Comments by "doveton sturdee" (@dovetonsturdee7033) on "Using German Weapons Against Them | The Story of the Royal Navy's U-Boat" video.

  1.  @michellebrown4903  Why would they? Who or what would they be able to use them against?
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  2. HMS Seal, on 5 May, 1940. She was a Grampus class minelayer, sent to carry out a minelaying operation in the Kattegat. In attempting to evade a German anti-submarine patrol, she was seriously damaged in a German minefield. After her one working engine failed as she attempted to reach neutral Sweden, her commander destroyed his confidential books and surrendered, with the agreement of the Admiralty. Seal was towed by her captors to Fredrikshaven, where extensive repairs were attempted. She was commissioned into the Kriegsmarine as UB in Spring 1941, but only ever used for training and propaganda purposes. She was then dumped in a corner of Kiel dockyard, where she was destroyed in the same raid that destroyed the Admiral Hipper. She was subsequently raised, and scuttled on 3 May, 1945. The Germans did, however, benefit from examination of the British contact type torpedo detonator at the time of her capture. Her captain, Lt-Cdr. Lonsdale, was the only British commander to surrender his ship in the whole of WW2. He was subsequently court-martialled, and acquitted, after the war.
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  3.  @stephengraham1153  My pleasure. Happy New Year!
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  4.  @amdidextrous  Because in the RN there was always a Court Martial in such circumstances. In all honesty, it was a formality.
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  5.  @michellebrown4903  But the British never sought to use their boats for a campaign against enemy merchant shipping, as the Germans and the US did, because the seas were immediately cleared of German shipping. A Type VIIc had a range of 8500 nm, by the way. A T class had a range of 8000 nm. The crush depth of a British T class third group was 626 feet. That of a Type VII 750 feet. A T carried 17 torpedoes, whereas a Type VII carried 14. Both the Ts and the Type VIIs were much smaller than the US Gatos, which displaced 1549 tons, and were 311 feet long. ( T class 1090 tons & 275 feet, Type VII 757 tons and 220 feet. Gatos had a dive depth of 300 feet, and a range of 11,000 nm. Put simply, Gatos were built to operate in the Pacific, whereas British & German boats were intended to operate in the Atlantic and Mediterranean.
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