Posted on 12/16/2017 1:10:56 PM PST by Simon Green
On October 15, the submarine U-35 was performing a diving maneuver off the Norwegian coast when one of the four fins on its X-shaped rudder struck a rock. The damage was severe enough it needed to be escorted back to Kiel by the testing ship Helmsand. The fifty-six-meter-long submarine would have to miss an international exercise in the Skagerrak Strait, scheduled for December.
Underwater collisions are a hazard of submarine operations. Both U.S. and Royal Navy nuclear-powered submarines have run aground in recent years. Repairs are often expensive and time-consuming. But spokesman Capt. Johannes Dumrese told a German publication in October that U-35’s accident had an extraordinary consequence.
On paper, the Deutsche Marine has six Type 212A submarines equipped with advanced air-independent propulsion, allowing ultraquiet operations submerged for over two weeks at a time.
In reality, the Deutsche Marine does not currently have a single submarine in operational condition.
Missing Spare Parts
German mariners pioneered submarine warfare in the twentieth century when hundreds of U-Boats ravaged Allied shipping across the Atlantic in the two world wars. However, today’s smaller U-Boat fleet is intended primarily for defense of the cold, shallow waters of the Baltic Sea. The Type 212A submarines employ hydrogen fuel cells that allow them to swim submerged for over two weeks before resurfacing, compared to a few days at most for diesel submarines. In theory, this makes the German submarines ideal for stealthy, short-range sea control and intelligence-gathering missions, while costing less than a quarter of the price of a U.S. nuclear-powered submarine.
However, U-31, the first submarine of the class, had been out of service since 2014. Although repairs should be completed in December 2017, it will take months of trials before it is ready for deployment.
U-32 had suffered damage to its batteries while on route to Norway in July 2017; so far, no berth is free to even begin repairs. Ahead in line for the next available spot in January 2018 is U-34, also in need of maintenance, with no estimated time of completion available.
U-33, meanwhile, is undergoing maintenance through February 2018; then it will require three to four more months of trials. U-36, the sister ship of U-35, was commissioned on October 10, 2017, but will not become operational until May 2018.
The culprit for the lengthy delays? Since the end of the Cold War, the Deutsche Marine ceased maintaining a comprehensive supply of spare parts as a cost-cutting measure, instead procuring parts on demand or looting them from nonoperational boats. This has resulted in enormous delays and accumulated backlog.
Bundestag defense commissioner Hans-Peter Bartels was quoted by NDR as saying, “This is a disaster for the Navy. U-Boats are one of our top capabilities, and I believe it is the first time in their history that none will be operational for months.” One unfortunate consequence is that the submarine crews are completely unable to gain badly needed operational experience. Only by mid-2018 will three German submarines be operational, followed by possibly a fourth that November.
There are several hundred available at the bottom of the Atlantic.
We don't have one either. We have a bunch of them.
Our European allied navies are in rough shape overall. They’ve relied too much on the US the last 50 years. It seems their defense budgets have been plundered for welfare.
And I can trace my history
Down one generation in my home
In one of our submarines
The old joke used to be ‘How do you sink a Polish submarine?’ The answer was, ‘put it in water.’
The new joke is ‘How do you sink a British submarine?’ The answer is, ‘you can’t, there is no such thing as a British submarine!’
Maybe we can loan them Ted Kennedy’s Oldsmobile.
Rofl
They’ve been riding on the backs of American taxpayers for 70 years.
Instead of buying costly aircraft carriers and submarines Germany saves their money to spend on welfare and feebies to enntice muslim terrorists to move to Germany and rape their women.
Maybe we can send the one in that Chicago museum back if we’re not using it ...
>>to enntice muslim terrorists to move to Germany
In a few years, they’ll have those muslim terrorists manning their warships, so I’m glad they don’t have a submarine that works.
Das Reboot!
I should think this would cause great loss of face for the Germans, with their prideful efficiency. Or maybe that’s changed.
So we drove out to the bridge,
Till we found a sea of green,
Where she died beneath the waves,
In his four wheel submarine.
And our friends are all aboard,
Many more of them live next door,
And the party just goes on...
MaryJo died in a four wheel submarine,
Four wheel submarine, four wheel submarine.
MaryJo died in a four wheel submarine,
Four wheel submarine, four wheel submarine.
Full speed ahead, Mr. Kennedy, full speed ahead
Full speed ahead it is,
Get the lawyer, get the lawyer,
Aye, aye, sir, aye, aye
Captain, captain
And we live a life of ease
Every one of us has all we need
Whiskey gold and money green
And we forget that submarine
MaryJo died in a four wheel submarine,
Four wheel submarine, four wheel submarine.
MaryJo died in a four wheel submarine,
Four wheel submarine, four wheel submarine.
So we drove out to the bridge,
Till we found a sea of green,
Where she died beneath the waves,
In his four wheel submarine.
And our friends are all aboard,
Many more of them live next door,
And the party just goes on...
MaryJo died in a four wheel submarine,
Four wheel submarine, four wheel submarine.
MaryJo died in a four wheel submarine,
Four wheel submarine, four wheel submarine.
Full speed ahead, Mr. Kennedy, full speed ahead
Full speed ahead it is,
Get the lawyer, get the lawyer,
Aye, aye, sir, aye, aye
Captain, captain
And we live a life of ease
Every one of us has all we need
Whiskey gold and money green
And we forget that submarine
MaryJo died in a four wheel submarine,
Four wheel submarine, four wheel submarine.
MaryJo died in a four wheel submarine,
Four wheel submarine, four wheel submarine.
They would prefer one that could make it back to the surface.
...escape hatch for chicken shits included...
The biggest reason Western European countries have become the Socialist sh!tholes they are currently is they were able to ride on our backs in regards to defense, even during the height of the Cold War. They were able to spend their money handing it out to every undeserving slacker they could find and now their own people are too lazy to work, so they made the deadly mistake of importing foreigners to supposedly do the work needed.
They are like Canada. I don’t think we have a working submarine either. Those diesel ones we bought from Britain were duds.
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