00:00Today's sidequest is brought to you by the lovely folks over at Incogni.
00:05But more about them at the end.
00:07For now, my dear friends, let's dive into the underwater realm of submarines.
00:14We all know how important they were during the Second World War.
00:18Germany's famous submarine wolf packs terrorized Allied shipping across the Atlantic
00:23and brought the United Kingdom to the brink of collapse.
00:26But what was it actually like to be in charge of one of these thalassic beasts?
00:32Well, for a start, it wasn't particularly spacious.
00:36Your classic World War II-era German U-boat, for example,
00:39would have had about 50 crew members tightly packed into its 50 by 5 meter hull.
00:45And to make matters worse, the entire submarine reeked of diesel,
00:50courtesy of the U-boat's powerful diesel engines,
00:53which also made it impossible to hold a conversation anywhere in the back half of the submarine.
00:59You, as the commander, would have your own little quarters.
01:02But beyond that, the experience was equally miserable for everybody.
01:06So let's say you've departed from one of the German submarine bases in occupied France
01:12and are now on the hunt for enemies.
01:14Your most common target would be Liberty ships,
01:18the American cargo vessels that kept the UK in the war by ferrying vital supplies like food
01:24and Coca-Cola and machine parts across the Atlantic.
01:28Now, Liberty ships did not travel alone.
01:32They made the journey in convoys of 50, escorted by about a dozen corvettes and destroyers.
01:39These escorts were armed with four-inch guns.
01:43Do you like the guns?
01:44And depth charge racks.
01:46They were twice as fast and came equipped with multiple tracking systems.
01:50Active sonar, which emits sound and listens for the echoes bouncing off the submarine.
01:55And high-frequency direction finding, which intercepts your radio transmissions to HQ.
02:02Now, of course, in ideal conditions, this would be more than enough to find and blow up your submarine as
02:07soon as you launch a torpedo.
02:09But, luckily for you, the Atlantic Ocean is not famous for its ideal conditions.
02:16Titanic, case in point, near far wherever you are, I know my heart will go on, as will my torpedo.
02:21Once you spot a convoy, your first order of business is to phone in to HQ.
02:27There, coordinating all the U-boat movements from a comfy villa turned headquarters in Brittany, is Admiral Donuts.
02:35And he's absolutely thrilled to hear the news.
02:38He directs the closest dozen or so U-boats to head for your location.
02:43And once your wolf pack has assembled, you trail the convoy waiting for the perfect time to strike.
02:49Usually, the convoy will realize it's under attack as soon as the first torpedo is launched.
02:55Passive sonar, which is little more than a glorified underwater microphone, can easily pick up the sudden burst of compressed
03:02air from the torpedo launcher.
03:03The torpedoes themselves can also give you away, since they travel relatively close to the surface and leave a distinct
03:10trail in the water that can be spotted by an alert lookout.
03:14That's why you wait for a dark, moonless night with stormy weather to begin the assault.
03:22Strangers in the night.
03:24Ideally, the escorts don't react until you've blown up your first liberty ship.
03:29Holy torpedo, Batman!
03:31By which point you've already fired your full salvo of four to five torpedoes and are rapidly advancing in the
03:37opposite direction.
03:38Schnell! Schnell!
03:40You're now playing a dangerous game of cat and mouse.
03:43The escorts are hunting you, and they're a lot faster.
03:47You can try diving to deeper, colder or saltier waters.
03:51Anything that changes the water's density makes you harder to detect via sonar.
03:58In the unlucky event that the escorts do get wind of your location, they'll saturate the area with depth charges.
04:05And if one of them goes off within 10 meters, your U-boat is gone.
04:10Luckily, the ocean is big, and dropping depth charges is fairly inaccurate.
04:15Detonations farther than 35 meters are unlikely to damage the submarine.
04:20Although, they'll definitely hurt your crew's morale.
04:24It's like sitting in a barrel that's being hit with sledgehammers.
04:28Nasty business.
04:29Even if you don't suffer any retaliation, you still need to surface every 24 hours for fresh air and to
04:36recharge your batteries,
04:37which obviously leaves you vulnerable to being spotted.
04:40And not just by the escorts, but also by reconnaissance planes.
04:44Hello, chaps. I think I've spotted a U-boat. Come to the surface, or what?
04:48That's a negatory. That is a local lady in the water.
04:52Oh, by golly!
04:54If you managed to avoid all of that, congratulations!
04:57You now have to do this two more times until you run out of torpedoes,
05:01at which point you'll head back to the French coast to reload and go hunting again.
05:06And you'll repeat this until you either sink or surrender.
05:10Sounds marvellous fun, doesn't it?
05:11Now, the U-boat crews knew the importance of keeping your information safe,
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06:02They've even helped that local lady we thought was a U-boat earlier.
06:05Marvellous! No hard feelings, my lovely!
06:07As a special courtesy to SideQuest viewers,
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06:17Go to incogni.com forward slash SIDEQUEST
06:21or click on the link in the description to make the first step toward securing your online data.
06:27Now my friends, thank you for watching and stay tuned for the next suspiciously stealthy episode of SIDEQUEST.
06:40There is the right way, and then there is the German way.
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