Early Reichsmarine planning expected submarines to raid commerce under cruiser rules rather than conduct unrestricted warfare. Karl Dönitz, a protégé of Henning von Holtzendorff, later advocated coordinated wolf packs to overwhelm convoy defences. A Flower-class corvette was cheaper to build and easier to crew than a submarine, creating an industrial asymmetry in that contest. Surface escorts also had operational reach and endurance advantages that submarines could not simply cancel. The argument places submarine doctrine inside a wider production and manpower competition rather than treating the U-boat as an isolated weapon.
Notable Point · 41:49-43:44
From cruiser rules to wolf packs - and the escort response
Dönitz replaced an orthodox cruiser-rule concept with unrestricted wolf packs, but escorts such as Flower-class corvettes were cheaper to build and easier to crew than submarines.