24. It is correct, that you cannot beat the Surcouf @midshipnews.org (Unless you are a American freighter off Panama)
Replies
I am sure you red Strike from the Sea de Douglas Reeman (1978) With a fictitious sister ship « la soufrière »
aug 8, 2025, 6:17 am • 0 0 • view
I heard she was sunk by an USN bomber?
aug 7, 2025, 2:30 pm • 0 0 • view
Conflicting reports. On en saura plus un jour si jamais l'épave (avec les 130 marins à bord) est retrouvée. Mais je ne crois pas qu'on la cherche.
aug 7, 2025, 2:35 pm • 1 0 • view
I found pictures of the French lady’s derrière Jane‘s fighting ships 1941.
aug 9, 2025, 3:21 am • 0 0 • view
25. This picture is *not* the Surcouf, it’s a fictional sub inspired by her which was in a Japanese movie
aug 7, 2025, 2:28 pm • 84 1 • view
Really? Seen that picture around a lot...
aug 8, 2025, 9:58 am • 0 0 • view
what movie?
aug 8, 2025, 10:05 am • 0 0 • view
26. In UK & US submarines are referred to as boats not ships. It’s just tradition. Originally they were small and not individually important enough to name, just numbers. But today they can be much larger than most warships Increasingly submariners call them ships
aug 7, 2025, 2:39 pm • 69 1 • view
In France they keep calling them bateaux noirs ( black boat) :-)
aug 8, 2025, 6:16 am • 0 0 • view
27. Having been a submariner or on the navy does not guarantee that you have a broad perspective or deep knowledge of submarines in general.
aug 7, 2025, 2:39 pm • 63 3 • view
28. Among those who know even less about modern submarines are those in YouTube comments whose confident assertions are based on dits from their mate Lou who served on boomers in the 1970s
aug 7, 2025, 2:39 pm • 82 2 • view
29. Come to mention it, most YouTube videos on submarines and submarine tech is appalling poorly researched (sorry!)
aug 7, 2025, 2:39 pm • 71 1 • view
30. The inventor of the modern torpedo was British engineer Robert Whitehead. His design was stolen and copied by a German called, and you cannot make this up, Schwarzkopff (‘black head’)
aug 7, 2025, 2:44 pm • 94 7 • view
Wasn’t his daughter the mother of the Von Trapp children ie Sound of Music?
aug 7, 2025, 4:40 pm • 1 0 • view
31. On the internet Ballistic missile submarines are often referred to as ‘Boomers’. But that’s the USN lingo, the British equivalent is ‘Bomber’
aug 7, 2025, 2:52 pm • 63 2 • view
32. Another British-American submarine terminology difference is the bit that sticks up in the middle. American term is ‘sail’, but Brits call it the ‘fin’
aug 7, 2025, 2:52 pm • 63 1 • view
33. Should point out, Americans say ‘submariner’ wrong (I’m a Brit so I would say that)
aug 7, 2025, 2:52 pm • 78 1 • view
34. The French term for the sail/fin is ‘kiosk’, although some would argue that’s old fashioned (like conning tower)
aug 7, 2025, 2:55 pm • 71 1 • view
Just 114 more facts (and counting) and you'll meet the challenge. I predict you won't make it 😜
aug 7, 2025, 2:57 pm • 1 0 • view
As an American, the Americans win this one.
aug 7, 2025, 4:23 pm • 0 0 • view
aug 7, 2025, 3:10 pm • 0 0 • view
As an American, not navy, the Brits are right.
aug 7, 2025, 4:23 pm • 0 0 • view
This is true across the board. On any topic where I have any actual knowledge, most YouTube videos are either superficial or wrong.
aug 7, 2025, 2:45 pm • 0 0 • view
And waaaaaaaaayyyyyyy too long.
aug 7, 2025, 2:55 pm • 0 0 • view