Tell us what you are upto in your current campaign

[Zosimus]

Contact, 4 meter depth, 3º spread.

Wind was 11 m/s.

Weather 2
Sea 5

[sublynx]

↯ from U 353 to FdU Italy:

= Operation 26 completed. CH8450. NE 9, sea 7, 10/10, medium visibility. Requesting orders. Wähling=

[Farflung Wanderer]

Patrol 2 for Lt. Jr. Theodor Lawrenz, commander of the U-18. Attached to U-Flotilla Weddigen, based in Wilhelmshaven, Germany.


01 October 1939
2000h: Reported in to fleet. Grid AN81, full load of torpedoes. While some ships are to be moving into our grid, we haven't seen them yet. Should they come across us, we will do our best to engage them.


02 October 1939
1338h: Reported to fleet that our 24 hour patrol has finished uneventfully. Hopefully we shall receive new patrol orders shortly.

1526h: I just finished a meeting with the senior staff. The higher-ups want us to "be more aggressive", so that we shall do. The port of Southend is rather nearby, at grid AN79. I will take U-18 to prowl around that area and engage any shipping that attempts to leave. Given how dangerous this will be, we shall remain underwater for most of our time there. Once we use up all of our torpedoes or sink three ships, we shall return to port.

2000h: Reported back to fleet, let them know of our plans. We are currently in grid AN84, and will be at AN79 in about seven hours. It might still be dark out by the time we get there; all the better for us.

2205h: Ship spotted heading NE. U-18 turning to engage. Night is clear and waters are still. This is not great hunting weather, but if it is the conditions we must deal with, so be it.


03 October 1939
0019h: I can only assume that the British ship snuck past us during the night, for we have seen nothing of it. I am returning us back on course. By the time we get there, it will be much lighter out, which is frustrating, but there is nothing that can be done. Hopefully we shall have better hunting today.

[sublynx]

21.11.1942

Korvettenkapitän Heinz Wähling relinquishes the command of U 353 and is transferred to Kiel, to command the 5th Training Flotilla.

[Rambler241]

Your far-too-frequent (and to my mind unnecessary) reports will be your undoing, Farflung Wanderer. The Tommies had primitive HF/DF ("Huff-duff") direction finding in place at the outbreak of war, and improved it in leaps and bounds as the "Uboat War" progressed. At best this resulted in fewer target intercepts, and so fewer sinkings than would otherwise be the case, as convoys were re-routed to avoid estimated Uboat (and later Wolf-pack) positions. At worst it resulted in Uboat losses as allied aircraft, convoy escorts, and later, Uboat hunting-groups, were directed to the estimated Uboat locations. Destruction of Uboats was the aim, "keeping 'em down", and so at much slower speed, an acceptable second-best.

Also, available frequencies for Uboat communication were limited, and "chatter" was frowned upon by the KM. The longer the message transmitted, the greater the risk of transmitter location. By 1942, 20 seconds of transmission was enough for a fairly accurate location estimate. Careless talk costs lives, as the Tommies said, and it applied (and still applies) to the armed services of all nations.

However, good luck, and happy hunting, and don't forget the need for frequent sonar sweeps.

[bstanko6]

U-96 commanded by Ruprecht Schmidt. Literally playing like Das Boot. Nothing is going on at all! No ship, no convoy, nothing as Lt. Werner would say!

[chebonaparte]

hello all

ive had sh2,3,4,5 and now find myself back in sh3 got JSGME to work 1st time i tried it

its the little things-

A. has anybody got file/mod to-

have a binocular cancel or press b again to deselect binoculars?

B. is there way to decrease the repetitive "be more aggressive" radio messages? or have alternative random info lol



its tedious to change out just to drop binoculars

looking for more gui small size mods to make gameplay more fluid


SH3Cmdr to help start new career stories i had 6 kills in 3patrols after 2 ctds before a third destroyer rammed me from behind

sunk from flooding!

why cant i download today?

[Karl Hungus]

01.22.1940

Was cruising AM99 on the surface in bad weather, and dropped to PD for a listen- warships all over the starboard, at maybe 2000m heading SE. Visibility was around 500m, if that. Went back the surface and ran at flank for about 10 minutes before dropping back to PD for the ambush.

It's a huge battle group- I can see a tribal ahead and astern of me, and then, out of the fog and rain comes HMS Hood. I don't have a shot- she's going too fast and too close. But just behind her is HMS Resolution, a Revenge battleship. I fire a spread of 4 eels from about 350m, with three slamming into her port side.

I lost sight of her quickly, due to the conditions. After a few minutes, though, I hear "she's going down" and start looking via the external cam. By the time I find her, she's almost below the waves.

Here she is going down, from the event cam, and then just before the forward turrets and bow disappear.

[Farflung Wanderer]

Should note that I still have been continuing my career as Lt. Jr. Theodor Lawrenz, but I am getting a new computer soon which will effectively spell the end of this career.

Given the low difficulty level of the one I am on, I have decided not to update my adventures. However, once I have SH3 running on the new PC, I will keep you guys informed on my mishaps.

[Kip336]

After almost two years without Silent Hunter, I decided it was time to bring the box out again.
Being fond of a healthy dose of doing things the "real way", that includes GWX and finding my notebook on all sorts of U boat related maths. Sadly I could only find my how-to-plot-an-intercept-course note.
it was quickly decided I would need a XO, which so happens to be my kid.

Patrol 0, 2-8-1939.

Kaleun Kipischovic boards the U-336, a VIIB boat from the second flottila based in Willemshaven. With all the pleasantries done, Wänsi****** Fahrt foraus is ordered by the XO. The band music on the dock is terrible.
Hours later we open our orders. Patrol grid BE69 for 24 hours and do a shakedown.

During the course of the patrol, we go through the standard rituals. Diving, crashdiving, flak gun shooting and deck gunnery courses.

We learned a few things from our boat this day:
1) Seagull does not taste good after a 20mm.
2) Our crew does not know how to properly aim the deck gun, we often find them mounting the aiming binoculars a good 30 degrees off center. The XO proces to be exceptionally good at Shooting from the hip.

After some stalking and attack practice on a British Destroyer near when we come aroubd the British Island to Scapa Flow (Nice guys those Brits). It's time to head back.

END OF PATROL 0.
Ships sunk 0
Airplanes Shot: 0
Other: 3 Seagulls.
-30 renown.



PATROL 2, 30-8-1939

My brother Yashin joins the crew as 1WO. Not sure if this is good. But with his experience, we're sure to see some more seriousness aboard the boat. Things are stirring above my paygrade. BdU is uneasy.

As we prepare to leave willemshaven, the XO orders periscope depth. As the crew scrambles inside, I question my XO. We haven't even left the dock.
"We must be stealthy, they are not allowed to see us leave. And the music is bad"
No more questions.

We find ourselves back enroute to Scapa Flow to do further training with our friends from the British V&W class we saw last month. Experiencing their tactics (they seem to go full speed reverse if you get close on their side) will provide valuable information for later.

A message from BDU. War with Poland is close! All units are ordered to patrol out on sea.
No special mention of our results we sent back to BDU.
We continue our course down the southcoast of England. A few boats from different nations are spotted as we press on.

Sept 2, 1700.
Schiff gesichted Kaleun! We spot a small British merchant, perfect Stalking practice.

0800
After some hours at periscope depth, we order the boat to surface. A quick check only shows the Merchant at about 700 meters on port side.
message received! British, French and some other countries too far way to worry about have declared war on Germany! We are to attack all ships following the London Protocol and Price regulations.

The Merchant must've gotten the same message as its now frantically zigzagging.
With a small nod to the XO, he jumps into action. He gets his crew together and mans the 88.
Shells start splashing around the freighter, and we soon see some cargo on the aft deck exploding. With a big grin on his face, XO reports that shooting the explosive cargo must be Highly effective, more shots follow, more explosions.
With some frantic arm flailing, I point him to the Waterline. 10 shots later she goes down.

Now that we can call ourselves a real U boat crew, we speed off towards the English channel in hopes of finding bigger pray.
We soon find another merchant and start our run. unfortunately he spots us and starts zigzagging to.
At full speed we overtake him and dive to periscope depth. Positioning ourselves 500m from his expected track we await. Suddenly warships closing on two sides. Multiple on the east, one on the west
No more attack. We turn around and leave at 3 knots heading south.

From the periscope we see a smokestack to our east, which turns out to be a Destroyer heading straight our previous location.
20 minutes later, we spot the other ship closing from the west, an ASW trawler headed straight for us. That would prove to be bothersome.
On the east side

From the periscope we see a smokestack to our east, which turns out to be a Destroyer heading straight our previous location.
20 minutes later, we spot the other ship closing from the west, an ASW trawler headed straight for us. That would prove to be bothersome. It's just a few hundred meters out by the time we actually spot it.

Continuing at 3 knots, we order the boat as deep as we can go, about 40 meters. The thrumming sound of screws gets louder and louder. The entire boat listens in silence as the trawler passes over us, just mere meters from the bridge.

A sigh of relief as it passes. "Wasserbombe!" Heads bow down in dissappointment. A sailor or two even have a slightly panicked look.

The depthcharges explode harmlessly of our port bow, just rattling some of the cutlery in the cupboards. They probably don't even know we're here, just trying to scare us out of the water.

Hydrophone reports the trawler turning around, but then passing behind us. The destroyer is keeping station around the area where we dived earlier. Deciding that following a task force isn't the best idea, we turned west and prepared to head north when we cleared the ships searching for us sufficiently.

The next hour the trawler and destoyer continued circling behind us, sometimes passing in front of us as they expanded their search area, luckily without ever detecting us.
With the ships 2km behind us, we increased to 5 knots and headed north.

We continued up north along the english coast, encountering another small merchant. This time the weather was too rough to use the deck gun. The merchant was already rolling quite violently in the waves, so a single torpedo to the middle helped knocking it over. It promptly capsized and went down. The crew didn't even radio in.

As we reached the entrance to Scapa Flow, the amount of warship contacts on the Hydrophone increased.

Hours later, a lone V&W Destroyer loitered past us at a respectable 10 knots, just a mere 600 meter. With us being in a perfect firing position, we couldn't let him go.

A two spread torpedo attack with the 'fast' setting ended the career of this Destroyer real fast. We couldn't help but wonder if it was the Destroyer we ...practiced... with just months ago.


Rounding the tip of the British islands, we found a large merchant struggling in the waves at around 04:00 on Sept 5th. We got up to 600 meters before starting our attack run. We tried to manually aim the torpedos, which including duds ended up in us using 5 torpedos, including our stern tube to sink her. A very expensive boat.

With out supply of torpedos expended, and not much improvement in weather for 2 days, we headed back to base.

((PATROL RESULTS WILL FOLLOW, once I'm home!)

[Aktungbby]

Kip336! after a two year silent run!

[Kaptlt.Endrass]

Back in the saddle (or on the deck?) after a long time, started a new career, and here's what I got so far.

First off, patrolling grid AN16 off of Scapa Flow in early 1940. I just received my new U-boat, a Type VIIC that, for some unknown reason, retains the title of U-1, my Type IIA.

Anyhow, we finish our mission, having only sunk a Coastal Merchant and a C3 cargo. I decide to go take a stab at the harbor defenses. As we approach on the surface (it's about 0000 hours), we spot a V&W class coming up on our port side. We dive, he passes, and we eventually resurface. Later, we run by a C&D destroyer, who just so happens to pass into our stern firing arc.

Well, I think every destroyer captain in Scapa was having none of that. But I never was pinged once. I took out all of the destroyers as they began to leave only minutes after arriving on scene, then snuck into Scapa, unsure of more defenders, only to find it completely empty.


More recently, I had a monster patrol. Now based out of St. Nazaire as part of the 7th Flotilla, we were given orders for AM14, north of the Rockall Banks. It is mid-'41, right there in the Happy Time.

Boy was I happy. Ran into 5 large lone merchants, all of whom were put under with either surface action or torpedoes. Then, as we moved our reserves in as we passed the southern tip of Ireland, we ran into a convoy, no warning.

Having no torpedoes in the tubes and only 89 rounds of 8.8cm HE left really could not be more inconvenient. This convoy was MASSIVE, easily 10 ships by 6 rows, only guarded by an ASW trawler, which we sank with gunfire (risky, but worth it).

Promptly picking the largest targets we could find (a T3 and an intermediate tanker), we matched our speed with the convoy, reported it, and opened fire as every hand we could spare reloaded the tubes. The gramophone was playing Westerwaldlied (one of my favorites) and we finally managed to sink our targets and damage a couple others with the Flakzwilling.

Came out of that one with over 53000 tons of shipping sunk, 2 Iron Cross Second Classes, one First Class, 10 U-boat Front Clasps, 2 U-boat War Badges, a promotion, and for me, a promotion to Lt. Sr.

And my love was rekindled.

[Zosimus]

That's what BdU meant when it said, "Be more aggressive."

[UKönig]

December, 1944
The rickety old U-73, the Bull of Scapa flow emblems on the conning tower, with us since 1940, are now fading away because of the length of time we are forced to spend submerged, reliant on the snorkel, has been finally kicked out of its berth at Saint Nazaire. Our changing military fortunes and a certain dockside reputation, that, in many societies would be considered "negative" (looking at you, 2 Watch Officer!), got us "reassigned" a new port of call. Henceforth, we are to operate with the 11th Fleet out of Bergen, Norway, and we'll let the French take their stinky port back. We left them a little going away present anyway...

So now we operate from Norway. I love Norway. I've always wanted to go, but as a civilian, I never had time for it. Now we pretty much live here. The locals are ...tolerant, but, they have a slightly different regard for us than the French ever did.

Our patrol was to take us into the convoy lanes just south of Iceland. The NORTH North Atlantic. Never really did like that area. Too cold. I never envied the Captains that operated on convoys through spitzbergen island, either, *shudders*. Anyway, we had a spate of good weather, and being the pirate that I am, stayed on the surface. With all the radar/electronics our lagging industry could provide, going full choke. The only things we lacked were flashing lights or siren sounds, although there was the typhon horn...

The First Watch Officer was on duty that day, I was on the bridge with him, leaning against the bulwark, looking aft at my AA crew (we won't make *that* mistake again!), casually having a smoke (because I could) when my reverie was shattered by the radar operator calling out a contact. Seems our little fuzz-buster started chirping, and it got him all a flutter. Had to share it. Radar warning huh, I thought, and passed the order to fire on all targets. The 1WO, instantly searching the skies. I checked the time, 05:30. Pretty nice sun rise all else aside. Nothing? No, still nothing. Does anybody hear anything? "What?, asks the Exec, "over the sound of the diesels?"
"Nevermind"
Down below, a shift change was in progress. I have arranged aboard my boat, that the aft quarters is not for the Petty Officers alone, but for the engine room crew, of all ranks. The higher ranks getting, of course, the best lodging first. I want them closer to their duty station, in case of emergency. They also act as the damage control party, because they know best the reason and meaning behind most, if not all of the pipes, handles, valves, and wheels on this tub. And lately, they've been getting many chances to ply their knowledge...
The cook has just finished serving up breakfast to the on going engine room watch, and the stewards are to soon serve the retiring watch, so that there will be less need to fuss between compartments when everyone is ready to eat. Unfortunately, it is also being served in the bow compartment to the retired watch in their respective areas. The Officers and I have already been taken care of, which is why I am on the bridge now, having a smoke. The kid really needs to learn how to cook Navy Eggs (I shudder again).
Five minutes goes by, nothing. Then suddenly, there they are! Four Sunderlands, incoming. Aft. At speeds that long lost lovers suddenly reunited could only dream of. Pfft, I think. Sunderlands. We've dealt with them before. Very well, I might add. I send the Watch Officer below and direct the gunners myself. The first one gets into range and the AA team earns their pay. Scratch one. A hail of incoming fire makes me change my mind a moment later and I yell out "Alarm!!!"
Bells...Bells for breakfast. Not a good combination. I turn and head for the hatch when a massive explosion rocks the boat.
The blast forces the boat down at an even steeper angle, spilling all the coffee, tea, plates, crew, into one big pile. Yeah, breakfast time really isn't the best one for the alarm bell.
When I awoke, I found I was lying on the deckplates in the control room. Oh, nobody get the Captain a pillow or blanket or anything...jerks.
I also found we are down at 70 meters...barely. The explosion that forced me bodily into the hull had also killed my AA team, and destroyed everything on the tower, and our 88!
It was right around then that I called a meeting of the crew and told them that I was never actually trained as a U-boat captain. That I got my commission because of a few favors owed to my father, from members of the government, whom shall remain nameless -you know who you are!
The only way I was able to prevent a mutiny was to remind the crew of what their uniforms looked like back at the base. You know, the ones the ladies can't seem to keep their hands off of? You guys never did thank me for that. What's a mistake or two? I see the crew nodding their heads in agreement, looking at each other, with smiles on their bearded faces, as they picture themselves in full kit, with women pawing at them - yes, these women got paid still, but, who cares, anyway. It worked. A round or two from the "secret stash" helped heal some bruised egos as well.
I ask for a damage and then an inventory report. The damage is serious. There is a pretty big leak in the galley. The cook has to empty a bucket of water into the diesel bilge once an hour as part of his regular duties now. And the leak is under some pressure, so it doesn't always spray out in a stream, and frequently splashes him in the face. I smile with justice when I think of it and his "cooking" even now.
The radio is totally destroyed as well, which is good, because it saves me the trouble.
"How many torpedoes do we have on board?"
The answer is swift. "All of them, Sir"
"What?"
"All of them..? Sir? ..."All the torpedoes are still on board"
"Ok. Look. Here's what we're gonna do. I'm just gonna 'forget' this little incident, and I will edit the war log to reflect something a little more noble." I order the weapons officer to fire off a few torpedoes, as evidence backing the story I am concocting, and retire to my bunk to come up with something half ways believable. When I am happy with my drafts, and accepting inputs from the crew so to ensure their complicity with the plot, (the captain may go down with the ship, but I won't go alone!), I end our patrol and return us to base. Oh well, we will be back for Christmas now, a lot of the crew were griping about that. It's pretty important to Germans, although I never held much interest. But, like a lot of other things, traditions last, last even longer than ships. In any case I'm telling the crew that we will get a better boat as a present for the new year. For surely they would just junk this thing. Why repair it? Right?

[sublynx]

the 24th of December, 1942. 1110 hours.

Radio message from U 413: = Convoy BE2958 230°T 10 knots =