I’m watching a ton of WW2 documentaries and can’t help but think why they didn’t make a counter to the German Uboats other then depth charges and the hedgehog. Surely with the money and resources the US or other countries could of made a sub during that time.
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One nuance not really mentioned yet is that submerged submarines of the time were much slower than surface ships.
To sink a submarine, first you have to find it, then chase it down, then cause enough concussive force in the water to break it up. In World War II, the allies used aircraft and their fastest surface ships (destroyers) to do the finding and chasing. Looking down from a couple of miles (and eventually using radar), the aircraft had a better chance of spotting the U boats than another submarine whose search would be limited by its slow speed. The fast destroyers then could do the chasing and bombing (though some aircraft could drop a couple of charges) while the aircraft kept the quarry in view.
The strategy of the U-boat was to sail on the surface toward an area where a convoy of enemy ships could be expected. Then the U-boat would submerge and lay in wait until a target was in range, take one shot, and run like hell. But “like hell” was about 1/3 the speed of the American destroyers! So they were really relying on stealth and hoping to get away through a combination of hiding underwater and speeding away on the surface when no one was looking.
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