Sailor Steve
05-13-08, 11:17 PM
While I was collecting merchant names for SH3 two years ago we started hearing about SH4. Determined to do the same for this game I started taking names from the Wartime Transportation Convoys History. Just today I was going over the work I did then, and found at the bottom the notes I had made on odd and unusual occurences during American submarine attacks. These are so different from what happens in games that I thought I'd share them:
Taichu Maru took one torpedo in calm weather on October 17, 1943. She sank in less than a minute. The 1948 ton ship was carrying 2500 tons of steel products. In spite of the swift sinking only nine crew members died. The record doesn't state the total, or number of survivors, only that most of them escaped.
Convoy 2303B, March 3, 1943: 5 marus, 1 escort (auxiliary gunboat). Hokuto Maru, 2267 tons with a cargo of coal, is hit by one of three torpedoes fired by USS Permit, at 0630. Torpedo is a dud. At 0640 Hokuto Maru is found to be taking on water rapidly. Ship leaves convoy and heads toward coast. At 0643 engines are flooded. Crew abandons ship and are rescued by escort gunboat No. 2 Hiyoushi Maru. Hokuto Maru sinks at 0712, from a hole made by a dud torpedo.
Convoy of November 1, 1943: Fleet Tanker Shiretoko had been torpedoed the previous September. Fuel was needed, so Momogawa Maru towed the tanker to it's destination! Shiretoko was torpedoed again on this voyage, but damage was minor and she completed the trip.
Convoy of November 3: Six marus, all tankers. Submarine torpedoes one tanker. Two hits, rapid sinking. Lone escort stays to pick up survivors; thirty minutes later can't find convoy. Convoy attacked by different submarine; total of eight torpedoes fired for three misses and five duds! Convoy escaped unharmed.
Convoy of November 14: 4 marus, 2 escorts. One Maru is towing a damaged submarine chaser home for repairs, so convoy is slow. Submarine torpedoes that maru and she sinks. No further mention is ever made of towed sub chaser. Later sub torpedoes another maru. Destroyer takes crippled ship under tow. Several hours later crippled maru breaks in two. Stern sinks; another maru helps tow the forward part. This becomes increasingly difficult, so wreck is abandoned. It sinks several hours later.
Convoy of November 15: Big 11,621 ton ship takes one torpedo at 1245. More than four hours later, at 1700, crew abandons ship. Ship sinks thirty minutes after that. Very large ship, only one torpedo, almost five hours to sink.
Convoy of November 17: Maru is listed as towing a "pipe", an unmanned resupply submarine. Another maru has a boiler-room fire and is abandoned and sunk by escort gunfire.
Convoy of November 23: No. 2 Nankai Maru was towing "Special Craft No. 35".
Convoy of November 25: Colombia Maru avoided torpedoes, dropped depth charges and opened up with guns. Again, merchant with depth charges.
Convoy of November 27: Konei Maru was towing what was called a "Special Tanker". What happened to it when the Konie Maru was sunk is not explained.
Convoy of December 1: Two merchants, Akagisan Maru and No. 8 Fukuei Maru, escorted by Patrol Boat No. 103. On December 4 No. 8 Fukuei Maru is detached from convoy because of her slow speed. On the 5th Akagisan Maru develops steering problems; after repairs she proceeds "independently". What happened to the patrol boat?
Convoy of December 7: Ginyo Maru torpedoed twice. "At first her crew did not know what to do and arguing broke out, the decision vis-a-vis abandonment was soon taken out of their hands for at 0449 Ginyo Maru sank".
Convoy O-803, December 8: Taian Maru towed a crane platform measuring 28 x 14 x 1.5 meters.
Convoy 1103, December 10: Nikko Maru towing Type A Midget Submarine; Kimishima Maru towing "Pipe", Type A midget sub converted to underwater cargo carrier.
Large convoys might be in columns; small ones are either single line ahead or single line abreast. Convoy of December 19, 1943 Naha to Kagoshima is both, first abreast and then ahead.
Convoy 882, January 17, 1944: Tatsuno Maru torpedoed, broke in two. Front sank immediately, back half abandoned seven hours later, sank later still.
There are several mentions of merchants colliding while under attack. While gamers decry this behaviour as stupid AI occassionally it did happen.
More confusion: Convoy 3206, February 4, 1944: The last line reads "No mention is made of a ship called Kuniei Maru, indeed that vessel cannot be traced in records...". They don't mention it at all in the list, or in the text, so why have a line at the bottom saying there is no mention of it???
Convoy of February 5: One Cable Layer and three Fishing boats, no escort. USS Flasher torpedoes the 1722-ton Cable Layer, later attacks Fishing Boats with deck gun. None were sunk, but two of them ran aground and were abandoned.
Convoy 7125, February 12: Fleet Tanker Sata is torpedoed, rendered unnavigable. On the 19th she is taken under tow by Aratama Maru. Aratama Maru is not listed as being part of the convoy and no explanation is given as to how she happened to be there.
Hinoe (3rd) Fishing Craft Fleet, March 7: 16 fishing boats carried a TOTAL of 54 tons of cargo between them.
May 5: Aobasan Maru (8812 tons) takes three torpedoes, all forward, but continues on. Emergency repairs enable the ship to finish the trip.
It would be nice if all the above was possible behavior in a game, but the reality is that the sub skipper would never see any of it anyway. Still, it's fun to know about.
Taichu Maru took one torpedo in calm weather on October 17, 1943. She sank in less than a minute. The 1948 ton ship was carrying 2500 tons of steel products. In spite of the swift sinking only nine crew members died. The record doesn't state the total, or number of survivors, only that most of them escaped.
Convoy 2303B, March 3, 1943: 5 marus, 1 escort (auxiliary gunboat). Hokuto Maru, 2267 tons with a cargo of coal, is hit by one of three torpedoes fired by USS Permit, at 0630. Torpedo is a dud. At 0640 Hokuto Maru is found to be taking on water rapidly. Ship leaves convoy and heads toward coast. At 0643 engines are flooded. Crew abandons ship and are rescued by escort gunboat No. 2 Hiyoushi Maru. Hokuto Maru sinks at 0712, from a hole made by a dud torpedo.
Convoy of November 1, 1943: Fleet Tanker Shiretoko had been torpedoed the previous September. Fuel was needed, so Momogawa Maru towed the tanker to it's destination! Shiretoko was torpedoed again on this voyage, but damage was minor and she completed the trip.
Convoy of November 3: Six marus, all tankers. Submarine torpedoes one tanker. Two hits, rapid sinking. Lone escort stays to pick up survivors; thirty minutes later can't find convoy. Convoy attacked by different submarine; total of eight torpedoes fired for three misses and five duds! Convoy escaped unharmed.
Convoy of November 14: 4 marus, 2 escorts. One Maru is towing a damaged submarine chaser home for repairs, so convoy is slow. Submarine torpedoes that maru and she sinks. No further mention is ever made of towed sub chaser. Later sub torpedoes another maru. Destroyer takes crippled ship under tow. Several hours later crippled maru breaks in two. Stern sinks; another maru helps tow the forward part. This becomes increasingly difficult, so wreck is abandoned. It sinks several hours later.
Convoy of November 15: Big 11,621 ton ship takes one torpedo at 1245. More than four hours later, at 1700, crew abandons ship. Ship sinks thirty minutes after that. Very large ship, only one torpedo, almost five hours to sink.
Convoy of November 17: Maru is listed as towing a "pipe", an unmanned resupply submarine. Another maru has a boiler-room fire and is abandoned and sunk by escort gunfire.
Convoy of November 23: No. 2 Nankai Maru was towing "Special Craft No. 35".
Convoy of November 25: Colombia Maru avoided torpedoes, dropped depth charges and opened up with guns. Again, merchant with depth charges.
Convoy of November 27: Konei Maru was towing what was called a "Special Tanker". What happened to it when the Konie Maru was sunk is not explained.
Convoy of December 1: Two merchants, Akagisan Maru and No. 8 Fukuei Maru, escorted by Patrol Boat No. 103. On December 4 No. 8 Fukuei Maru is detached from convoy because of her slow speed. On the 5th Akagisan Maru develops steering problems; after repairs she proceeds "independently". What happened to the patrol boat?
Convoy of December 7: Ginyo Maru torpedoed twice. "At first her crew did not know what to do and arguing broke out, the decision vis-a-vis abandonment was soon taken out of their hands for at 0449 Ginyo Maru sank".
Convoy O-803, December 8: Taian Maru towed a crane platform measuring 28 x 14 x 1.5 meters.
Convoy 1103, December 10: Nikko Maru towing Type A Midget Submarine; Kimishima Maru towing "Pipe", Type A midget sub converted to underwater cargo carrier.
Large convoys might be in columns; small ones are either single line ahead or single line abreast. Convoy of December 19, 1943 Naha to Kagoshima is both, first abreast and then ahead.
Convoy 882, January 17, 1944: Tatsuno Maru torpedoed, broke in two. Front sank immediately, back half abandoned seven hours later, sank later still.
There are several mentions of merchants colliding while under attack. While gamers decry this behaviour as stupid AI occassionally it did happen.
More confusion: Convoy 3206, February 4, 1944: The last line reads "No mention is made of a ship called Kuniei Maru, indeed that vessel cannot be traced in records...". They don't mention it at all in the list, or in the text, so why have a line at the bottom saying there is no mention of it???
Convoy of February 5: One Cable Layer and three Fishing boats, no escort. USS Flasher torpedoes the 1722-ton Cable Layer, later attacks Fishing Boats with deck gun. None were sunk, but two of them ran aground and were abandoned.
Convoy 7125, February 12: Fleet Tanker Sata is torpedoed, rendered unnavigable. On the 19th she is taken under tow by Aratama Maru. Aratama Maru is not listed as being part of the convoy and no explanation is given as to how she happened to be there.
Hinoe (3rd) Fishing Craft Fleet, March 7: 16 fishing boats carried a TOTAL of 54 tons of cargo between them.
May 5: Aobasan Maru (8812 tons) takes three torpedoes, all forward, but continues on. Emergency repairs enable the ship to finish the trip.
It would be nice if all the above was possible behavior in a game, but the reality is that the sub skipper would never see any of it anyway. Still, it's fun to know about.