[OM] War Patrols of U-47

[Threadfin]

I've been playing submarine sims for almost 25 years. The first one I can remember was Silent Service around 1990. Various early PC sims, like Aces of the Deep, Nintendo and Sega titles followed, and then in '96 Silent Hunter was released. Blown. Away.

Almost 5 years would go by before SH2 was released. In the interim I devoted my time to flight sims, titles like Falcon 4, EAW, MiG Alley. And shooters like Half-Life, Operation Flashpoint, and Deus Ex. Strategy games, tactical games and even surface sims like Destroyer Command. But through it all submarine sims remained my first love. SH2 introduced me to the fascinating world of German U-Boat Operations. Pacific Aces brought me back to the Pacific (still hard to believe that PA was 144 MB!). And of course SH3 was for me a seminal moment in the course of my sub sim odyssey. Now I play SH4, and with all of the fantastic mods we've talked about in this thread, it's as though all of those titles that have come before are forged in to one great sim.

I don't know if I can pinpoint it, but I tend to be drawn to games where I am alone and hidden, stealthy, sneaking. I like to play the sniper, the Apache pilot, the Thief, the Black Ops man invisible behind the lines until it's time to strike. Of course this is the essence of submarine warfare, and this is a large part of the allure of the Silent Hunter series for me and submarine warfare in general.

One aspect of submarine sims that I find appealing is you never know what will happen when you set sail on a war patrol. It could be fantastically successful, with ships seeming to go down by your mere presence. It could be a slog, with contacts scarce, and endless storms, and little or no success after months at sea. It could result in a battleship falling to your torpedoes, or it could end after being hounded for hours when depth charges finally find your boat.

When I set sail on U-47's fifteenth war patrol on March 31st, 1943 it would prove to be the shortest war patrol I've ever conducted in sub sims and survived. The actual shortest patrol was in SH3 when my boat was sunk by an aircraft less than an hour after leaving Brest. But U-47's fifteenth last all of eleven days port to port.

U-47 left La Spezia on March 31st, with a full load of TIII electrics and the trusty Metox. Our objective grid was off the Algerian coast just to the north of Algiers. This is dead on the convoy route from Gibraltar, and I was sure we would make some contacts, expecting that the Metox would be our first indicator that one was approaching.

As we passed off the southern tip of Sardinia, the weather closed in and a raging storm tossed our boat and reduced visibility to less than 1500 meters. In this weather, the radar detector is even more valuable than usual, and I waited for the first contact. The storm raged for a week, then suddenly the skies cleared, the seas moderated and a light fog opened visibility to 3500 meters.


Here the the watch crew keeps vigil in the heavy weather



Shortly after dawn on April 8th, during a routine trim dive and sound sweep, we detected merchant screws closing from the west. A convoy was closing, and the hydrophones revealed the bearings were constant. We were right in their path. No warship screws were heard, and we surfaced to see if the Metox detected any radar. It did not. This convoy had no escorts. Soon the first merchant appeared in the fog and we began a plot, clocking the convoy's speed at 8.5 knots. U-47 submerged and got between the oncoming center and starboard columns. I planned to fire bow and stern torpedoes at the same time. One thing I really like about OM is the behavior of convoys after they are aware of an attack. The ships scatter in all directions, it isn't like SH3 was as the ships start constant helming and parade past your periscope. So therefore the attacks need to be swift and as many torpedoes should be in the water at one time as possible.

So we tried to identify a good target forward, and would also fire at whichever target was abreast in the starboard column with our stern torpedo. The first ship to emerge in the center column was a medium 5000 tons freighter, and then I saw the third ship in the same column was a T3.

I haven't seen a T3 since my SH3 days. In the 15 patrols in this career, at 13000 tons this is the largest merchant I have seen aside from the two liners that were accompanied by Repulse and Argus off Portugal in 1941 during our eighth patrol.


The T3 tanker emerges from the fog.



We set up the shot, planning to fire two torpedoes at this ship and the stern at a 6000 ton freighter that would pass astern at the same time. Both shots would be 500 meters, and as the T3 crossed the wire the fish were fired, and I quickly spun the scope and the dials to send the stern torpedo on it's way. As I swung back to the T3 both torpedoes hit and it burst into flame from bow to stern.


The tanker is aflame and the spots the torpedoes struck are visible along the waterline.



I then spun the scope back to the ship astern and saw the torpedo explode below the leading edge of the superstructure. But as I realized my sound man did not report 'Torpedo Impact!', I realized it was a premature that exploded so close to the target that I thought it was a hit.

Swinging the periscope back to the front, and again resetting the TDC as quickly as I could, a single torpedo was fired at an American cargo ship of about 3300 tons from 800 meters. She had begun to turn away, but this torpedo struck near the after mast and soon she would be dead in the water with a slight list but not showing any sign of sinking. As we moved to fire a coup de grace, tubes one and 5 were reloaded. I maneuvered to shoot bow tubes at another medium freighter that happened to cross our bow, but as I fired she saw my periscope, opened fire with machine guns, and combed the tracks causing both torpedoes to miss. We then got in position to fire the stern tube at the stopped American and sent her to the bottom.

In a furious span of about 30 minutes we had fired seven torpedoes for 4 hits, 2 misses and one premature, but with only two ships sunk for about 16,000 tons. I secured from battle stations and waited for the ships to go over the hill and surfaced for an end around.

After surfacing we kept a sharp eye for aircraft and bent on flank speed for an end around as the convoy reformed. I kept U-47 about 4000 meters off the port side of the convoy, where the ships were just visible in the fog, but far enough away that we remained unsighted.
Here you can see one of the columns as U-47 dashed ahead at 17 knots for another attack.




Five hours after the last attack, we submerged once again and torpedoed a big 9000 ton freighter which blew up and went down in minutes in the last light of the day. I swung the scope and the dials to fire at another ship off the bow, but inexplicably set the scope to 010 but the bearing dial to 350, introducing a 20 degree error and of course missed with both torpedoes. Could have kicked myself, but that's how it goes sometimes. As darkness fell, we surfaced once again and ran ahead. Eleven hours and 120 kilometers after the first attack against the T3, we again positioned the boat between oncoming columns, the last stern torpedo was fired at another big 9000 ton merchant which blew up, and the final bow torpedoes were fired at an 8400 ton tanker. Both hit and the ship assumed a port list and fell to 2 knots as the rest of the convoy went over the hill. In the darkness we surfaced and I ordered battle stations guns. The crew fired about 30 rounds and the tanker exploded with flames a hundred feet in the air. Out of torpedoes, U-47 headed for the barn, having fired all 14 torpedoes in 11 hours, for 9 hits, 4 misses and one premature, sinking five good ships for 42k, and returned to La Spezia after just 11 days at sea.


U-47 ties up at La Spezia

[iambecomelife]

Nice patrols. May I ask what medals and promotions you've received, and when you got them? I've never completed an OM career. In my opinion, some of the supermods for the American campaign don't seem to award quite enough of the more prestigious medals (I keep getting the silver star) - Just wondering if Monsun has a better award/promotion system.

Thanks a lot.

[Threadfin]

Thanks very much. I don't think I have been satisfied with the awards system in any version of Silent Hunter that I've played. For example in TMO, if I sink 40k in the first patrol, I should be getting a Navy Cross, but the sim insists on starting you at the lowest award and working up.

In Operation Monsun it isn't as bad, but the awards for U-Boat skippers should include the Knight's Cross, then with Oak Leaves, then Swords, then Diamonds and finally the Golden Oak Leaves Swords and Diamonds. The Knight's Cross is awarded in OM, but the succeeding grades are not represented. However, the actual medal as shown in the sim is indeed the Golden Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds. But there is no progression of each grade, and it is described as simply the Knight's Cross. In addition, you can win it repeatedly.


Here is a breakdown of each of the 15 completed patrols in this career so far with starting and end dates, ships sunk/tonnage (with capital ship sunk), rank advancement if applicable and award.


Patrol 1 (Kiel) -- Sept 3, 1939 to Oct 22, 1939
7/57,305 (Illustrious Fleet Carrier)
Oberleutnant zur See (starting rank)
Knight's Cross

Patrol 2 -- (Kiel) -- Nov 6, 1939 to Dec 18, 1939
7/35,585
Knight's Cross

Patrol 3 -- (Kiel) -- Jan 16, 1940 to Mar 6,1940
8/56,417
Kapitänleutnant
Knight's Cross

Patrol 4 -- (Kiel) -- Apr 10, 1940 to May 22, 1940
5/33,220
Iron Cross 2nd Class

Patrol 5 -- (Kiel) -- Jun 26, 1940 to Aug 25, 1940
9/97,115 (HMS Hood Battlecruiser)
Knight's Cross

Patrol 6 -- (Kiel) -- Sep 15, 1940 to Nov 9, 1940
8/44,655
Korvettenkapitän
Knight's Cross

Patrol 7 -- (St Nazaire) -- Dec 14, 1940 to Feb 23, 1941
5/31,365
Knight's Cross

Patrol 8 -- (St Nazaire) -- Mar 12, 1941 to May 13, 1941
3/42,340 (Queen Elizabeth Battleship)
Iron Cross 1st Class

Patrol 9 -- (St Nazaire) -- Jun 21,1941 to Aug 24, 1941
5/25,685
Knight's Cross

Patrol 10 -- (St Nazaire) -- Sep 28, 1941 to Nov 23, 1941
5/56,315 (HMS Rodney Battleship)
Iron Cross 1st Class

Patrol 11 -- (St Nazaire) -- Dec 26, 1941 to Apr 24, 1942
3/23,975
No Award

Patrol 12 -- (La Spezia) -- May 28, 1942 to Aug 15, 1942
8/33,279
Knight's Cross

Patrol 13 -- (La Spezia) -- Sep 20, 1942 to Dec 8, 1942
9/46,600
Fregattenkapitän
Knight's Cross

Patrol 14 -- (La Spezia) -- Jan 12, 1943 to Mar 16, 1943
14/68,960
Iron Cross 1st Class

Patrol 15 -- (La Spezia) -- Mar 31, 1943 to Apr 10, 1943
5/40,835
Iron Cross 2nd Class


So the awards are a bit unpredictable. The Iron Cross on patrol 14 is a bit puzzling as it was the most ships sunk during any patrol and the second-most tonnage. Patrol 10 was considerably better than patrol 9, but the award much lower. And I would prefer to have the Knight's Cross be awarded in grade, as opposed to it being awarded again and again. It appears the German Cross is not in OM, or perhaps I just haven't qualified at any point for this medium-grade award.

There is one rank I have not attained, Kapitän zur See.

[iambecomelife]

Thank you for that detailed reply; it was more than I expected. I am trying to see if the German or American award progression system would be best for my World War I mod (Wolves of the Kaiser).

[Threadfin]

No problem, hope it helps. I have been following the progress of your mod and would like to add my voice to the encouragement. It looks great and I will definitely give it a go.

[Threadfin]

U-47 continued to patrol out of La Spezia in the Mediterranean through the summer of 1943. Unless we sail east of Crete we are finding no lone merchants. But convoys come along frequently, and maybe I was fortunate, or maybe I've learned how to attack convoys in Operation Monsun. Regardless of the reason, U-47 had great success in getting inside the screens and putting torpedoes on target during patrols sixteen and seventeen. Our Biscay Cross continued to be the most valuable installation on our boat. Time and again, it's warnings were quickly heeded, and we managed to avoid attacks by the many air patrols that were encountered. On one or two occasions the aircraft dropped their ordnance, but we were already heading deep and their attacks were ineffectual. On the whole though, the Cross allowed us to avoid detection.

In addition to aircraft, it also gives bearing to radar equipped escorts, which allowed us to essentially home in on the signal, and get below the surface before we can be detected. For whatever reason, the dive time upon ordering periscope depth in OM is excessively long. And this is with a highly experienced crew, and with quite a few diving experts, crewman who have attained that special ability. So my procedure is to order crash dive, then order periscope depth upon reaching 10 meters. This has the effect of leveling off right at the proper depth and we can get under in very short order.

Patrol 16 left La Spezia in the early hours of May 9, 1943, loaded with a full complement of TIII electrics. I had hoped to have available some G7e/T4 'Falke' acoustic homing torpedoes by now, but none were available. I would like to load all forward slots with TIIIs and all after slots with Falke for defense against searching escorts, but that will have to wait. This was my preferred late-war loadout in SH3, and proved very successful.

Our patrol grid was once again off the Algerian coast, and for what it's worth, every Med objective in this career has been off the Algerian or Moroccan coasts. Several contacs with convoys were developed, and we were able to create enough of an advantage to get in on two of them. The first was found with the help of aerial scouts running the route from Alexandria to Malta. Slipping inside the portside screen in very heavy seas, U-47 torpedoed the first Liberty ship we have seen from the point-blank range of 400 meters.

Here the first of the two torpedoes fired at this ship strikes MOT, below the stack




As we pass astern in search of the next target, a quick look at the Liberty shows her heading for the bottom with her ensign flying.



These shots hint as to the challenge of attacking targets in heavy seas. Those who have followed any of my posts know I play without external cameras. And it's not just to blow my horn, but to emphasize the fact that playing Silent Hunter this way fundamentally changes the way the sim is played. The first screenshot above shows what was probably my clearest look at this target. When the seas are rolling, and your view is restricted to 6 inches above the water, you are presented with very brief snapshots of the target ships as they appear and disappear through the swells. And moreover, riding out evasions from within the control room or conning tower is far more challenging than when you can watch the escorts from above the water and react to what they do. Once your scope goes below the surface, you are blind, and it changes the way you think, what you know, and the decisions and actions you take. Something as simple as checking a box in the difficulty menu has a profound effect on how you approach the game and the decisions you will have to make.

After sinking the Liberty, U-47 continued at ahead slow looking for another target to appear in the glimpses through the troughs. But what we saw was a destroyer coming on with a bone in her teeth and I ordered crash dive as she began a short-scale ping. As we passed through 70 meters, a string of depth charges landed close aboard, causing moderate damage and U-47 sprung a few leaks.

Here you see the control room of U-47 with some leaks that have not been fixed.



As mentioned in earlier posts, the crew of U-47 is highly experienced. Every crew member has been promoted several times, and all have specialties, and many have Special Abilities. With such a crew, repairs are often quickly made, and here too, and we sought safety in the depths, hoping we would be lost in the many merchant screws above. We kept going down to 160 meters, and the combination of this depth, the sea state and the many screws in the area all allowed U-47 to slip off to the north and evade successfully as the destroyers lost track. After all screws were lost on the hydrophones to the west, we returned to periscope depth. A quick look revealed nothing in sight, and we surfaced and headed north to the waters between Crete and Cyprus that proved so lucrative in our early forays in the Med.

Over the next 2 or 3 weeks, we made contact with several merchants steaming alone. We managed to put five on the bottom, 2 of the small 1800-ton M-KF-F freighters, and three of the medium M-KF-M (E) freighters of 5000 tons, all of which flew Turkish flags.

With fuel dwindling and torpedoes running low, U-47 set course back to the west to patrol the bottleneck between Sardinia and Tunisia. Only July 3, we again contacted a convoy with the help of the Cross, and managed to slip inside the screen of very modern DDs and DEs. Once inside, we torpedoed two more freighters of 9000 and 5900 tons and evaded the searching escorts. Out of torpedoes, U-47 ran for the barn and put in to La Spezia on July 9, after exactly two months at sea, having sunk 7 ships for 35,745 tons.

During refit, U-47 saw the installation of a new decoy, Bold 1, which is a canister of calcium hydride that can be ejected from the submarine, and when mixing with seawater, produces a large cloud of hydrogen bubbles to provide a false sonar target for searching enemy ships.

U-47 left La Spezia for the last time on August 15, 1943 on her seventeenth war patrol, again bound for the waters off the Algerian coast. Soon after departure, we received a radio message to shift base to Toulon, located a short distance to the west on the French coast.

Several days after arriving on station, and having dived many times to avoid prowling aircraft, the Cross once again alerted us to the presence of a radar-equipped enemy warship. We homed in and dove in a raging storm, heavy fog, 15 m/s winds and heavy seas. Visibility was around 1500 meters. In what would become on of my most successful convoy attacks ever, U-47 sank 5 good ships in 30 minutes. The storm and the sea state seemed to prevent the enemy escorts from being able to find our boat as we fired torpedo after torpedo at ships that emerged from the fog. The first two fish were fired at an 8300 ton tanker. But something wasn't right with my setup, and the first torpedo missed ahead, and the second struck the tanker, damaging it, but she kept on. Fortune was with us, as the torpedo that missed continued on to strike a ship in a far column, a 4100 ton freighter that blew up and sank. Because of the fog, this was out of our view. Two 5100 ton cargo ships went down in short order, as we fired torpedoes as soon as they were reloaded as the convoy paraded past, seemingly unable to determine where the attacks were coming from.

Another big tanker of 8500 tons hove in to view and this ship too was sent to the bottom, having broken in two after being struck by our second torpedo. Soon after, the tanker that was the first target went down. In a half hour, five enemy ships for 32,860 tons went to the bottom of the Mediterranean.

Here the second tanker settles having broken in two



After the two tankers went down, we dove deep and slipped away, with distant pinging heard for a long while afterwards. Finally clear of the screws, U-47 surfaced to exchange the air and recharge the batteries. Several weeks went by, and the weather turned clear and very calm. Again and again, we dove to avoid aircraft. Two more convoys were contacted, but experience has proven that attacking in calm seas hands the initiative and advantage over to the enemy escorts. Unable to find a clear opening, I elected to run away. Keywords discretion/valor. In the second of these convoys, I had noticed a Bogue Escort Carrier sailing in it.

I've now done 17 patrols in OM. If there is one key I have found to success, it is sea state, sea state, sea state. For anyone else playing this mod, all I can say is that sea state is the most important factor in getting in on escorted enemy formations. From the surface attacks I was doing in '41, to getting in submerged on the convoys in this post, heavy sea state is the key. Attacking escorted formations in calm seas is asking to be sunk. Bide your time, and take advantage of heavy weather when the opportunity arises.

On September 5, with the weather having turned once again, U-47 made contact with a convoy about 100 kilometers east of Algiers, near the coastal city of Bone. I attempted to home in on the radar signals, but by the time I was able to sight the convoy, it was evident we were trailing, and they had gotten by. We surfaced , extended away to the south at flank speed. I plotted the convoy's course, and made a flank speed dash for 150 kilometers to the west, turning back in on the course after having dived for aircraft many more times. I would like some stock in the Metox company

Once positioned near where I expected the convoy to come on, we waited. Before too long, the convoy was detected on the Cross and then on hydrophones, but tracking the hydrophone bearings revealed I had dived a little too far to the north of their present track. Turning around, we moved cautiously at ahead full to close the track and get a shot in. Again, we were able to penetrate the screen and get inside the enemy formation.

As the ships came on, I began identifying them and looking for big ships. After choosing a likely target and plotting the convoy's 6 knot speed, I prepared to fire. Just before pushing the plunger, I saw a carrier emerge from the fog.

Here is the convoy and U-47's position relative to the Escort Carrier when first sighted.



This convoy is scattered I think in part due to the heavy seas, and in part I believe due to the fact that the escorts had detected me on radar a few times as we made the 150km flank speed end around, causing the ships to zig and as a result, their station keeping went astray.

Here is another shot that shows how heavy seas affect the ability to track targets.



Here is a good look at the Bogue 10 degrees before firing



That screen shows the setup just before firing. The solution has been dialed in. Looking at those dials, we can see a perfect setup, assuming I have the speed and range correct. You can see the speed at 6 knots. The 'Impact A' dial, shows the expected impact angle of the torpedoes, which is an ideal 90 degrees starboard. AoB is set to 80 starboard, since U-47 is on a course 90 degrees to the target's course and the scope is set to 350, which subtracts those 10 degrees from the 360 bearing intersecting the target course at 90 degrees. Range is 1400 meters. And the gyro angle is 000, which all adds up to a perfect torpedo shot.

As the carrier crossed the wire, three torpedoes were fired at intervals to spread the torpedoes along the length of the target. Looking at the left side of that screenshot you can see the torpedo settings. I have all four bow tubes opened and depth set very shallow, 1.5 meters. I have set the pistols to impact to eliminate the chance of prematures in the rough seas. Each fish is fired single in accordance with the procedures and thinking outlined in previous posts, so the salvo options are unused.

All three torpedoes hit the carrier and detonated. Fires were visible, but she didn't immediately appear to be sinking.

Here the second of the three torpedoes strikes below the superstructure.



I suspected that the three hits would be enough to cause this carrier to eventually sink, but taking no chances I fired the 4th bow tube on a 010 track, which would cause the torpedo to approach abaft the beam, but this torpedo hit and exploded, and so did the carrier. You can see I adjusted the speed and range down slightly due to expected slowing of target after hits and having closed somewhat since the last shots. Note the change in the 'Impact A' dial.



I fired the last bow tube and the last stern tube at two more ships, but both of these torpedoes missed, probably due to the ships turning away after being alerted by the demise of the Bogue, or perhaps I just got it wrong.

Out of torpedoes, U-47 headed for the barn, putting in to Toulon on September 7, having sunk 6 ships for 46,915, after a relatively short three weeks at sea.

I am very pleased with these two patrols. Making that many successful attacks on convoys well-escorted by the latest in American destroyer hardware is very satisfying indeed. The success is due, I think, in large part to choosing to attack when the conditions were relatively favorable, and knowing when the setup wasn't right and sailing away to fight another day.

[Threadfin]

U-47 left Toulon on her eighteenth war patrol on October 9, 1943. Acoustic torpedoes were finally available, and we loaded all forward tubes and reserves with T III electrics, and the stern tube and reserves with three of the G7es (TV) Zaunkönig second generation homing torpedoes, for use against escorts. The objective was once again off the coast of Algeria. Just two days out of Toulon enroute to our patrol grid, a convoy was contacted in heavy seas. U-47 was able to penetrate the screen and sent two big ships to the bottom before slipping away from the pinging escorts. Having fired half of our torpedo load, we set sail back to Toulon for a reload, then set course once again for the Algerian coast.

After running a search pattern for several days, another convoy was contacted, but had gotten by, so an end run was conducted and after a 200-km dash, U-47 dove on the expected track. Two more big ships were sunk from this convoy. As we ran the end around, many airplane contacts were made, and for the first time that we had seen in this career, they were flying in pairs. At this stage of the war, the Allies had taken Sardinia, and were approaching Rome in Italy. What had been a largely German controlled Sea upon our arrival in the spring of 1942, was now dominated by the Allies.

A big tanker explodes after being struck by U-47's torpedoes



Afer completing our objective, we set sail to the east, hoping that perhaps we could find a gap where air coverage was not so thick. Near Tunis, another convoy was encountered. This time however, the seas were dead flat, with clear weather and blue skies. I considered avoiding, but as were were already in near perfect position, U-47 submerged and closed the convoy's track. As luck would have it, there was no screen on the starboard side of the formation, and we exploited this gap and slipped inside the starboard wing colum.

This convoy was another with a Bogue escort carrier sailing in it, and we selected this ship as our first target. Somewhat astern of the carrier was a T3 tanker. I planned to fire three torpedoes at the carrier, and the fourth at the T3, with the hope that tube one could be reloaded quickly and also used against the tanker. In the dead clam sea, periscope exposures were kept to an absolute minimum, and very brief, just long enough to check bearings and AoB, as well as mark those bearings for the speed calculation. To determine speed I make bearing marks on the navigation map. At intervals, the distance between marks is measured with the compass. Once you know the distance the ship has travelled over a certain amount of time, the nomograph is used to determine the speed of the ship. This convoy was making 6 knots. Ships travelling so slowly do not present much of a challenge to targeting, but do test one's patience as they plod on. The longer we wait, the more likley we will be detected by the escort, and I was a bit nervous as I took brief looks at the destroyers, but none detected us. The Bogue sailed past our scope at a range of just 500 meters. Three torpedoes were fired along her length and the reload on tube one began immediately. The first torpedo hit below the bridge and the carrier exploded. The other two also hit but were not needed. I always have a sense of regret at firing multiple torpedoes at a ship when the first one destroys it. But you can never know how many it will take, so you try to fire enough to ensure the job gets done.

The carrier explodes after being struck by the first torpedo



As the carrier was sinking, the rest of the ships began the Silent Hunter Shuffle, constant helming which slows them even more along their base course. As the escorts were now looking for us, it was nerve wracking waiting for the T3 to come on, and it was evident it would be a close run thing on whether the escorts or the tanker would arrive first. In the event it was a draw, and two destroyers came on pinging just as tube one was reloaded and two torpedoes were fired at the T3 from 400 meters. I quickly dialed in a high-gyro solution to fire one of the acoustics at one of the charging destroyers. Both bow torpedoes hit the tanker and it blew up, aflame from stem to stern. U-47 was now making flank speed on the way down to try and lose the escorts below the ships of the convoy. The Zaunkönig I believe missed the escort and locked on to another merchant in the convoy and exploded, but whatever it hit did not go down.


The T3 tanker looks huge as she sails to her demise



U-47 successfully evaded to the northwest. After all merchant screws were lost, we returned to periscope depth to have a look at the single destroyer that was left behind to search for us and hold us down. As it circled the area where the ships went down, I thought it would make a good target for a homing torpedo. I dialed in a solution, but with these torpedoes precision isn't needed, and it was fired from a range of 3200 meters. I had set the depth to 5 meters against the 4.2 meters draft of the Buckley. I beleive the torpedo made multiple passes under the ship, but never exploded. It's possible it was fired with an impact pistol, which would explain it, but I was certain I checked to make sure it was magnetic. Regardless, it did not detonate and we cleared the area content to call it a draw.

U-47 continued to the east, and closed in on an area south of Malta where we had gotten several task force radio reports over the past two weeks. Soon after arriving we made contact with the Cross of radar emmissions. In heavy seas at night we made a flank speed dash to get ahead an close the track. We dove and turned in, and soon several destroyers were in sight. I searched in vain for any capital ships they might be escorting, and seeing none, prepared to dive to evade when suddenly the closest destroyers began pinging. Before going deep I fired the last Zaunkönig which found a Clemson Class flush-decker and blew it up. We managed to evade toward Malta, but it seemed the other warships did not look for us for long. This was the third or fourth such group we had found on this patrol. It is possible that I just never saw what they were escorting, but I believe these were hunter groups of 5 or 6 destroyers out searching for enemy submarines.

I decided to head to Malta to have a look in to Valetta and see if we could torpedo any ships we found at anchor. But as we approached from the southeast a convoy came bearing down. This convoy seemed especially well escorted, and I believed we would be hard-pressed to avoid detection by the leading escort so went deep to 150 meters. This worked and the convoy plowed on.

After clearing the formation we returned to periscope depth and turned back in, sinking two medium freighters with four bow tubes. The first two missed my target, but continued all the way through the formation to sink a ship in the far column. The target was 1200 meters away, but they hit a target 4000 meters away. Sometimes you get lucky. Again we dove deep and evaded, using our decoys, but I cannot say whether they actually helped. With just two torpedoes left forward, U-47 set sail towards home. As we neared the southern tip of Sardinia, I saw some radio reports of lone ships sailing close to the coast and thought we might be able to get one.

On the night of November 21, as we neared the island, the Cross detected radar. Soon more destroyers came on and we began a deep dive to avoid. We had gotten past the first three, but the fourth found us as we passed 140 meters and delivered a perfect string right on target. This time, the crew of U-47 could not overcome the damage. I stood in the control room and watched as the depth guage soared past 200 meters, then pegged. Lights started popping, and then darkness. At around 390 meters, U-47 succumbed to the overwhelming pressure and was lost with all hands.


The depth guage has long since pegged as we pass 350 meters in the final moments of U-47



U-47 was lost on her eighteenth patrol, having sunk 123 ships for 887,517 tons, including 7 merchants, a carrier and an old four-pipe destroyer for 66,285 on her final patrol.

The Aces Board before patrol eighteen

[Jax von May]

You captured my attention with this post, and learn a few things. Thanks.

[Niume]

Awesome work. Any tips how to escpae from planes i cant even surface in biscay in 1943 trying to go to penang

[Threadfin]

Originally Posted by Threadfin

For example in TMO, if I sink 40k in the first patrol, I should be getting a Navy Cross, but the sim insists on starting you at the lowest award and working up.

I am back in the Pacific in TMO, and got three straight Navy Crosses to begin the career, so the quote above is clearly incorrect! Of course the mod soup will have some effect depending on what is installed.

[pdiddy]

Great post Threadfin.

I'm getting the feeling that OM is the seldom loved, often misunderstood middle-kid of the SH family. It really deserves more attention than it gets!

[Threadfin]

Thanks very much. And I think you're right, it doesn't get as much attention as it probably deserves, but that might be down to so many people still playing SH3, or that just prefer other theaters and boats. And I think there might be a sizable number that struggle with the install and give it up as a bad job, but just speculating.

[chrysanthos]

hmm this operation seems good but i cant get it to work....can anyone post here what files i need and wich order i should install them to avoid crashes? thank you....