While submerged, submarines can travel faster than when they are on the surface. As water is more viscous and dense than air, causing more friction, how can it travel faster while travelling through a denser medium.
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First go find a picture of an Ohio class submarine. Note how low it sits in the water, still mostly submerged even when surfaced. It’s also torpedo shaped, great for underwater use but poor roll stability.
This is typical of a modern submarine – they’re built to be submerged most of the time, with only periodic surfacing. They do most of their travel underwater and aren’t great at navigating the choppy surface waters.
Now go find a picture of a German U-boat from the world wars. Notice how boat-like it is? It’s built to sit high and cruise on the surface like a regular ship and only submerge for attack runs. It has much greater speed and stability when surfaced, since subs of that era could only run on batteries for a short while anyway.
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