Re: Marine Force Morrow (long)

[angevin@juno.com (Joseph P Benedetto)]

>Most people don't remember, but before WW1, Germany built four >'cargo
submersibles'; they were designed to carry cargo under the >North
Atlantic, avoiding the storm season. 

Most people don't remember them because the "Deutschland", first boat in
the class, on arriving in New York harbor collided with the tugboat
"Scott" and killed most of her crew.

Cargo subs actually have some bearing on the game.  Please consider the
following facts:

The "Deutschland" was created by the Etappendienst in 1915 as a way to
obtain merchant cargoes from neutral countries and bring them home
without suffering losses to enemy vessels--specifically, to bring cargo
from the neutralist United States to Germany.

Eight boats were ordered up.  They were designed to carry 1,000 tons of
cargo, about half of what a "tramp" merchant ship of the day could carry.
 This design included several tons of "wet cargo" stored in the space
between the sub's twin hulls.  The subs were about average length for the
time--65m--but were very much wider, close to 9m.  IN order to avoid
internment in American ports, the merchant U-boats were built by a
commercial firm serving as a front for the German Navy.  IN addition, the
crew were declared to be civilians, although in reality they were naval
officers and enlisted personnel serving in the German Navy.

Only two of these "submersible merchantmen" ever entered service: the
"Deutschland" and the "Bremen".  The premise of the design was simple:
there was no way eight boats could bring in enough raw material to keep
Germany's war industry going--pre-war demand for copper alone exceeded
200,000 tons!  Yet there were small cargos that were desperately needed,
like nickel ore, which could be shipped in small quantities.  German
agents in New York had secured some 560 tons of nickel just prior to the
outbreak of war, and needed a way to ship it to Germany without the
British stopping them--a job the "submersible merchantmen" were perfect
for.  The Deutschland took on the nickel ore, and left New York with a
total of some 800 tons of cargo, evaded the waiting British warships
standing to in International waters, and made it home.  (The second boat,
"Bremen", disappeared on her maiden voyage and was never heard from
again.)

The point?  A small merchant sub *could* be invaluable to the Atlantis
Project.  Imagine building, say, four subs along the dimensions of the
Deutschland: Surface displacement 1500 tons; L=65m, W=8.9m, H=5.3m; Crew:
50.  Such boats could be sued by the Project to ship medicines,
ammunition, fusion power packs, spare parts or who knows what other kinds
of cargo from North America to the rest of the world to support the
Atlantis Project.  Remember, Atlantis will wait 100-150 years, until NA
is stabilized once more, and then the world will be rebuilt. This implies
the need to use NA as a base of operation to coordinate world
reconstruction, using US & Canadian industry as the basis for helping
rebuild other civilizations.  Modest cargo subs carrying 800-1000 tons of
precious cargo would be an invaluable aid in getting supplies past
storms, pirates and unfriendly governments to those in need around the
world.

>Btwn WW1&2, France built a class(of 1) warship called a 'Cruiser
>Submarine'. It was armed w/ two 8in(!) guns, awa four torpedo tubes.
>This was the 'prototype-after-the -fact' for sub-launched cruise
>missiles.                                   

The "Surcouf" was a one-of-a-kind French boat that mounted two 8-inch
naval guns in a forward battery attached to the base of the conning
tower, as well as a small hangar with a folding seaplane aboard (to seek
out and find enemy merchantmen) and a motor launch (to board suspected
ships prior to releasing them or sinking them).  It was brought over to
the Allies after France fell, and despite being a potentially successful
design, never saw action, being lost in a collision at sea with a
merchant ship.

Of course, unless you are in "The Military Project" (and I am not) this
has little bearing IMO on the needs of the Project.

>Sometime in the early 80's, the Norwegians discovered a Nazi U-boat 
>pen in one of their fjords, complete w/ a couple of subs. 

Any data on this?  I'd LOVE to read the details!

>Subs would be almost ideal for the MP, as they require little
>modification to 'store' undersea. The prob would be finding a hiding
>place where people would not notice a couple more undersea hulks.
>Hmmmm...Truk Lag oon, maybe?  

Truk is out, too many divers going into those waters, they'd notice a new
"wreck" pretty quick.  Why not buy up shorefront property and under the
guide of building some rich boy's sprawling mansion (complete with
dockyard and heliport) put in a huge bolthole containing the boat and
it's crew?  And include nearby a combined Support/MARS group to seek out
a nearby dock area and secure it's use for the Project.

Joe
angevin@juno.com