Add dangers of flooded battery compartment: Chlorine gas.

[Trygger]

IRL when the batteries got wet with salty ocean water, they'd short out and generate chlorine gas, turning the U-Boat into a gas chamber for the crew.

This was actually going to be a mechanic in UBOAT from very early footage (I'm talking 2018 era.) but it seems it sadly got cut.

There's even a mission already in-game where you find a "ghost" Uboat where the crew all died from a chlorine due to the batteries getting wet.

I'd like to see it (re)implemented, although I feel being able to abandon ship should be a mechanic first, since IIRC in reality it didn't even require that much flooding for the water level inside the compartment to reach the batteries (And I think one of the battery rooms is in the Crew Quarters, meaning if it does get wet tons of sailors will die.) and once that happens, I don't think you could recover from it without an air supply (There's air supplies in the game already) and running the ventilation for a while. (Which you can't, since the batteries are shorted out. So you'd need a guy to wear an air supply and repair electricity, then vent the uboat)

It'd be a cool mechanic though to provide extra incentive to run the pumps every so often if you have realistic bilage on. Don't want that puddle getting too high.

[athenian]

The sense I have is that if chlorine gas is included in the game the devs will have to add interact-able battery cells underneath the floor(s), which is probably not very high up on their list right now.
It will also require tweaking the game mechanics a bit. At the moment, ANY leak will get the water knee-deep in the respective compartment, no matter how much, or what different combinations of damage control I do. So, in the current state of the game, any leak in either electric or diesel room (there were cells under there too I think) would cause chlorine gas, which can't be the case.
A third complication is presented by the need to provide all members of the crew with respirators, including the mods for more crew, officers, etc. I currently play with 27 crew and 8 officers for a total of 35 respirators, plus a few spares.
Perhaps there could be a chance for chlorine gas available as an option in Settings. I would offer three levels of difficulty, say 1/100, 1/60, 1/25 chance of chlorine gas when water reaches above certain level. But then it would still have to be modeled into the game. It sounds more in the realm of modding to me, so we'll see if any modders step up to that.

[VipreRX]

I've been wondering about this topic for a while now. Is it enough just for the room to flood or do the batteries/battery casings need to be damaged somehow? Seems very idiotic to install batteries on a naval vessel that go up like a Gremlin at the fist hint of moisture. Plastic and rubber both existed at the time for waterproofing.

[Bryan]

Originally posted by VipreRX:

I've been wondering about this topic for a while now. Is it enough just for the room to flood or do the batteries/battery casings need to be damaged somehow? Seems very idiotic to install batteries on a naval vessel that go up like a Gremlin at the fist hint of moisture. Plastic and rubber both existed at the time for waterproofing.

Look up the story of U-1206. Malfunctioning or incorrectly operated toilet got the batteries wet. They had to surface due to chlorine gas formation. At surface they got attacked. They scuttled with some KIA/MIA and most captured. It seems that just getting them wet was enough. No need for any damage.

[El Rushbo]

It would probably lead to a scenario like in the new Das Boot series where they had to evacuate the compartment due to chlorine gas. And without any functional respirators, someone had to go in there and sacrifice his life to repair the batteries. (Shades of K-19 I think.)

[VipreRX]

Originally posted by Bryan:

Look up the story of U-1206.

Appreciated, I've had this question bouncing around in my head for a long time, glad to finally have an answer.

Also interesting to note it's not an insta-death situation. Surface the boat, vent the gas, repair.

[wolf310ii]

Originally posted by VipreRX:

I've been wondering about this topic for a while now. Is it enough just for the room to flood or do the batteries/battery casings need to be damaged somehow? Seems very idiotic to install batteries on a naval vessel that go up like a Gremlin at the fist hint of moisture. Plastic and rubber both existed at the time for waterproofing.

The batteries were of course to some degree waterproof, but this type of batterie cant be airtight.
So in a flooded batterie compartment, it can happend that water enters the batteries through the venting openings.
A much bigger problem was a ruptured battrie cell wich leaked the acid into the bilge.

[Dewgle]

Batteries were stored in large banks beneath the officers quarters (aka forward battery compartment) and the crew quarters, just between the control room and galley (after battery compartment)

For gameplay purposes they probably should only generate chlorine gas if they get damaged or ruptured rather than simply getting wet.

[captainpanda34]

+1, we need chlorine gas implemented (and manual bilge pump as well) :)

[VipreRX]

Originally posted by wolf310ii:

So in a flooded batterie compartment, it can happend that water enters the batteries through the venting openings.

It makes sense. It's the difference between a toaster getting wet while plugged in and it being thrown in a tub. Really drives home the importance of closing the hatches.

[RimmerA]

Originally posted by VipreRX:

I've been wondering about this topic for a while now. Is it enough just for the room to flood or do the batteries/battery casings need to be damaged somehow? Seems very idiotic to install batteries on a naval vessel that go up like a Gremlin at the fist hint of moisture. Plastic and rubber both existed at the time for waterproofing.

There have even been modern submarines that have sunk as a result of their batteries getting damaged, as seawater can also react with the chemicals in the battery to produce hydrogen and other explosive gases.

It's believed that a battery explosion may have caused the loss of the Argentinian submarine ARA San Juan in 2017.