German Type XXIII Elektro Unterseeboot (U-boat)

Last crawled date: 1 year, 11 months ago

Not having much to do over summer, I made this model over the course of two days, using blueprints and dozens of reference images. This is a precise model of a German Type XXIII Elektro U-Boat, which briefly entered service in the final months of WWII. The type XXIII and its larger cousin, the Type XXI would revolutionize submarine design for decades to come. A streamlined hull and the removal of deck clutter such as AA guns as well as the incorporation of more powerful motors and larger batteries allowed both the Type XXI and the Type XXIII to move underwater with less noise than their American counterparts - but at more than double the speed. The large batteries allowed both types to travel hundreds of miles underwater before having to recharge their batteries - which because of the snorkel could be done underwater as well. Thus the Type XXI and XXIII were the worlds first true submarines, since unlike the other 'submarines' of the era (which spent most of the time on the surface, and could submerge only briefly), their natural habitat was UNDER the water, and not above it. Many historians suspect that had the Type XXIII and XXI been put into service two years earlier, the battle of the Atlantic could have been much harder for the Allies to win. Fortunately, Allied bombing efforts made piecemeal of German shipyards and caused enormous delays the development of both the Type XXI and Type XXIII, and as a result they were put into service much too late to do much of anything. #2 #atlantic #battle #boat #boot #convoy #Deutsche_Werft_in_Hamburg #dive #doenitz #donitz #elektro #england #escort #german #germany #ii #navy #ocean #periscope #propeller #sea #snorkel #subersible #submarine #submerge #Synternia #torpedo #two #u #uboat #unterseeboot #war #warship #water #wolfpack #world #world_war