Silent Hunter III (Ubisoft, 2005) is a U-boat (German submarine) (Das Boot (1981)) simulator during the Battle of the Atlantic (1939-1945) in World War II.
The first submarine was built by Isaac Peral (El primer submarino) in 1888. It had a completely electric propulsion by engines, was able to fire torpedoes, controlled the stability of the ship under waters, and had an optic periscope to advance unseen
History
Just weeks into World War II the British Royal Navy deployed aircraft carriers on anti-submarine patrols. On September 17, 1939, Commander Otto Schuhart in U-29 caught the fleet carrier HMS Courageous completely exposed off the coast of Ireland. He fired a spread of torpedoes, sinking the massive ship in less than 20 minutes. It was the first British warship sunk by the Kriegsmarine, forcing the Royal Navy to immediately withdraw all its precious aircraft carriers from anti-submarine duties.
Between June and November 1940 were Die Glückliche Zeit (“Happy Times”). British merchant shipping had very few escort warships available. A small handful of legendary German aces (like Günther Prien, Joachim Schepke, and Otto Kretschmer) completely terrorized the Atlantic, sinking hundreds of unescorted Allied supply ships with impunity.
During the Operation Weserübung (German invasion of Norway), the narrow fjords around Narvik became a chaotic, brutal graveyard for both German and British destroyers. German U-boats were deployed inside the narrow, icy fjords to ambush incoming British fleets, but they were severely hindered by a catastrophic, historical defect where their torpedoes’ magnetic detonators failed to explode.
As the war in North Africa escalated, Hitler ordered U-boats into the Mediterranean. To do so, they had to cross the ultra-narrow Strait of Gibraltar, which was heavily locked down by British radar, destroyers, and searchlights.
Operating in the Mediterranean, Commander Hans-Diedrich von Tiesenhausen in U-331 managed to slip past the destroyer screen protecting a British battle squadron in November 1941. He fired a spread of four torpedoes, striking the Queen Elizabeth-class battleship HMS Barham, causing a massive, catastrophic magazine explosion.
The island of Malta was a critical British stronghold blocking Axis supply lines to North Africa. The British launched massive, desperate naval convoys (like Operation Pedestal) to keep Malta supplied with fuel and food through a gauntlet of Axis bombers and submarines.
The battleship Bismarck, pride of the German Navy, had its rudder jammed by a British torpedo bomber and was surrounded by the Royal Navy. U-556 was nearby and actually spotted the British fleet chasing the Bismarck, but the submarine was completely out of torpedoes and could only watch the tragedy unfold.
A US Navy task group led by the escort carrier USS Guadalcanal hunted down and cornered U-505 off the coast of Africa in June 1944. After heavy depth-charging, the crew blew the tanks and abandoned ship. Before the sub could sink, a US boarding party rushed aboard, capturing the U-boat completely intact alongside its highly classified Enigma coding machines.
The Type XXI “Electro-boat” in 1945 was a revolutionary design, featuring massive batteries that allowed it to stay underwater for days and cruise faster submerged than on the surface. It arrived too late to change the war, with only a couple ever going out on actual combat patrols before Germany surrendered.
U-boats
There war different U-Boat types in the German Kriegsmarine submarine fleet:
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Type II: A small, cramped coastal submarine with limited torpedoes, used mainly early in the war.
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Type VII: The iconic backbone of the U-boat fleet (featured in the movie Das Boot). It offers a perfect balance of maneuverability, range, and firepower.
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Type IX: A massive, long-range ocean cruiser designed for long-distance deployments, such as raiding the American coast.
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Type XXI: The advanced, late-war “Electro-boat”—the first true modern submarine capable of staying submerged for days at high speeds.