The Battle of the North Atlantic during World War Two lasted longer and
consumed more lives than any naval campaign of the war. For three years the
U-Boats of Germany held the advantage and the question of Britain’s survival
was always at stake. Then in 1943 the pendulum swung and the hunters became the
hunted. The backbone of the U-Boat force was the Type VII Boat.
The German U-Boat force of World War Two was a modern force. Germany had been
prohibited from building submarines as a result of the Treaty of Versailles. For
17 years there had been no German U-Boats. U-1,
the first of the new boats was not fitted-out until June 1935, three months
after Germany had repudiated the Versailles Treaty. Consequently the
Kriegsmarine was not saddled with old boats. The new building program was
designed to test a number of types of construction grouped as; small coastal
boats around 250 tons; coastal minelayers around 500 tons; ocean-going boats of
500-750 tons; ocean-going minelaying boats of around 1,000 tons; and cruiser
submarines of 1,500 tons. The Type VII was developed for the requirement for the
smaller ocean-going boat.
Commander of Submarines, Karl Doenitz, preferred the smaller boat as he
wanted numbers over individual size. He proposed using the submarine on the
surface to attack at night and to submerge to protect from air attack during the
day. The Type VII packed a considerable offensive punch at the price of
habitability. Over 700 Type VII U-Boats were built by Germany during World War
Two in a number of series. It is the most numerous and uniform group of
submarines in history. The first Type VII was the U-27
Type VII A, launched in June 1936. Ten Type VII A boats were constructed. The
larger Type VII B, were introduced with U-45
in April 1938 with 24 of the series being built. The war had already started
when the Type VII C was introduced.
The first Type VII C was the U-69
(ex-U-99), which entered service in April 1940. During the war 661 Type VII C
boats were built. A further variant, Type VII C-41, of which 27 were built,
entered service in August 1943 with U-292.
These boats had a reinforced hull which gave them a greater allowable depth than
the original Type VII C. As the war progressed the Type VII C boats received
more and more anti-aircraft weapons. This started with increasing the size of
the conning tower/sail to allow more mounting points and culminated in
eliminating the deck gun to increase the AA capability. Starting in 1943 Type
VII C boats were fitted with the schnorkel but by then the odds were stacked
against them.
Over 1,500 allied merchant ships were sunk by Type VII boats during the war,
with most of those being victims of Type VII C boats. Additionally, Type VII
boats claimed the HMS Courageous, HMS
Royal Oak, HMS Ark Royal,
HMS Barham, and HMS
Eagle, as well as a host of cruisers and destroyers. To go with
its victories, the Type VII boats had losses commensurate with the flagging
fortune of the U-Boat service. 437 Type VII boats were lost in action, others
were lost in port to bombing and 165 were scuttled or surrendered at the end of
the war. (The bulk of the history is from Submarines
of World War Two by Erminio Bagnasco)
Resin Casting
This resin 1:350 scale model of the Type VII C U-Boat is produced by Combat
Subs. If you are not familiar with the line of submarine models produced by
this company, Combat Subs is one of the brands produced by the Japanese
Company, Pitroad. Coming from that company, you know that you will
receive a quality kit and their Type VII C U-Boat does not disappoint. The first
item noticed is how clean the casting is. There is extraordinarily little clean
up with this kit, just a few pour stubs. The hull is very well executed with the
flood holes and deck grid pattern being precisely captured. The four torpedo
tube doors at the bow and one at the stern are well defined.
One of the best points about this kit is the optional conning towers/sails
provided by Combat Subs. As the war progressed the Type VII C boats were
given more AA guns which required increasing the size of the conning tower. Combat
Subs provides two different conning towers in this kit. The smaller one is
for the 1940 version of the boat, which mounted a single 20mm on a platform. The
larger one is for the 1942 version, mounting a single 37mm and twin 20mm guns on
two platforms. To attach the 1942 conning tower, it will be necessary to sand
flat the deck hatch aft of the conning tower position, as the lengthened sail
covers this position. The optional conning towers are also nicely cast, although
both have minor seam lines that will need to be smoothed. The fourth resin piece
in the kit is a display cradle.
White Metal Parts
All of the smaller parts are of white metal. These parts include the fore and
aft dive planes, twin rudders, deck gun, 37mm gun with shield for 1942 version,
single 20mm gun for 1940 version, twin 20mm guns for 1942 version, early radar
for 1942 version, and various pedestals. These parts are well detailed and only
require minimal clean up as well. This consists mostly of removal of the wire
thin metal pour vents. Combat Subs also provides a brass rod for
propeller shafts and periscopes.
Other Parts
A small rectangle of plastic is provided in the kit. So far I have been unable
to determine its purpose. The instructions do not seem to show this or anything
to be fabricated from it. Combat Subs provides a small decal sheet which
contains a flag and unique conning tower insignia for nine individual U-Boats (U-69,
U-94, U-95,
U-201, U-377,
U-404, U-552,
U-588, and U-596) There
are no railings of any type for the conning tower gun platforms, so they are
best added from photo-etched brass.
Instructions
A large one-page instruction sheet accompanies the kit. Written in Japanese
about 60% of the sheet consists of drawings. The drawings consist of an
isometric view of the parts placement, plan and profile of the 1940 version with
an inset of the 1942 conning tower, parts matrix. The matrix shows a drawing of
every part and assigns an alphanumeric designation, which is used in the
assembly. Because of the low parts count, the instruction drawings are
sufficient to allow construction without confusion. The only thing unclear was
the use of the small plastic card. Also included is a separate small paper sheet
which conning tower insignia goes with which of the nine U-Boats represented on
the decal sheet.
Verdict
Combat Subs has a fine kit of the most numerous U-Boat class of World War
Two, the Type VII C. Quality casting of resin and metal parts is evident
throughout this model. If that wasn’t enough, the inclusion of the optional
conning towers and decal sheet really make this kit shine. Even members of the
Airedale and Gun Club sets should find building this kit enjoyable.
The Combat Subs 1:350 scale Type VII C U-Boat, as well as other
submarine models in the Combat Subs series, is available from Bill Gruner
at Pacific Front.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
|
