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> On 28 March 1945 the submarine departed from Kiel for its first training patrol in the North Sea, returning on 30 March. I find it amazing that at this point
by arbuge 7y ago
> On 28 March 1945 the submarine departed from Kiel for its first training patrol in the North Sea, returning on 30 March.
I find it amazing that at this point in the war when the end was imminent, they were still going through the motions of doing training patrols.
- toomanybeersies 7y agoI would imagine it was less of a "training patrol" and more of a 2 day shakedown to ensure that there were no critical issues before sending it into combat. It's the nautical equivalent of a test drive or QA. Consider that the same process usually takes months for a modern warship, even of a proven design.
- mannykannot 7y agoIndeed - clearly the training was cursory and did not effectively cover at least one important issue...
- lostlogin 7y agoThat whole period was full of this sort of contradiction. German war production peaked in 1944, very late in the piece. This probably says a lot about the value of area bombing as well abilities of Speer.
- JJMcJ 7y agoThere were three separate naval engagements in Long Island Sound overnight May 5/6 1945, and after the surrender German submarines surfaced off of New Jersey. Basically the war was fought until the last minute.