Interesting about the Type XXI submarines. The component construction doesn’t sound like a bad idea. I’m also not sure how much the relative inexperience of the German firms contracted to build sections affected the end product. Knowing how much building a submarine is a very exacting craft, I would think that the labor force, both in the components and final assembly, is probably key to whether the Germans were making good submarines or not.
So a labor force of concentration camp inmates, Russian POWs and slave laborers, who don’t know dick about the technology, and who really don’t want to see Germany win the war, isn’t a labor force that’s going to build good submarines. Once you’re working with that, it doesn’t really matter how good your blueprints are.
They only got 4 out of 118 that they had parts produced for seaworthy! Unbelievable that they could have produced so many high-tech boats while being bombed day and night.
I was prompted to do more research on this particular sinking by noting that 75 sailors were lost as opposed to the usual 50 or so indicating a much larger boat.
“Interesting about the Type XXI submarines. The component construction doesn’t sound like a bad idea. “
That is how we build big ships today. See this BIW page.
https://www.gdbiw.com/Shipbuilding.html