At the bottom of the first article... the Soviets were saying they had more subs than Germany and Japan combined?
This was all bluster right? The Soviets were not very involved in the Pacific war as far as I know.
I wonder if some of the old UK papers are available like this?
I’ll have more time to look after church, but I’ve run down the British and German numbers.
Britain had 38 subs overall.
“At the end of August the total German strength in U-boats was fifty-six, but ten of them were, for various reasons, not fully operational. Of the total of completed boats eight were of about 700 tons displacement and capable of operating as far as Gibraltar or the Azores; eighteen were smaller ocean-going boats of 500 tons which could reach out into the Atlantic as far as 15° West or work off the coasts of Spain or Portugal, and thirty were small 250-ton boats which could only be used in the North Sea and in British coastal waters.”
France had 53 in the Med, 4 for the south Atlantic operating out of Morocco, and 2 in the far East (Vietnam, if I recall from earlier reading)
All: http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/UN/UK/UK-RN-I/UK-RN-I-4.html
I’ll look for Russia and Japan later.
This was all bluster right?
"The Soviet Navy at the beginning of war, did not have as many surface vessels as the British and Americans had. But the Soviet submarine fleet was large, probably the largest one in the world at the time [1941]. The Soviet Navy consisted of 4 battleships, 10 cruisers, 59 destroyers and 218 submarines. The navy was divided in fleets in Baltic Sea, Arctic Sea, Black Sea and the Pacific Ocean."
http://uboat.net/allies/warships/listing.html?navy=USSR
The Soviets were not very involved in the Pacific war as far as I know.
They didn't declare war on Japan until the middle of 1945.
I found what we’re looking for in Google Books
At the beginning of the War,
Russia - 168 subs
Japan - 62
Germany - 57
Britain - 69
France - 77
Italy 115
US - 99
See footnote page 95