A simple choice between a submarine fleet and a surface fleet ignores how the two depended on one another. Forward U-boat operations required supply ships and more distant operating support. Those auxiliaries in turn needed destroyers or light cruisers capable of escorting them through contested waters. A coherent strategy could use submarines to make interception dangerous while surface escorts moved the logistical system outward. Germany instead allowed surface-raider and submarine programmes to compete without designing the connecting force that either approach needed.
Notable Point · 43:44-44:56
The surface fleet an oceanic submarine war required
An unrestricted U-boat campaign still required supply ships, forward support, and surface escorts able to protect the logistics that kept submarines on station.