In August 1943, the fiercest battle between aircraft and submarines took place in the Caribbean. The Browning of the 50th pounded powerfully. caliber, in response to them from the surface rushed heavy bursts of anti-aircraft guns "Flac", behind the stern of the boat, columns of water rose every minute. The planes passed at low level, shooting the submarine with machine guns and dropping tons of depth charges on it - the battle flared up in earnest.
To the surprise of the Americans, U-615 did not attempt to submerge or throw a "white flag" - the helpless boat with a discharged battery only increased its speed and headed for the open ocean, the deck crew rushed to the anti-aircraft guns. And then it began!
The upgraded U-bot with reinforced anti-aircraft armament turned out to be a "tough nut to crack": instead of the removed 88 mm gun, a set of automatic anti-aircraft guns was installed on board the boat, providing all-round shelling of air targets. The first round ended in a draw - the American flying boat PBM "Mariner", pierced through with an anti-aircraft burst, started smoking and crashed into the water. But the hail of dropped depth charges did their job - the damaged U-615 lost its ability to submerge.
"Liberator" shoots a German U-bot from 12, 7 mm machine guns
Over the next day, the submarine repulsed 11 more attacks by American aircraft, but despite heavy damage and the death of the commander, it continued to stubbornly move towards the open ocean, hiding from the enemy in fog and rain charges. Alas, the wounds received turned out to be fatal - by the morning of August 7, the pumps were out of order, the battered submarine slowly filled with water and sank to the bottom. An hour later, 43 people from the U-615 crew were picked up by an American destroyer.
Captured crew of submarine U-615
U-848 under the command of Wilhelm Rollmann perished no less hard - the IXD2 class submarine held out for 7 hours under the incessant attacks of the Mitchells and Liberators from Ascension Island. Ultimately, U-848 was sunk; from her crew, only one submariner was rescued - Oberbotsman Hans Schade, but he too soon died of his wounds.
Among the submarines were real champions, for example, the U-256 submarine, which shot down four enemy aircraft. Three planes each chalked up U-441, U-333 and U-648. Anti-aircraft gunners U-481 shot down an Il-2 attack aircraft over the Baltic Sea - the only loss of Soviet aviation from the fire of German submariners (July 30, 1944).
Among the Allied aircraft, the naval patrol modifications B-24 "Liberator" (the four-engine analogue of the "Flying Fortress") suffered serious losses - in total during the war, 25 low-flying "Liberators" were victims of the anti-aircraft guns of German U-bots.
Long-range maritime patrol aircraft PB4Y-1, aka Consolidated B-24D Liberator with additional bow turret
In general, the open battles of German submarines with aircraft were rather episodic in nature - the sailors were reluctant to engage in a firefight, preferring to dive in advance and disappear into the water column.
The submarine never counted on an open confrontation with aviation - the submariners had a completely different tactic based on stealth. The limited number of anti-aircraft barrels, the absence of automated fire control systems, inconvenient conditions for the operation of gun crews, the strong overwhelming and instability of the boat as an artillery platform - all this put the boat in a deliberately disadvantageous condition compared to an aircraft soaring in the sky. A real chance of salvation was given only by the speed of the dive and the early warning of detection by the enemy.
In terms of creating warning systems, the Germans have achieved great results. A special place was occupied by radio-technical reconnaissance - by the spring of 1942, after more frequent reports of submariners about sudden night attacks from the air, the FuMB1 Metox radar detector was developed, nicknamed the "Biscay Cross" for its characteristic appearance. The detection range of the device was two times higher than the range of British radars - under normal conditions, the boat received a "time bonus" in the form of 5-10 minutes to dive and go unnoticed. Of the minuses - at each ascent, the antenna had to be lifted out of the compartment and manually fixed on the bridge. The time for urgent immersion was increasing.
Nevertheless, the use of the "Cross of Biscay" made it possible for six months to deprive the effectiveness of the anti-submarine forces of the allies. As a result, in 1942, the "steel wolves of the oceans" sank 1.5 times more enemy ships and vessels than in all the previous three years of the war combined!
The British did not just give up and created new radars that worked at wavelengths of 1, 3-1, 9 meters. In response, the FuMB9 Vanze station immediately appeared, which allowed the Germans to continue their terrible fishing with high efficiency until the fall of 1943 (despite the tough measures taken, the losses of the Allies still exceeded the losses of 1940 or 1941).
By the fall of 1943, the Germans launched a new FuMB10 Borkum anti-radar system into series, which controlled the wavelength range of 0.8-3.3 meters. The system has been continuously improved - since April 1944, new detection stations FuMB24 "Fleige" have appeared in the submarine fleet.
The Germans responded to the appearance of the American centimeter radars AN / APS-3 and AN / APS-4, operating at a wavelength of 3.2 cm, by creating the FuMB25 "Mücke" (it controlled the range of 2-4 cm). In May 1944, the most advanced electronic reconnaissance system FuMB26 "Tunis" appeared, combining all previous developments on the themes of "Muke" and "Flayge".
The only surviving Type VIIC submarine is the U-995.
Fantastically beautiful ship
But, despite solid advances in the field of radio-technical warfare, primitive diesel-electric boats still spent 90% of the time on the surface, which clearly required an increase in their combat resistance by equipping the boats with effective means to repel air attacks.
For the reasons already mentioned (the boat is not an air defense cruiser), it was impossible to create something fundamentally new. Increasing the defensive capabilities of U-bots was achieved in two main ways:
1. Creation of new automatic anti-aircraft guns with a higher rate of fire.
2. An increase in the number of anti-aircraft artillery "trunks" on board the submarine, an expansion of the shelling sectors, an improvement in the working conditions of the crews.
Since December 1942, instead of 20 mm Flak 30 anti-aircraft guns, new automatic Flak 38 cannons began to appear on boats, which had a fourfold higher rate of fire - up to 960 rds / min., Besides, they were installed in twin ("zwilling") or quadruple ("firling") options.
The dying U-848 of Wilhelm Rollmann. A platform with anti-aircraft guns is clearly visible, the crew is hiding from the explosions of depth charges and heavy fire from the "Liberator" machine guns
Along the way, the boats were equipped with powerful 37 mm anti-aircraft guns 3, 7 cm Flak M42 - originally an army gun modified for firing in sea conditions, firing projectiles weighing 0, 73 kg. Rate of fire - 50 rounds / min. Two or three hits from the Flak M42 were enough to knock any enemy aircraft into the water.
On some boats, "non-standard" air defense kits were mounted, for example, Italian 13, 2 mm coaxial machine guns of the "Breda" company. On some of the IX series submarines on the sides of the bridge were placed large-caliber 15 mm MG 151 machine guns. Also, several MG34 rifle-caliber machine guns were often mounted on the bridge rails.
In order to increase the number of barrels and expand the sectors of fire, the designers continuously improved the structure of the deckhouse and superstructures of the boat. For example, the "workhorses" of the Kriegsmarine - Type VII submarines by the end of the war had eight different types of deckhouses and superstructures (Turm 0 - Turm 7). No less powerfully modernized "cruiser" boats type IX - they received a set of five superstructures of various shapes and contents.
The main innovation was new artillery platforms installed behind the wheelhouse, nicknamed Wintergarten by sailors. On some boats of the VII type, instead of the 88 mm gun, which had lost its relevance, platforms and beds with 37 mm Flak M42 guns began to be installed.
As a result, by the end of the war, the Turm 4 became the standard version of anti-aircraft weapons on Type VII boats:
- two twin 20 mm Flak 38 cannons on the upper deckhouse platform;
- long-range 37 mm anti-aircraft gun Flak M42 in the "Winter Garden" behind the wheelhouse (later replaced by the twin Flak M42U).
Anti-aircraft boats of the Kriegsmarine
As practice has shown, all the measures taken to protect boats from air attacks were clearly not enough. It was especially hard when crossing the Bay of Biscay: boats leaving bases on the coast of France came under heavy fire from the base anti-submarine aircraft from the British Isles - Sunderlands, Catalina, special modifications of the Mosquito, Whitley, Halifax bombers ", Heavy patrol" Liberators "and" Privates "," Beaufighters "and fighter aircraft of all types - were thrown on boats from all sides, trying to prevent the Germans from communicating in the Atlantic.
The solution to the problem ripened quickly - to create special "anti-aircraft" boats to escort combat submarines on the approach to bases on the coast of France, as well as to cover "cash cows" in the open ocean (Type XIV transport boats, designed to supply fuel, ammunition and food to boats operating on remote communications - due to their specificity, "cash cows" were a tasty target for the Allied anti-submarine forces).
The first Flak-boot (U-Flak 1) was converted from the damaged U-441 boat - two additional artillery platforms were mounted in the bow and stern of the wheelhouse, the boat's anti-aircraft armament included two four-barreled 20 mm Flak 38 assault rifles, and the Flak M42 anti-aircraft gun as well as many MG34 machine guns. The boat bristling with trunks was supposed to become a terrible trap for enemy aircraft - after all, the British clearly do not expect such a turn of events!
U-Flak 1
However, the reality turned out to be discouraging - on May 24, 1943, U-Flak 1 was attacked by the British flying boat "Sunderland" - the submariners managed to shoot down the plane, but five depth charges dropped by them caused serious damage to the submarine. A day later, the beaten Flak-boot barely returned to the base. The next combat patrol ended even more tragically - a simultaneous attack by three Beaufighters led to the death of 10 people from the U-Flak 1 crew.
The idea of an "anti-aircraft boat" suffered a complete fiasco - by October U-Flak 1 had returned its original appearance and designation, having converted it into a conventional "combatant" Type VIIC. It is noteworthy that in June 1944, U-441, along with a group of other boats, was urgently sent to the English Channel with the task of preventing the Allied landing in Normandy (oh, holy naivety!).
On June 7, 1944, U-441 managed to shoot down the Wellington of the Canadian Air Force, and this was the end of her combat career - the next morning U-441 was sunk by the British Liberators.
In total, according to the "anti-aircraft boat" project, U-441, U-621, U-951 and U-256 were re-equipped (the one that shot down the most aircraft). If the idea was successful, it was planned to convert several more boats into U-Flak (U-211, U-263 and U-271), but alas, these plans were never implemented in reality.
Despite the vigorous development of anti-aircraft weapons, German boats had less and less duel with enemy aircraft - the appearance of snorkels (devices for operating a diesel engine under water, at periscope depth) reduced to a minimum the time spent on the surface.
During the Second World War, the boats proved that they are capable of massively destroying enemy aircraft (along with spare parts, fuel and ammunition) while they lay disassembled in the holds of transport ships. But if the planes have time to "get on the wing" - in such a situation the boat has nothing to do on the surface. We urgently need to go to a safe depth.
In total, during the Battle of the Atlantic, Allied aircraft chalked up 348 of the 768 destroyed German submarines (45% of the losses of the Kriegsmarine). This figure includes 39 victories that were achieved by joint actions of aircraft and anti-submarine ships of the Navy. Also, a small number of boats were blown up by mines placed by planes (no more than 26-32 units, the exact value is unknown).
For the sake of fairness, it is worth noting that German submariners sank 123 warships and 2,770 transport ships with a total tonnage of 14.5 million tons over the same period of time. The exchange is more than fair! In addition, the boats carried out sabotage and raiding operations in the coastal zone (for example, an attack on the Soviet weather station on Novaya Zemlya), conducted reconnaissance, landed sabotage groups, were used on a round-the-world courier line along the Kiel-Tokyo route, and at the end of the war evacuated many fascist bosses and the gold reserve of the Reich to South America. Those. justified their purpose by 100 and even 200%.
Instead of an epilogue
The confrontation between the aircraft and the submarine has escalated more than ever in our time: since the 1960s, the massive appearance of rotary-wing aircraft has made it possible to transfer the lion's share of the tasks of anti-submarine protection of battleship detachments to helicopters. Basic aviation is not asleep - the navies of foreign states are annually replenished with new anti-submarine aircraft: the obsolete Orions are being replaced by the P-8 Poseidon jet, created on the basis of the passenger Boeing-737.
Nuclear boats have gone deep under water, but the means and methods of detection do not stand still. Visual and radar detection of surfaced submarines has been replaced by much more sophisticated techniques:
- magnetic detectors that record the presence of a submarine by local anomalies in the Earth's magnetic field (the technique is poorly applicable at high latitudes);
- scanning the water column with a laser of green-blue light, which penetrates well to great depths;
- thermal sensors that record the slightest changes in water temperature;
- supersensitive devices that record vibrations of the oil film on the sea surface (which is available almost everywhere) in case of a forced displacement of the volume of water under the sea surface.
I'm not even talking about such "primitive" things as dropped sonar buoys or towed GAS antennas, which have long been used on PLO helicopters.
Anti-submarine helicopter MH-60R "Sea Hawk"
All this allows anti-submarine forces, with numerical superiority, good training and a certain amount of luck, to detect even the quietest modern boat.
The situation is going badly, the submariners have nothing to give an answer to the enemy aviation. The presence of several MANPADS on board is nothing more than a curiosity - their use is possible only on the surface.
Probably, many generations of submariners wanted to get some kind of weapon in order to "whack" the insolent helicopter pilots right from under the water. The French concern DCNS seems to have found an effective solution - the A3SM Underwater Vehicle anti-aircraft missile system based on the MBDA MICA missile. A capsule with a rocket is fired through a conventional torpedo tube, then controlled via a fiber optic cable, the rocket rushes towards the target at a distance of up to 20 km.
Target designation is provided by the boat's hydroacoustic means - modern GAS are able to accurately calculate the location of eddies on the water surface, formed by a helicopter propeller or engines of a low-flying PLO aircraft (the Poseidon's patrol height is only a few tens of meters).
A similar development is offered by the Germans - the IDAS (Interactive Defense and Attack System for Submarines) complex from Diehl Defense.
It looks like the boats are breaking away again!
