Do any of you know more information about this submarine and what became of it ? All I can find on it was it was called a VS-5. I found it on this link; http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2008/06/coolest-submarines-showcase.html
Englemann boot to replace existing torpedo boots, thus in this special case being a primary boat for the Britain blocade. I've got more now just to find it
A prototype for the Engelmann boat (a semi- submersed torpedo boat). A 250 ton prototype (the production boat would have been 600t). Built by Deshimag, completed 10 april 1941. The prototype was generally succesful (good seakeeping) but a few glitches were present: due to its one screw it had a list of 13 degrees on full power (which was not a problem since the production boats would heb been twin screw). Due to the list only 28kts were reached. But in general the concept was proven realistic. On the other side it was not cost effective, and due to the high expectations of the Walther boats it was not devoloped any further.
I'd like to know how VS-5 was overtaken by the Walther equipment. Specifically, why would a specialized torpedo boat be discontinued by developments in submarines?
I think aglooka is using Rossler as source and that's what he says. Apparently the VS-5 was an experimental vessel that was used to demonstate the possibility of a nearly completely submerged but not fully dive capable ship capable of very high speeds, no contemporary conventional sub even approached her design speed of 30 knots. From the drawings I saw there is no real pressure hull and no submerged engines so the claim she could dive looks strange, possibly the idea was the final design could hide by resting on to the sea bed in shallow waters during the day and perform high speed surfaced attacks at night. The design competed with small submarines and S-Boot as a coast defence vessel and the Walter designs promised a similar speed (and range) for a true submarine so that may be one reason the VS-5 concept was abandoned. A somewhat similar idea gave birth to some late XIX century ram-sip designs and some recent "stealthy" designs for nearly completely submerged ships seem to pick up the concept again.
