Single Handedly Won the Battle of Midway??

[lukterran]

So I just finished a couple of interesting patrols.

But basically, during patrol 1 I raced down to the Coral Sea to try and take part in that battle and came up with nothing really because I spent all my fuel trying to find the TF all the planes where coming from and never tracked them down.

So refuel in Aussie land and headed up to the Gilbert Islands to complete mission to patrol there for X number of days.

Anyways while I was down in Giberts got a flash radio message informing the USS drum that the IJN was steaming toward Midway. So as any good Captain would do I drew a ling from Tokyo to Midway and headed due north to try and intercept.

About 400miles WSW of Midway Island I ran into a TF burning NE at 17kts. The TF had 1 Kongo Battleship, 1 Shokaku Carrier and 2 Ise Battleships all in a perfect line.

Because of there high speeds and bad attack angle I found myself I couldn't get in close enough for a good shot. So I had to run the surface at Flank speed to get into position. I found my sub in a either really good or bad position right in the middle of the TF as it over took me initially. Caught right in the between the Escorts and the BBs and just outside of visual range of the all ships.

So for about 40 miles I slow worked my way further and further ahead until a DD sighted me and I had to submerge. It ended up being really lucky however. As it full speed towards my last position and I angled for a kill shot at 700 yards and blew it out of the water. It being the only DD in range. I surfaced and continued on trying to catch the rest of the fleet at flank speed.

But what that kill of the DD did was send ever other escort (less two) heading towards the location of that ship while my sub and the BBs and Carrier headed north. Without Escorts to deal with I was able to continue on for the next 140 miles and finally get directly ahead and out of sight of the convoy and into attack position.

Lining up on the same path with the TF I submerged and prepped for my aft shots.

After number of minutes watching the Kongo zig zag along is path I calculated the best time and angle to shot from just under 2300 yards out firing all 4 aft torps. 3 Hits and one miss. All in the screws. It didn't go down but it was enough to send stop it nearly in it tracks.

Since the only 2 escorts where out of range far ahead of my position I keep things noisy and allowed the crew to reload as I turned the ship 180 degrees toward the carrier heading along the same path.

Again fired 4 torps at the carrier about 2000 yards out. Beautiful shots that hit all along its hull as it turned into the path of the torps. It went down fast.

A few more minutes later my sub was beyond the Kongo and lined up for another aft shot as it lay nearly dead in the water listing to one side. Hit and fires but still not sinking.

So the last two Ise Battleships. Where out of range and heading directly east and west away from my sub at full speed and didn't have a chance at catching them. So I drop my scope and waited for the crew to reload for another torp to finish off the Kongo.

Still DDs just now were getting into visual range.

Then all the sudden I noticed that a warship was heading at my sub at high speed on the sonar so I raised periscope and low and behold the lead Ise was only 3000 away and heading back towards my sub position.

Had 4 forward torps loaded and lined up the shot. Fired first torp and watched to see which way it turned to avoid shot. Then lined up the other 3 shots and fired. Missed the first but hit with the other 3 at close range.

By that time aft torp was loaded and sent the final killing blow into the Kongo. So now killed Kongo and Shokaku all within 3000 yard of each other and have a wounded Ise just less than 1500 away from sub.

the rest of the escorts are still hundreds of miles away and I only have two escorts that are still at over 9000 in the area to worry about.

Submerge and hang out near the wounded battleship traveling at 2/3 slow speed, keeping the battleship between my sub and the 2 escorts. As soon as I have two my fish ready to fire. I raise scope and take the last two shots. Both hook shots at very close range right in the side the Ise. She goes down like a rock.

The last battleship is out of range and I torps are low. So I head due east towards home silent and deep. Escorts never even got close before I was gone.

So with already 2 BBs and 1 Carrier. I felt really good about myself. I helped the boys out.

Nope that isn't the end. Went to port and got another assignment to head to Honshu. So as usually I flank speed up toward Midway and refuel there. And headed due west towards Honshu.

Well wouldn't you know it only July 3rd I run into another IJN TF that looks nearly identical to the first one I took down just 400 miles due west of Midway and heading straight at the island.

I use similar tactics racing beside group, getting attention of one escort, submerged and torping it at close range and getting all the other escorts to hunt me. Then running flank speed on surface to get ahead of BB. Lining up rear shot on Kongo and then turn about and firing on Carrier and catching first Ise battleship as well. Both Ise and Kongo are wounded and carrier when down fast. As fish are loaded by the crew I fire at wounded ships that are only traveling about 10kts now. Eventually sinking both before last 2 escorts arrive. I go deep and am long gone from the area.

So basically my little Gato just sunk 4 Battleships and 2 Carriers. I am kind of disappointed OTC does give the Medal of Honor. Because I kind of feel like the crew deserves for ending IJN fleets efforts at Midway.

BTW - I only play with OTC mod and at full realism (expect I keep scope stabilized and event camera turned on. I like to watch the ships go down and torps hit)

[Holyfirebomb_7]

Wow, that's impressive. Just out of curiosity, how many tonnes did you sink on that patrol? I'd bet you got the 100,000 to make you an ace off of that one patrol.

[lukterran]

Originally Posted by Holyfirebomb_7

Wow, that's impressive. Just out of curiosity, how many tonnes did you sink on that patrol? I'd bet you got the 100,000 to make you an ace off of that one patrol.

Over 91k+ in tonnage.

I really don't understand the game behavior on those patrols. Also with the generation of nearly identical TF composition. The escorts to me where spaced very far away from the ships they were assigned to protect in my opinion. Outside of visual range of each other.

It was the only reason why I was able to torp one Destroyer and then surface and get away without being in range of any other ships guns (or eyes).

Also the way the Battleships and Carriers continued on course at high speeds regardless of other actions on an dogged and stubborn resolve to get to where ever they were headed at full speed was completely unrealistic in my opinion.

It seemed that once attacked they should have changed course or something but the course change the group took, was only about a 2 degree difference (when you remove the zig zag evasive pattern) from the line I plotted.

Also the escorts and the rest of the fleet not sticking together is one of the main reasons the attacks were possible for that amount of time.

I have had more difficultly killing a merchant convoy and avoiding their escorts than dealing with these TFs.

Also on the first group the Ise Battleship turning back around and headed to where the Kongo and the Shokaku where attacked was also very strange. Both those Battleships where well outside firing ranges and traveling at speed a sub never would have been able to catch up to them submerged.

Lastly, having the luxury of Midway Island being only 400 miles away made me not fear for running low on fuel and able to keep the sustained Flank speed up long enough to get ahead of the group.

[CapnScurvy]

So basically my little Gato just sunk 4 Battleships and 2 Carriers. I am kind of disappointed OTC does (not) give the Medal of Honor. Because I kind of feel like the crew deserves (one) for ending IJN fleets efforts at Midway.

Just wondering. That's in two different sightings days apart right?

What was your award when you returned to base?

Did you get credit for all sinking's?

OTC uses the stock game for its dynamic missions. For instance, seeing a ship like the Yamato several times during a campaign is the norm....pretty much all mods have this. After all, if you sink all historical ships, what's left to play? Want a harder game, try adding "OTC_Tokko's Revenge" to your mod list.