SS WOULD be balanced if there was a class that counters them.

DDs and CLs you say?
Those things are level 30-40 tops and if you want to level by sub hunting you will quickly notice it is not worth the trouble because you get bad exp for it (since DD/CL exp is mostly shared).
On top of it one salvo of HH usually gives those ships a negative credit gain... regardless if it's a hit or not.

So what do we have here?

A ship class (ss) that is countered by low level ships (DD/CL) and itself (ss).
BBs are almost completely INCAPABLE of countering them on their own... why?

Reason 1
They can't see them because the escorts are stupid enough to cross other people and their owners.
Because of this escort ships usually get killed by their owners or teammates (BBs don't form a battle line alone you know).

Reason 2
Even if the BB sees the sub some BBs need specially trained gunners to use HH launchers.... IJN for example has DP gunners who CANNOT use HH. Forcing them to level a new pair of gunners is downright sadistic.

Reason 3
Even if the BB driver decides to fully commit their BB to countering subs and are even eager to sacrafice a rep or engy for it there is still a tiny problem...
sonarmen DO NOT work on BBs and CAs not even with a reduced scan radius. Just zilch.

So a BB can react to CVs (AA guns in T slots in they care to use them) and other BBs (guns blazing) but there is no sure fire way of countering a sub.

A CV can bomb a BB and/or fighter camp (or bomb) another CV.
A BB can use flak to deter CVs and shell other BBs (and CVs).
A sub... can only be killed by a BB by spraying HH all over the direction the torps came from... usually with mild efficiency UNLESS there is a DD or CL with a sonarman (who can die to ONE torp that splashed nearby).
DDs who have any idea how to do ASW (and for example try to not OH near subs) are RARE and CLs more often than not do NOT carry a sonarman

SS vs CV is another story since they usually have escorts and HH... and the sub usually is nearly out of air when it gets to them anyway.
So a good CV will usually win... if it has a escort and PHH because it will be a rough ride otherwise (subs can be suprisingly resiliant to CV deck gun fire).

In other words...


Subs will be balanced if there is a VIABLE and PROFITABLE high level counter to them.


There are 3 ways of solving the sub problem:

1 - High level remods of existing DD/CL class ships that give exp for personal attack instead of shared (like BBs)

2 - Let BBs use sonarmen so people can chose to have a advantage/counter against BBs (repairers in T slots) CVs (aa guns and gunners in T slots) or subs (Gunners with PHH in t slots and sonarman in support slot) at the cost of potency against other BBs... tho i'm not sure losing so many sailors just to counter subs is worth it.

3 - Nerf them so hard they never get to the other BB line... EVER.

If I proposed removing scouts from the game and having BBs have innate sight range based on tier, I don't know if I'd be pushing people to go back to that discussion.