At the big naval battle of Jutland, in 1916, the German fleet was put to flight and dared not venture out again. Eventually there was a mutiny, and at the end of the war, the surrendered fleet was scuttled at Scapa Flow in the Orkney islands. The battle itself was a "draw", but the Royal Navy actually suffered more losses than the imperial German fleet. In the post-mortems, one conclusion was that the German fleet was designed for a limited radius of operation, needed less bunkerage and thus could have heavier armour plating than the RN ships - which were required to safeguard a global empire.
There is an echo of this in the cheap and nasty ships/subs being sold by Germany and France to naive navies across the world. There are repeated stories of small, inshore submarines sold to developing country navies where they are expected to operate in oceanic conditions.
One of the strangest stories emerging from the overthrow of the corrupt Najib government in Malaysia, is the story of the French submarines "which dared not submerge" (Indonesia has a similar problem).
Argentina's San Juan, was a lightweight vessel, built in Germany in the early 1980s, and sent to operate in the tough conditions of the South Atlantic/Southern Ocean. The hull collapsed, killing the entire crew.
The wreckage has now been located and the debate has started as to whether the boat should be raised. Several interested parties will probably ensure that there is no open investigation.
Incidentally, the UK ministry of defence has now decided to build a class of lightweight frigates as "filler-in" vessels for routine patrols in areas like the Mediterranean and the Persian/Arabian Gulf, and with one eye on "export sales". The Navy is not very happy.
There is an echo of this in the cheap and nasty ships/subs being sold by Germany and France to naive navies across the world. There are repeated stories of small, inshore submarines sold to developing country navies where they are expected to operate in oceanic conditions.
One of the strangest stories emerging from the overthrow of the corrupt Najib government in Malaysia, is the story of the French submarines "which dared not submerge" (Indonesia has a similar problem).
Argentina's San Juan, was a lightweight vessel, built in Germany in the early 1980s, and sent to operate in the tough conditions of the South Atlantic/Southern Ocean. The hull collapsed, killing the entire crew.
The wreckage has now been located and the debate has started as to whether the boat should be raised. Several interested parties will probably ensure that there is no open investigation.
Incidentally, the UK ministry of defence has now decided to build a class of lightweight frigates as "filler-in" vessels for routine patrols in areas like the Mediterranean and the Persian/Arabian Gulf, and with one eye on "export sales". The Navy is not very happy.
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