Q&A ยท 1:13:20-1:13:42

Dreadnought's submarine kill and the pitfalls of tallying ASW success

Dreadnought's ramming success illustrates how the category being counted changes a comparison of submarine kills.

Question

Have battleships sunk more submarines than submerged submarines have sunk one another?

Short answer

The comparison is accepted for the narrow categories being discussed, with Dreadnought's ramming kill as the named example.

Notes

Battleship rammings account for more submarine sinkings in this comparison than the narrow category of known underwater submarine-on-submarine kills. HMS Dreadnought's only confirmed kill was a submarine. That observation prompts a joke about reviving battleships as ASW ships. The tally depends on the category being counted and does not establish a modern ASW requirement.