I think I fixed most of my problems and I got to say, this game is a harsh mistress, but once you know how to treat it, you will be rewarded.
Patrol 6, May 22nd 1942, USS Skipjack (SS-184) orders were to head directly to convoy college and wait for further orders. We never got there though, because I intercepted an convoy. It was stormy night and my sonar officer picked up some merchant ships. Followed to investigate, found a convoy. The crew spotted the convoy from just 2000 yard.
We fired a torpedo at the biggest shadow and went to periscope depth.
The damn Mk. 14 Torpedos were still not working, premature explosions and duds were the fuel to keep my rage for the Buero of Ordonance burning.
Managed to sink one 4000 tonner with tw torpedo hits.
And then the familliar "ping" returned, tw Minekaze Destroyers were searching for the boat.
But I was lucky and the Torpedos hit and destroyed the targets. That were two enemy destroyers sunk. The path was clear and I decided to follow the sound contacts submerged.
That was a bad decision, because a escort heard us.
So we went down 190 feet and tried to shake him with silent running and our tango to dodge the depth charges.
Well, he was no fool and so we went deeper. 278 feet deeper, he still pinged the boat and my nerves would wear thinner with each "ping"
Then one depth charge hit the boat, nothing was seriously damaged, the pumps were back in action two minutes later my crew was trying to stop the flooding. I must say these american boats were quite durable. The stern torpedo room was flooded but we stayed at depth.
The deepest depth the boat reached was 295 feet.
In the early morning hours the flooding was still not under control so I decided to go to periscope depth to fight the escort.
That was a critical moment, because we were listing to stern the bow of the boat broke out of the water, I had to order ahead flank to stabilize the boat. But I was lucky again, two Mk. 14 torpedos turned the escort into a fireball.
The boat was submerged and I ordered to return to Freemantle.
With only two torpedos in the bow and one in the jammed stern tube, it was not worth the risk.
On the way back we got attacked by an float plane and some minutes later we picked up warships comming our way. And more merchants. Another convoy.
We waited for 5 hours at 160 feet for the convoy to pass.
And at the 7th of june, we were back in Freemantle.
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