Dynamic Campaign (running reports)

[justmatt101]

End September / first days October

Reports from HQ show we are NOT on pace to win this war...


Total tonnage sank in September hovered just shy of 130,000 tons.

A few days later, all three damaged ships have returned to Wilhelmshaven. Best estimates, Leipzig and Koln will be operational by the third week of the month while Admiral Hipper won't be combat ready until November.



If there's any good news it's that the report going up tomorrow will show I have the fundamentals down (maybe) when it comes to submarine warfare. My wolf packs are starting to score some kills....

[justmatt101]

1st week of October, 1939

U-37 and U-38 are stationed off the North American North Seaboard. A small convoy of four freighters escorted by HMS Jervis and HMS Valorous is sandwiched between the two submarines.

The challenge is the British destroyers are closing on U-37 head on. So the German subs stagger their attacks. U-38 fires first, killing a merchantman with a pair of torpedoes while U-37 closes the distance to her chosen target.

Before long, a pair of cargo ships are going down, and U-37 has retreated to safety. Yet the British were fast to come about and they're actively pinging the waters surrounding U-38 with their SONAR.

The U-boat dives as deep as her hull will allow and tries to slip away. There are some tense moments...and a single depth charge attack by Jervis....but the weather is poor, the sub is running deep, and eventually she makes good on her escape.



Tally so far: 138,000 tons and two destroyers.

[justmatt101]

3rd week of October

The Western Approaches in the dead of night. Scharnhorst, escorted by Leberecht Maas and Georg Thiele, has established RADAR contact with a gaggle of merchant ships and a lone destroyer manned by crewmen with no illusions of what's coming.


There's no need for a long write up. What's cool here are the mechanics for reduced visibility at night, the need for flares, and the ability to close on target using RADAR. The German ships come about, the two destroyers legging it up front and firing star shells once the range has been cut. The freighters are exposed. HMS Venetia tries to fight back. But first she's peppered with 5" shells. Then Scharnorst tears her in half with HE.

After that, it's academic. The freighters can manage a hair under 18 knots. Scharnorst a tad over 30. She and Thiele maul the five cargo ships while Maas lights the way. The only casualty we suffer is the odd loader stubbing his toe on a shell casing.

Tally so far: 170,000+ tons shipping and three destroyers.

[justmatt101]

3rd week of October, 1939

Back to the waters off New York, where the Kriegsmarine just aborted one attack on a convoy due to poor positioning. Seriously, if your subs start astern of the convoy, you're often SOL.

Here, an ambush of four U-boats nets some kills but also sees our first loss of the war.


U-30 manages to kill HMS Jervis by firing her fish BEHIND the destroyer, assuming, correctly, the destroyer will wheel about to respond to the freighters dying behind her.

Meanwhile, U-29 and U-39 wreak havoc before disengaging, sinking three large freighters between them. A neat trick I've picked up....maybe it's occurred to everyone else...but I jot down the torpedo bearings for multiple targets before committing a massed spread. The results are spectacular.


But U-40 never gets lined up, and HMS Venoc rattles U-30 with HE fired around the scope, causing hull damage, before finishing the doomed U-boat with depth charges.

Love this game! But I'm not exactly a sub ace. I think, too, I'll move surface ships to the waters near the U.S. I'm not getting help from the Kriegsmarine as a whole. No one else is doing anything. In a previous attempt, I saw 200,000+ tons chipped in by other commanders by now....

We're losing.....at least Leipzig and Koln are back. Time to replace that sub.
Tally so far: Roughly 200,000 tons and four destroyers.