guns.
An interesting experiment, but by that time it was becoming more and more dangerous for submarines to engage armed vessels on the surface anyway.
The other option that had been considered by the USN in 1920 was to armor a submarine sufficiently to let it tangle with escorts without undue fear for the safety of the ship. My personal favorite of these designs is this 490 foot long, 13,500 ton monstrosity. 4 twin 8" turrets with 6" of armor, and a 2 1/4" protective deck, with another 1" behind it where it curved down as a "belt." In addition, it has a pair of 4" AA guns, 8 torpedo tubes, and 4 floatplanes. Just for kicks, they added a conning tower with 6" armor as well.
It's entirely impractical as a submarine, can only make 15 1/2 knots, and is absolutely hilarious.