It's an artifact of interwar thinking. Torpedoes are expensive as frick, and people in those days were still clinging to the old age of sail notion of "stop, search, evacuate, sink", so your sub would be on the surface anyway after sneaking close submerged.
Then the Second World War came around, and everyone went "frick it, we'll eat the torpedo costs."
Oh, shit, that's the Japanese one, not the French.
In that case, it was actually pretty common for Japanese subs to carry a float plane for recon and finding targets, and towards the end of the war they tried to throw together a few big (3 planes) models to do something crazy with, like bomb the Panama Canal locks or drop biological agents on San Fransisco.
>the class that redeemed the K class >2 out of 3 still sank anyway lmao
Turns out all the K class needed to fix the piss poor handling characteristics was a 12in gun strapped to the top of it. Silly really the designers didn't think of it sooner.
concept was considered so lethal the Admiralty feared a rogue pirate version might be built that could terrorize the 7 Seas and bring Great Powers to their knees.
Put an old 12" gun from old South American battleship into a hull that can just barely submerge to stay hidden and take out biggest battleship with point blank shot into bowels.
What were they thinking?
The French do not think. They feel. And they feel so intensely that neither you nor I nor any other non-gaul can ever conceive.
It is why we love them, it is also why we mock them.
>French
is Japanese.
Let's make a stealthier method to bomb shit than a full blown aircraft carrier? An interesting concept but incredibly flawed result.
It's an artifact of interwar thinking. Torpedoes are expensive as frick, and people in those days were still clinging to the old age of sail notion of "stop, search, evacuate, sink", so your sub would be on the surface anyway after sneaking close submerged.
Then the Second World War came around, and everyone went "frick it, we'll eat the torpedo costs."
Oh, shit, that's the Japanese one, not the French.
In that case, it was actually pretty common for Japanese subs to carry a float plane for recon and finding targets, and towards the end of the war they tried to throw together a few big (3 planes) models to do something crazy with, like bomb the Panama Canal locks or drop biological agents on San Fransisco.
>submarines need to be able to hold their own against cruisers
Fleet submarines are a hell of a drug.
The french are always on top
Did those deck cannons ever hit any live combat targets?
Nope the sub never saw combat. It disappeared on its way to transit the Panama canal to fight the nips.
Oh shit, they're in an isekai novel!
What is thought this was the French one
Brits had a bigger gun 😛
Crazy britbongs
>the class that redeemed the K class
>2 out of 3 still sank anyway lmao
Turns out all the K class needed to fix the piss poor handling characteristics was a 12in gun strapped to the top of it. Silly really the designers didn't think of it sooner.
Pretty common at the time to torpedo an enemy ship, then to rise and finish off with a gun to give the crew time to flee.
not even water tight gun compartment
doesn't need to be, just stopping sea water corroding the inside of the gun is good enough.
concept was considered so lethal the Admiralty feared a rogue pirate version might be built that could terrorize the 7 Seas and bring Great Powers to their knees.
Put an old 12" gun from old South American battleship into a hull that can just barely submerge to stay hidden and take out biggest battleship with point blank shot into bowels.
A cruiser turret and a float plane? Tragedy we never got to see how this thing would have performed.
Submersible (not true submarine) needs to go fast on surface. Don't want bow digging into waves, so make it high and wide.
should just carry extra torpedoes for the weight
This is like the interwar machine gun tanks that the US dreamed up.
Lake had a lot of really stupid design ideas.
total world domination at an affordable price.
deck gun firepower to capture or sink any merchants or shell anyone within 10 miles of sea.
A few torps to sink any battleship.
still able to easily hide from anyone except a dedicated team of anti-sub destroyers.
range to span the globe, and undetected if required.