The French Navy's cruiser submarine Surcouf was lost in the Caribbean Sea February 1942 in unclear circumstances on its way to French Tahiti.
One of the worlds largest submarines it was heavily armed with 2 8" guns main arnament plus anti-aircraft weapons. But it was ungainly as a submarine with various engineering problems.
My ATL for the Surcouf has it reaching Tahiti in March 42 and then being repaired and supported by the US Navy but crewed and commanded by the French crew for special missions. What kind of missions?
This vessel was not a typical 1930s submarine. It could have been used as a stealthy half a heavy cruiser to attack oil and gasoline production and storage facilities in Borneo and Indonesia that were out of reach of Allied airstrikes at that time. The idea is to surface at dusk several miles offshore to shell oil refineries, harbour storage tanks and docks with Surcouf's 8" guns.
Fire missions from a submarine would not be very accurate but to shell large static installations such as refineries and tank farms should be productive from an unmoving or slow moving submarine. The shelling is begun at last light for spotting and continued by the light of the secondary fires. This should avoid air attack. After 30 to 40 minutes of 8" shell fire on the storage tanks or refinery the fire mission is completed and the Surcouf begins its slow cumbersome diving procedures before Japanese surface ships can arrive.
FN Surcouf slinks away and sails back to Pearl Harbor for a refurb and reload to further conduct missions to support the oil and gasoline campaign agaisnt Imperial Japan.
One of the worlds largest submarines it was heavily armed with 2 8" guns main arnament plus anti-aircraft weapons. But it was ungainly as a submarine with various engineering problems.
My ATL for the Surcouf has it reaching Tahiti in March 42 and then being repaired and supported by the US Navy but crewed and commanded by the French crew for special missions. What kind of missions?
This vessel was not a typical 1930s submarine. It could have been used as a stealthy half a heavy cruiser to attack oil and gasoline production and storage facilities in Borneo and Indonesia that were out of reach of Allied airstrikes at that time. The idea is to surface at dusk several miles offshore to shell oil refineries, harbour storage tanks and docks with Surcouf's 8" guns.
Fire missions from a submarine would not be very accurate but to shell large static installations such as refineries and tank farms should be productive from an unmoving or slow moving submarine. The shelling is begun at last light for spotting and continued by the light of the secondary fires. This should avoid air attack. After 30 to 40 minutes of 8" shell fire on the storage tanks or refinery the fire mission is completed and the Surcouf begins its slow cumbersome diving procedures before Japanese surface ships can arrive.
FN Surcouf slinks away and sails back to Pearl Harbor for a refurb and reload to further conduct missions to support the oil and gasoline campaign agaisnt Imperial Japan.
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