How a World War Two Submarine Works 

VIDEO CORRECTIONS (Compiled from viewer comments) Feel free to add your knowledge, with patience and a civil tone so it's easier to digest, if you please.

Can we have a round of applause to the engineer who came up with the idea to put a dedicated ice cream storage container in the crew quarters?

I'm amazed at the detail you go into, and doubly so the work involved in rendering and producing such a fantastic animation

The master gyrocompass 7:28 is one of the most elegantly designed things ive ever seen in any setting, ever. The first watch makes it a bit difficult to truly take in how perfect it is.

For a short video, this was an outstanding intro to the WWII American Gato and Balao class U-boats. Two machines the German type 7 and type 9 U-boats did not have that the US did was, 1st, a fresh water condenser that made fresh water out of sea water allowing the crew to actually take a shower once in a while, and 2nd , air conditioning. Neither were luxuries in the Pacific. A 1940's U-boat could not carry enough fuel and fresh water to keep the crew alive in the tropical heat. Given the vast distances they sailed it was a required device. Even with a fresh water maker they had to take a "navy-shower". The AC was installed mostly to keep the air in the boat dry so that electrical failures, and fires, were reduced. Even with AC a WWII U-boat was an uncomfortable ship. Which is why I was a surface navy officer. I'll admit it- Subs scared the hell out of me.

As someone that does some computer animation, I respect the insane amount of work that goes into a video like this. I've watched dozens of submarine videos and learned so much ! I shows a lot of research. Excellent content!

I was a submariner aboard a Canadian Oberon class boat for 8 years and I can attest that this video is highly accurate.

This is currently my favourite channel. This video and the sailship video are my favourites. Apart from that the technology is simply amazing, considering how long ago it was built.

I earned my dolphins in 1970 on USS Hardhead SS-365, a WWII submarine similar to the one in the video. Hardhead was in the improved, deeper diving Balao class and was retrofitted/upgraded in the 50’s and again in the 60’s from the one in the video. We didn’t have a deck gun and our bow was more rounded like modern “nuke boats”. We had a tall “North Atlantic sail” over the conning tower and mast area. The sail was made of a steel frame with a fiberglass covering and was free flooding. The tall sail was to protect the guys on watch when on the surface in the stormy North Atlantic. There were many changes inside the boat as well including electronics that I worked on. All of these changes made it an HK (hunter killer) “Guppy IIA” submarine. Guppy stands for “greater underwater propulsion”. One key point in the video… We flooded tanks when diving to subtract buoyancy, not to add weight. We’d “drive” down with bow and stern planes then level off by pumping water back out. We trained often, stalking anything that came across our path. We believed …. Convinced, we were bad-ass hunters.

Insane the amount science and technology put into these submarines and this is what we had during WW2. Fantastic video!

Submarines are truly one of humanities most advanced and interesting inventions. Truly, for it's time, packed with technologies the civilian World wouldn't see for another 20-30 years, the same with WW 1 and military submarines of today. Submarines are just incredible, but it must also have been some of the scariest fighting conditions of the World Wars. This was an incredible video, I knew in general how they worked, but this is just amazing.

The engineers over time who have machined and perfected these machines are true genius és. 😊

Knew a guy in my early years whose job during WW2 was to grind the sealing surfaces of submarine hatches on a large, perfectly flat, hard steel table, using a slurry of abrasive compound to make the surfaces also perfectly flat for a watertight seal. He built up massive arms in making those slow circles with the hatch on the table.

Mind BLOWN! Not just for the incredible animation, but also for the INSANE level of engineering involved in building one of these engineering marvels! Especially considering there was ZERO CAD available at the time! All slide rules and drafting tables! Again, mind BLOWN!

The compass animation was amazing. Have you read "Thunder Below"? That's a Gato class sub in the book.

I served nearly 4 years on a WWII Balao class in the 1950s. Your work in compiling the info in the video was outstanding. I enjoyed the walk down memory lane. Thanks.😊 My boat, USS Guavina SS362 did not have the ice cream machine or the washing machine.

Man, we sure could've used this video 40 years ago in Sub School at Groton, CT. Very well done with plenty of detail. I'm sure by now that you have been corrected from using "doors". We called them Hatches. Really slick video and thank you for taking the time to make this incredible, realistic animation!

This is the best civilian produced video on the Gato class boats I have seen, and it rivals the navy produced videos from the 40s and 50s.

from a working lifetime draughtsman. Absolutely brilliant drawings and animation, the incredible complexity of the submarine set out with almost startling clarity and dialog to match. Easily the clearest and most informative video I have seen o any subject. My congratulations, I'm green with envy.

I wish my father and uncle were still alive to watch this most excellent video. My father served on a Gato-class submarine, like the one depicted in this video, while my uncle served on a later Tench-class submarine. Decades after WWII, my father and uncle could still recall minute details of the subs' layout. When the narrator of this video says that "the running engines were loud," believe him. Both my father and uncle were motor machinist mates and they suffered profound hearing loss throughout the remainder of their lives.

Man, the attention to detail to ensure there are NO graphical glitches is incredible. I love all your videos! Keep it up Mr. 1 million!!!

This video was superb. I have no doubt it's the best illustration of a WW2 sub ever produced. One example of your artistry: The inclusion of the renowned Emeco 1006 Navy chair. You perfectly modeled it and presented it in the interiors without comment. Amazing detail. I cannot praise this video highly enough. Kudos.

Wasn't expecting such an in-depth and detailed breakdown of most of the instruments, controls and machineries. Well done.

This was an awesome video! Thank you for putting this together

Amazing how complex and sophisticated it was, not relying on any external devices but totally independent. I was impressed with the "live map" device. The math and engineering required is just unreal.

Our uncle Frank Edginton is still on patrol aboard the USS Herring. Sunk by a shore battery in the Kurile Islands. I try to watch these educational videos to try and get a feel for what he did day to day. Thanks for putting this together.

Wow! The graphics, camera angles, intonation and pacing are all perfect. You guys are doing such a great job!

This is incredible. Both the submarine and the animation and explanation. Thank you so much for sharing these with us!

just love this series of videos. Being a 60's child I was hooked on those "see through" books that showed you how stuff worked...these videos give me the same feeling I had as a kid paging through books of 3d see through pictures.

I served and qualified on a Balao class boat, and we had 16-cynder Gimmies in a V16 configuration. The aux engine in the after engineroom was replaced with the HP air compressors. Some pieces of equipment were placed in different locations on a Balao class boat. We never used the term "closed" for a hull opening or hatch, as it could be confused with the word "clothes", we only used to refer to a hatch or valve as being "open" or "shut." I was on the USS Blenny, which had been reconfigured to a Guppy-II class bow configuration for greater underwater speed, although it didn't add that much speed. As fresh water was at a premium, no washing machine, and we didn't have icecream lockers in afterbattery birthing area, it was in the freezer below the crews mess and galley. We had a sonar room down there too, for our special Puff Mounted sonar which had been installed on four Balao class boat, Blenny being one of them. We had no reduction gears between the main motors and props. The main motors, two of each of the four main motors were connected fore-to-aft on the same prop shaft, with direct speed control of each shaft and it's motors controlled by the controllermen at "the sticks" in Maneuvering room. The fwd head had a sanitary tank of it's own, as did the two side-by-side heads in afterbattery, but the aft torpedo room head had no sanitary tanks, and I think it only used while on the surface. Not a bad presentation, took a nice trip down memory lane, thanks. Benny

This is easily one of the finest RU-vid videos I’ve ever seen. Extraordinary work, astonishing detail and beautifully designed and presented. I am 63 and I grew up learning about WWII because my father fought in Europe from 1944-1945. I’ve been in a couple subs but never learned anything close to what you have explained here. Thank you, and best wishes for more success and enlightenment.

One of the best videos that shows submarine structure

You're in awe? So am I....at how good this was. Fantastic work!

If this does not deserve a thumbs up I do not know what would. Absolutely brilliant work on this video. Also much respect to the people that managed to build these submarines without usage of the technology we have nowadays.

My father was a machinist mate on the USS Ray, SS 271 in WWII based in Perth, Australia. Great video, Thanks

Absolutely fantastic. Where did TV go so wrong that even formerly science channels will have nothing close to such quality ?!

My dad spent 8 war patrols in a Gato class sub inn WWII ( SS222 Bluefish). This was a great video showing much more detail of his sub than I've ever seen before. Thank you so much.

Torpedo room hatch does not lead to the bridge; it leads topside. It's an escape trunk. There's also a torpedo loading chute in the TR and after TR. The screws counter-rotated. The 40mm guns were forward and aft of the SAIL, not the conning tower. After planing to the surface, the diesels were started and their exhausts could be routed to the main ballast tanks to expel the seawater inside them, thereby conserving air in the blow banks. It took hours to recharge blow banks with high pressure compressors, so this was a good strategy called "surface without air". It also created an oily diesel residue inside the ballast tanks, which slowed corrosion. Air for the diesels first ran through the rest of the boat to ventilate and cool it before making its way to the engine rooms. These boats were quite hot and humid and fresh air coming through the vents and doors throughout was very much welcomed when the diesels started up. The diesels could also be deployed to remove smoke from a specific compartment in the event of a fire after it was extinguished.

Another spectacularly well conceived and produced tour of a very complex machine. Cannot describe how enjoyable it is to watch/study. Thank you immensely!

Nice, we want more of those, please... some aircraft carriers, battleships, whats next? Give some ideas in the reply :)

I never realized how complicated a torpedo (or firing one) is!! Too COOL!!!

Excellent graphics. I wish I had these when I trained on these between 1968 and 1970. USNR STS3

The way you display the various subsystems and devices is excellent. The gyrocompass is a very impressive piece of technology to see explained in animation!

My grandfather served aboard a Gato-class sub, the Tunny. It's amazing to take his old descriptions of his tasks aboard the sub and visualize them with the help of your fantastic rendering. Thank you!

Love your Works from one Blender Creator to Another. we use Eevee too.

This is an amazing video! The amount of detail included and professional production value is astounding. Like you, I am in awe of the engineering effort that went into packing all of that capability into such a small space, and the mechanical computers are an inspiring story all by themselves. Kudos to the men who designed, built, and operated these machines. Awesome job! Thank you for the video! I'm going to show your video to my children before we go tour the USS Drum (SS-228) at the USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park.

It brings me to tears knowing there were minds back then that could create something like this without any CAD. Absolutely brings me to tears. Tears of awe.

To imagaine the complexity of creating and building a u boot with no computers or programs. Amazing

By far the best of best video I have ever seen. Animagraffs videos deserve at least 1 Billion likes or more. Truly astonishing.

Every comment here made to Jacob, should begin with, "Excellent graphics, very good narration, and you're doing something NONE of the rest of us could do, but please allow me to make one little correction." In terms of lots of technical details, Jacob, you can't compete with people who have been working with the real stuff all their lives, but most couldn't draw a smiley face without botching it up, and it's your x-ray vision graphics I find most interesting. PLEASE keep doing what you're doing. I've subscribed.

Outstanding, you’ve communicated the vast analog complexity of these remarkable feats of engineering. First rate work, excellent voice over. Both you and your team should be proud of your diligence and commitment to accuracy

One of underrated channel's. Keep up guy's, people enjoying.......

More naval stuff please. Wonderful work!

Can you imagine the smell, the sounds and the vibrations this men had to endure in such tight quarters.

Engine exhaust overboard valves had rubber seats. Seawater injected into the exhaust cools the gas stream and protect the valve seats. GREAT VIDEO......

I'm a huge fan of The Silent Service series (1957-1958) on youtube and watching your video about the fleet boats made me feel like I'm an actual crew member onboard. It was that good.

Thank you for the hard work of making this video. I grew up craving this kind of detail in technical subjects that interested me, but it really wasn't available at the hometown library. RU-vid (and excellent content creators) have given me a chance to relive my boyhood urge for exploration. Beautifully done!

My dad joined the USN in the late 40s and served in diesel submarines much like this one through the 60s. I remember eating an ice cream sundae in the (tiny!) officers' mess, and even getting to ride in the conning tower when they repositioned the boat from its debarkation dock to the ship yard, though both of those experience were on the USS Catfish, a Balao class sub. It was fascinating to learn more about the structure and functionality of those old subs. Thank you!

One of the more complicated gadgets, was an automatic trim system, so that as each torpedo was fired, the boat could remain level.

My father served aboard the USS Scamp as a torpedo man ( aft) and he’d tell tales of his misadventures. - I always thought he was kidding about the tight quarters…thank you for putting this together.

Really amazed by the amount of hardwork you have put in this video animation.

This is remarkable, 1930's and 1940's technology was pretty amazing.

Its rediculous how much effort was put in to develop submarines and other machinery in war time it boosted tecnological advancement to a new level

Excellent video. My grandfather served briefly on WW2 British subs in the Mediterranean. He was a 6foot 4inch Irish man. He died when I was 9. He was a lovely caring gentleman. Also a strong man and a good boxer in the Navy. He was on temporary assignment and he was ridiculously to tall for the sub so he was transferred lol. He told my Uncle he was absolutely terrified all the time he was on the sub and couldn't wait to get off it .

Thanks for post. It takes me back to the days when I served on the USS Picuda (SS-382). It had started life in 1943 as a Balao-class boat. It had been converted to a GUPPY II by the time I served on it in 1971. At that time it was the oldest commissions submarine in the US Navy. A lot of things had been changed by then, but the bones were still the same. I was on the decommissioning when it was sold to Spain as partial payment to a extension on the lease to the base in Rota, Spain. Thanks for the reminder.

Really clear explanation of the basics of how a "stink boat" works. I did my initial submarine training on a diesel/electric. Absolutely loved it! My sub was the SS LionFish.

Its amazing how the designers and engineers came up with this sub without the use of CAD,

I've toured two WW2 Gato Class boats, and this video is very accurate.

Wow I must say this video is absolutely incredible. The level of detail and explanation is remarkable. You have certainly painted a picture I will never forget. Thankyou for all your hard work.

"Complex' could be used to describe not only the sub itself as an instrument of war, but also to describe every single PIECE of her. There is nothing here to be bought at Lowes or Home Depot. Once again, superb job done with your Animagraff! ( My favorite so far has been the 18th Century Battleship!)

Life sure would be a lot less complicated if we weren't always trying to kill each other, war creates so much innovation, it brings out the best and worst that humanity has to offer. Nice job with the clear and understandable presentation

Fascinating early to mid-20th century tech, very impressive and the animation well done.

This is exactly why RU-vid is the only relevant social network. I've watched *many* submarine documentaries from TV networks but none have this level of detail. Only a dedicated, passionate, amateur "crew" could deliver such quality. Amazing Job!

So what we can conclude from this very well put together and informative video is that a WW2 submariner's life would have been a pretty miserable affair.

I have the full set of Commander Edward Ellsberg's books on submarining and rescue. Fascinating reading that I revisit every few years. Thanks for the fantastic video. So much work involved in this, Bravo!

What a fantastic video. Thank you so very much.

What an excellent tutorial, you all have done a world class job! Helped me understand so much better the stories and recollections of submariners during WW2. Thansk you for that. I am amazed how we made such ships way back in the 1930's and 1940's....what a miracle of advanced technology. Just wonderful and so easy to comprehend for a non-submariner. Airborne infantryman here who has been fascinated with submarines.

I've been enamored with WW2 submarines/U-Boats for years but this just made a lot terms and concepts I've heard make sense for the first time. What a great video! Thanks!

I have always been enthralled with subs. Watching movies from the '60s and later was the reason I joined the Navy. This video is so well produced I didn't want it to end. Thank you for uncovering features on these machines that I was never aware of.

Still to this day these works of art are still so amazing.

As a former silent service sailor (Ohio Class) I'm amazed at how well designed and advanced (for the period) these boats were. Marvels of engineering in their day. Some things I didn't see were how they'd load torpedoes into the boat and their fresh water maker. Also not mentioned is whether or not they had a snorkel valve. Ours had a water sensor and it would slam shut if it got wet, if we were running a diesel it would pull air from the boat momentarily and make your ears pop and we'd use it to equalize air pressure like what was mentioned in this video. Also only 10 secs to rig for dive? Holy crap. That was well before subsafe, though and it was a different time. Fascinating presentation

Even a submariner can learn a few new things about their craft, thank you for this.

You say you're in awe of the skilled folks who built these machines But I am in awe of the skilled folks who made This video. 😆

Magnificent work, thank you!! 👍👍👍I have always been fascinated by the diesel electric boats of WW II, and read a great deal about them, but the 3 dimensional "guided tour" makes it so much more real, giving a better idea of the cramped space, and relationship and relative distance of things to each other inside.

I've always loved the Gato/Balao class submarines. I snagged diagrams of both classes, and they are just incredibly complicated machines.

thanks for this! I've been a submarine nerd for years and even tried to join the Navy as an officer aboard a sub in my younger years. I've consumed countless books, museum exhibits, video games, and movies on the topic. This was a pleasure to watch.

Wonderful video. The first time I watched it for education, now I just watch for fun!

As usual from Animagraphs, a jaw-dropper.

I have watched this SO MANY times. Thank you so much for doing this, I can tell that you put an enormous amount of effort into it, and it really came out great. Amazing job.

absolutely fantastic video. very informative.. well done Animagraffs team

More advanced torpedo control then I would have thought, expected counter rotating prop's. And displacing the fuel with seawater.. that I didn't expect. Love that they had a lathe on there, the obvious choice if you can have only one machine.

People building these Analog computers ,hats off just amazing ...Alot of people have trouble with basic Trig in High School lol..The.Greatest Generation ..

Excellent video as always. As a submarine nerd myself I found this to be incredibly interesting. Thank you!

Quality work! I was so excited to see this after the battleship video you did recently. Keep up the great work! Would love to see more sea-faring vessels!

Super well made video. Seems like shit was more complex back then. Absolutely amazing.

This guy could make explaining how a sundial works fascinating! Bravo!

One thing I forgot to mention. Submarines are built for “Small” people. Being Six Feet Threes I found every overhead Pipe, Valve, Levers etc. I spent 12 Days of fun on board a Boat. Submerged during the Daylight hours. Not one of my fondest memories. They were a great lot of people. I do remember the Food. They ate well, very well. Using the Escape Hatch to leave the Boat was not something I did enjoy, but kudos to the Crew. Professional one and all.

Very well done. The skill in their construction and operation is in many cases is a lost art. Keep up the great work.

Fascinating! Well done my man! Have been aboard a (museum) WWII sub. Truly amazing. Don't think I would have wanted to serve on one. Worked with a former submariner. He said captains were both aggressive and cautious (stealthy) in completing missions.

Videos like this is what makes RU-vid. Thank you, I actually learned something I never knew... Keep learning!! 😊