The episode follows procurement choices rather than a patrol-by-patrol narrative. The comparison asks what a small navy needs from a limited number of boats and how easily specialization can leave important missions uncovered. Geography, industrial capacity, alliance access, and competing army expenditure recur as practical constraints. The four cases show why counting submarines says less than examining what each boat could do and whether its navy could sustain it.
Chapter · 8:44-13:27
How smaller navies chose submarines before World War II
The opening frames Polish, Greek, Dutch, and Norwegian submarine choices as problems of limited budgets, geography, and force design.