Untitled Document
“Otsu Gata B3” – Class Submarine
Japanese submarines were very diverse. “A” – class microsubmarines, with only 46 tons displacement, which took part in the Pearl-Harbor attack. “Kaichu” and “Kaisho” – class coastal guard submarines, with 1447 and 782 tons displacement. “KD”, “J”, and “C” – class ocean submarines with 2600-3600 tons displacement. Unique “A” and “B” – class submarine aircraft carriers with up to 4762 tons displacement. “Shen Toku” – class super carriers with 6560 tons displacement! And yet there are submarine mine layers and transport submarines.
Japanese submarines were the fastest. Microsubmarines could reach 19 knots while under water! The best German submarine “Type XXI” could only reach 17.5 knots. Most submarines’ range reached 20000 nautical miles (almost an equator!), and the “Shen Toku” range was 37500 nautical miles (almost two equators!). Submarines could remain autonomous for 100 days!
And yet, despite all these achievements, Japanese submarines cannot boast with results comparable even to American ones, leaving German submarines out of question.
By the way, when Germans offered their submarine to Japanese as an example, Japanese politely refused. Too bad for them, because Japanese submarines showed the following flaws when compared with German ones: high visibility in optical and radio waves, low rate of dive, low underwater maneuverability, high exposure to hydroacoustic detectors and low durability.
The reason for the Japanese submarines’ modest achievements lies in their tactics. Japanese used the submarines within fleets, and rarely operated on communications. Thus our players will have the opportunity to discover, what Japanese submarines could achieve by operating near the Panama Canal or Hawaii Isles. They will have Japanese “Otsu Gata B3” submarine, which is mostly superior over American “Gato” submarine. But it lacks the equipment, such as radars and sonars, as always. We plan to introduce manned torpedoes, which this submarine could carry, and the “Shen Toku” submarine aircraft or cruise missile carrier into the game.
“Otsu Gata B3” in the "Pacific Storm"
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