Hi, everybody.
As an former soldier, I'm naturally interested by military simulators. But in this particular case, I will only speak about subs.
I keep an excellent memory of my youth, during a tour through many military schools or places in Brittany (Military Academy at Saint-Cyr-Coëtquidan, Naval Academy at Brest-Poulmic, School of Fusiliers Marins at Lorient ...).
In this last town, we were likely to visit a (french) submarine of the 2° ESM (2e Escadrille de Sous-Marins) in duty in the active base of Lorient (Keroman III). Impressing !!! When I saw later the film "Das Boot", I found the same environment of a submarine pen at work.
It is unfortunately finished : the French Navy left Keroman, given to the town. Only some naval or fishing activities in Keroman I and II. Keroman III stays in abandonment, with the possibility to visit sometimes small parts and roofs (the 3 Flak stations). Desperately empty, like La Pallice or Saint-Nazaire !!!
A small compensation : we can visit the Davis Tower (a building for training crews to escape from a sub, used from 1942 to 1997), near to Keroman I. And since last year, a sub named Flore (Daphné class) can be visited. I saw it a few years ago, on the slipway beetwen Keroman I and Keroman II, waiting to be cut in pieces. It's now saved !
About submarine simulators, I used :
Silent Service (Microprose) - DOS 1985
Silent Service II (Microprose) - DOS 1990
Microprose was the "ruler" about simulators ... RIP !
Wolfpack (Novalogic) - DOS 1990
Innovator (and with a mission editor), but few battle stations ...
Das Boot (Three-Sixty) - DOS 1990
Great with the use of Enigma machine and of the Flak guns !
SSN-21 Seawolf (Electronic Arts) - DOS 1994
A try with a modern sub simulator, but not really my cup of tea ...
Aces of the Deep (Dynamix) - DOS 1994
A reference !!!
Command:Aces of the Deep (Sierra) - Windows 1995
An improvment ? But Dynamix/Sierra was another great simulators publisher (with all the "Aces"). Another RIP !
Silent Hunter (SSI) - DOS 1996
Another reference. I got initially the French version, and then the US, and the 3 Patrol Disks (difficult in France ...). Brilliant with pilot rescue missions.
Silent Hunter: Commander's Edition (SSI) - DOS 1997
A "must have", very difficult to get in France ! Using it during a lot of months, I even discovered the single cheat of the game (to move instantaneously the sub to the other side of the map or to destroy instantaneously a target without any shell or torpedo). I had some IT knowledges : I had left Army, and I had become developer, Unix (Sytem V, HP, IBM AIX ...) admin, DBA Oracle ... So some knowledges, but also some hacking "itchings" ...
Strategic Simulations was one of the great wargames makers (the "Steel Panthers" series, my other passion). Very regretted !!!
Silent Hunter II (UbiSoft) - Windows 2001
Good idea to use with Destroyer Command. But ...
Silent Hunter III (UbiSoft) - XP 2005
My preferred, with a lots of mods !
Silent Hunter 4 (UbiSoft) - XP 2007
Good !
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It appears that it exists a soft named "Silent Hunter 5". Some affirm that "the game must be linked with the Ubi.com, and the PC must be connected during the entire season with the Internet". It must be a joke !!! If not, it's hardly compatible with the French laws. In this case, only one solution : boycotting ...
Cheers.