Ok I'll go but JDNSW will get every second one first go, you watch.
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With the pistons going from side to side in the oil, the oil just sloshes around because free surface effect allows it to but if a piston slams down into the oil and encapsulates it , then hydraulic effect effect comes into play for an instant. The piston's travel will be momentarily halted but the Crank will keep turning. The Connecting Rod will stretch a little to compensate. Eventually the connrod will force the piston into the head and the Engine will be Poo Poo shortly after that.
Um, which war? - I should have said the "Great War". I think the key Junkers patents were about 1913.
And yes, Inc, they would have been noisy, but nobody worried about noise in subs then. A similar design was used (again by Junkers) in the most successful diesel aeroplane engine to date, used in mainly long range aircraft in the 1930s and early 1940s.
I'm assuming (risky, I know) WWII, John.
Sulzer ZG9 - Wikipedia
Commer TS3 - Wikipedia