An alternative in U-class development would have made these boats successors to the earlier R-class hunter-killers. British work on streamlined underwater performance had gone into the U class, making it a candidate for that specialized role. In this counterfactual, roughly a dozen boats could patrol the Bay of Biscay and ambush U-boats leaving French ports. The V class continued the expansion of the U-class design and is linked to the same development path.
Notable Point · 1:47:42-1:48:30
The U-class hunter-killer path Britain did not take
A discarded development path could have turned Britain's U class into R-class-style hunter-killers stationed outside French U-boat bases.