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Old 09-29-2010, 07:40 PM   #12
Anaraxes
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Default Re: Seaplanes & Submarines

Storms are bad for aircraft, too. In this era, it's not quite so easy to fly over storms or fronts as it is with pressurized jets. On the bright side (for ruining surface ships, that is), a water world with small islands may well generate bigger waves on the larger oceans, which wouldn't matter to subs or planes.

Shipping costs will be higher than in our world. A surface ship is mostly cargo volume. A submarine version of that ship has to be bigger yet, to allow for the buoyancy tanks, and needs a pressure hull. I'm not sure if an air supply or plant takes up significant space.

Submerged speed of a WW2 sub is maybe half that of the surface speed. They spent almost all their time on the surface. So the cargo subs are likely diving just to escape storms. (The storms are presumably also a threat to a surfaced sub.)
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