Cruiser Submarine: Crackpot Schemes or Good Ideas Badly Done p5/7

Smaller, cheaper shells made a gun attractive aboard a submarine intended for long-range commerce raiding and shore bombardment.

Convoys exposed a surfaced gun-armed submarine to escort fire, while its low position in the water limited range finding.

Rough first-hit estimates favour a corvette over a cruiser submarine, while a worked-up destroyer's multiple gun mounts offer a much stronger advantage.

Low lookouts limited how far a submarine could see, allowing taller escorts to use their guns at comparable or greater practical ranges.

Large topside guns added drag and weight; storing their ammunition above or inside the hull created different risks when diving.

A proposed long-range raider would carry six or more forward torpedo tubes and two to three reloads per tube for operations far from its base.

British and other navies' work on minelayers and larger submarines offered alternatives to prolonged development of the gun-armed cruiser submarine.

A proposed larger T-class submarine would combine a stronger hull, greater diving depth and longer range with enough torpedoes to fulfil the cruiser-submarine role.

Torpedo attacks and delayed mine strikes at different positions could disguise a submarine's route and disrupt shipping along whole coastlines.

Germany's shortage of long-range boats and Britain's reliance on overseas bases introduce the danger of taking surface damage far from support.