if the submarine had never been invented

[FoBoT]

point 1: the submarine played a huge role in the United States entering WWI. without German submarine action, the US might never have entered the war.

point 2: US submarine action in the Pacific played a large part in cutting off resources to Japan/defeating Japan

point 3: ballistic missile submarines played a significant role in the Cold War. without the threat of submarine launched nuclear missiles, the triad (land missiles, bombers and submarine missiles) of threats may not have been enough for MAD (mutually assured destruction) to work. perhaps a nuclear war would have happened?

what do you think?

 

[Excelsior]

The changes it would have made are too large for me to imagine.

 

[her209]

There would still be ships.

 

[CanOWorms]

There would be no clowns.

 

[moshquerade]

The Beatles would have never sang "Yellow Submarine", and made that funky movie about it.

 

[BaboonGuy]

there might be no such things as sub sandwiches!!!!!

 

[jdiddy]

Originally posted by: moshquerade
The Beatles would have never sang "Yellow Submarine", and made that funky movie about it.

hahhaha lol

 

[ShotgunSteven]

The Lusitania would not have been sunk (and the resulting events would not have occurred), at least not when it initially was. It may have been sunk later by another ship.

 

[upsciLLion]

There would be no, "What's long hard and full of seamen?" joke.

 

[FoBoT]

Originally posted by: her209
There would still be ships.

submarines are fundamentally different than "ships" , they are not "ships" that sink/are supposed to sink

before sonar, they were undetectable
once long range missile capability was introduced, they could hide in the vastness of the open ocean, away from the shallow coast where they are more vulnerable

 

[wfbberzerker]

point 3 would be somewhat moot, as i believe both the united states and the ussr (the ussr for sure) developed intercontinental ballistic missiles with a range more than half the circumference of the earth, making them able to hit any target on the planet.

 

[FoBoT]

Originally posted by: wfbberzerker
point 3 would be somewhat moot, as i believe both the united states and the ussr (the ussr for sure) developed intercontinental ballistic missiles with a range more than half the circumference of the earth, making them able to hit any target on the planet.

the key is the time window between launch, detection and retaliation

with land based or bomber based nukes, the time window is much , much longer than with sub launched missiles.

it is an important advantage that sub based missiles give you

 

[TheBDB]

Originally posted by: FoBoT

Originally posted by: wfbberzerker
point 3 would be somewhat moot, as i believe both the united states and the ussr (the ussr for sure) developed intercontinental ballistic missiles with a range more than half the circumference of the earth, making them able to hit any target on the planet.

the key is the time window between launch, detection and retaliation

with land based or bomber based nukes, the time window is much , much longer than with sub launched missiles.

it is an important advantage that sub based missiles give you

Also, land based missiles don't move around.

 

[Mookow]

Originally posted by: wfbberzerker
point 3 would be somewhat moot, as i believe both the united states and the ussr (the ussr for sure) developed intercontinental ballistic missiles with a range more than half the circumference of the earth, making them able to hit any target on the planet.

Yeah, but both sides knew where the other side kept their ground-based ICBMs. It's easy to target a spot in Montana that never moves. It's harder to target a sub moving in the very large Pacific.

 

[ShotgunSteven]

To stretch your question a bit, there were submarines that were used in the Civil War. Without them, things may have changed a bit during the course of the war. I'm not saying the North would have lost and the South would have won without them, I'm just saying that some key naval engagements may have ended differently, and the results may have had ripple effects up through the twentieth century.

 

[Scouzer]

I think you forgot about the whole problem the British had in 1941 and 1942 where submarines came within inches to ending the British war effort.

 

[wfbberzerker]

Originally posted by: TheBDB

Originally posted by: FoBoT

Originally posted by: wfbberzerker
point 3 would be somewhat moot, as i believe both the united states and the ussr (the ussr for sure) developed intercontinental ballistic missiles with a range more than half the circumference of the earth, making them able to hit any target on the planet.

the key is the time window between launch, detection and retaliation

with land based or bomber based nukes, the time window is much , much longer than with sub launched missiles.

it is an important advantage that sub based missiles give you

Also, land based missiles don't move around.

my point is that the threat oF MAD would still exist.

 

[shiner]

All those Polish sailors would have never drowned.

 

[GasX]

Originally posted by: Excelsior
The changes it would have made are too large for me to imagine.

 

[silverpig]

We all live in the yellow submarine, yellow submarine, yellow submarine would have no meaning whatsoever.

 

[brigden]

People would have learned to hold their breath longer, and perhaps, over time, we might have evolved into mer-people, living in fantastic cities under the sea...

 

[brigden]

People would have learned to hold their breath longer, and perhaps, over time, we might have evolved into mer-people, living in fantastic cities under the sea...

 

[Brutuskend]

People would have to find something else to "race" up on lovers lane.

 

[CarlKillerMiller]

I'd still be calling it a hoagie.