The inventory cited here contains six Type IIA, eighteen Type IIB, two Type IA, ten Type VIIA, eight Type IXA, eleven Type VIIB, and seven Type VIIC boats. Each small batch imposes distinct demands for spares, maintenance knowledge, dockside support, and training. Incremental development has value, but this degree of variety makes infrastructure and logistics needlessly difficult. Technical refinement must be balanced against fleet-wide standardisation.
Notable Point · 29:44-30:46
The logistical cost of too many U-boat variants
Germany's numerous small batches of submarine types turn incremental design improvement into a support and training burden.