How no battery charge got me killed

Armistead · 07-09-10, 11:21 PM

I had just used my battery up during an attack and got a flash message of 5 large convoys coming through Formosa. I figured at flank speed I may get there in time to attack. I ran flank, but constant dang planes kept me under water, I kept my speed flank while submerged because of time. I got on station in time and figured I could charge up, but got contacts right away. I did have about 50% charge.

As I got within radar range, they either picked me up on radar or homed in on mine, so I kept it off mostly. DD's would come charging fast from 8 miles chasing me and often driving me down, so I wasted more battery. I finally had to use flank submerged to get in attack position, but at least 3 escorts were gone from the flank.

Here comes the convoy, I want the tankers and the escort carrier ASW.

I do my usual attack, I run the center parallel of two lines of ships. I usually shoot at four targets at the same time, two left and two right using bow and sterns. I take out the two tankers and another merchant and save my remaining bow torps for the escort carrier coming.

I down the throat the carrier.

The carrier eventually went over me and later sunk. I take out another merchant with the sterns and with last torp hit another merchant stopping it on the water. So first pass, two tankers, carrier, merchant sunk with one dead on the water, so four sunk, one I will sink later.

Then the Type A's with those many Y guns attack. I'm in 450 ft of water, but battery is gone. I can't get enough speed to outrun the large pattern they throw.

The damage was not what I needed, batteries almost gone, bulkheads. No speed and critical flooding I head for the bottom.

I basically have to sit on the bottom taking mild damage as I rub ground. Slowly repairs are made. I get some charge back, but can't come up using P depth.. I blow tanks when the escorts are far away to come up. I do this a few times to stop the damage from the bottom. This goes on several times until compressed air becomes a problem. I can't hide under the stopped merchant I torped, but it sort of blocks runs.

Finally damage gets 52%, but things are getting fixed. I blow tanks and slowly rise with aft comps. still flooded. Before I break water I have to kill speed. As I head for the bottom at 11 kts, I hit flank and try blowing tanks to stop the aft dive. I still hit bottom at 7kts which did me in.

Shoud've tracked longer and charged those batteries.

rein1705 · 07-10-10, 01:57 AM

patience... you got greedy. happens to me more than i like to admit.

TabbyHunter · 07-10-10, 03:06 AM

Tobad you didnt have a nuclear reactor, huh?

Armistead · 07-10-10, 03:39 AM

Went back to my base save and back to Formosa. The convoys are coming through in mass. Better this time, storms and heavy seas the first convoy, but no rain...massacre. Found the second heavy, 4 merchants with 12 DD's, but in a squall, so this will be fun. I went in for surface sonar attack and to use the deckgun, but several of the DD's with radar chasing me in the storm..

Have to finish this one tomorrow, in a big minefield.........

Sailor Steve · 07-10-10, 08:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rein1705

patience... you got greedy. happens to me more than i like to admit.

It wasn't low battery that killed you, it was target fixation.

"Base save"? No DiD, eh?

WernherVonTrapp · 07-10-10, 10:24 AM

All I can say buddy, is that you're a much more daring Skipper than I am.

McHibbins · 07-10-10, 10:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Armistead

Went back to my base save and back to Formosa..........

Bah....

DEAD IS DEAD

Bubblehead1980 · 07-10-10, 06:22 PM

Ah Arm got a little greedy, it happens.My policy is to wait to attack and recharge if battery is 75 or less, of course sometimes this isnt possible and I take a calculated risk....factor things such as sea state, depth, below keel etc .Sucks but lesson learned right?

green_abobo · 07-10-10, 07:22 PM

bummer.

i wouldn't even think of going after a convoy with escorts if my batteries are less than 50%. you never know how long it's gonna be before you get another chance at recharging them after evading the escorts,and that's the bottom line.

don't know what mod(s) you are using, but in most, along with stock, you can recharge batteries, surfaced,all stopped,preferably at night. it's not too bad if you use time compression, and certainly saves on your diesel reserves.

this may not be 100% historically accurate. i'm pretty sure they had to be running diesels at some speed, surfaced, to recharge them. uboats had snorkels later in the war for this purpose, along with restoring their O2 supply.

i think that's what they did anyway.

Armistead · 07-10-10, 09:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bubblehead1980

Ah Arm got a little greedy, it happens.My policy is to wait to attack and recharge if battery is 75 or less, of course sometimes this isnt possible and I take a calculated risk....factor things such as sea state, depth, below keel etc .Sucks but lesson learned right?

Well, had the choice of attacking in deep water then or do an end around and nothing but shallow water the rest of the way. They really run the coast towards the end of the war, so I chose to attack in deep water.

Those Type AB's are just mean. If you watch them they'll dump one load and then another a good ways in front of you. You really need flank speed to get from under them if you can't get deep. Course he got a good lucky hit....

I should've escaped, dumb of me to let my sub hit bottom at such high speed.

Course I used my base save and got sweet revenge. Just too close to the end of the war to start over.

rein1705 · 07-10-10, 09:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by green_abobo

bummer.
this may not be 100% historically accurate. i'm pretty sure they had to be running diesels at some speed, surfaced, to recharge them. uboats had snorkels later in the war for this purpose, along with restoring their O2 supply.

i think that's what they did anyway.

True. The later Fleet boats had 4 Diesel engines 2 to run surface speed while 2 ran max rpm to charge but you could kill 2 engines and sit while the other 2 run up the generators.

07-09-10, 11:21 PM	#1
Armistead Rear Admiral Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: on the Dan Posts: 10,864 Downloads: 364 Uploads: 0	How no battery charge got me killed I had just used my battery up during an attack and got a flash message of 5 large convoys coming through Formosa. I figured at flank speed I may get there in time to attack. I ran flank, but constant dang planes kept me under water, I kept my speed flank while submerged because of time. I got on station in time and figured I could charge up, but got contacts right away. I did have about 50% charge. As I got within radar range, they either picked me up on radar or homed in on mine, so I kept it off mostly. DD's would come charging fast from 8 miles chasing me and often driving me down, so I wasted more battery. I finally had to use flank submerged to get in attack position, but at least 3 escorts were gone from the flank. Here comes the convoy, I want the tankers and the escort carrier ASW. I do my usual attack, I run the center parallel of two lines of ships. I usually shoot at four targets at the same time, two left and two right using bow and sterns. I take out the two tankers and another merchant and save my remaining bow torps for the escort carrier coming. I down the throat the carrier. The carrier eventually went over me and later sunk. I take out another merchant with the sterns and with last torp hit another merchant stopping it on the water. So first pass, two tankers, carrier, merchant sunk with one dead on the water, so four sunk, one I will sink later. Then the Type A's with those many Y guns attack. I'm in 450 ft of water, but battery is gone. I can't get enough speed to outrun the large pattern they throw. The damage was not what I needed, batteries almost gone, bulkheads. No speed and critical flooding I head for the bottom. I basically have to sit on the bottom taking mild damage as I rub ground. Slowly repairs are made. I get some charge back, but can't come up using P depth.. I blow tanks when the escorts are far away to come up. I do this a few times to stop the damage from the bottom. This goes on several times until compressed air becomes a problem. I can't hide under the stopped merchant I torped, but it sort of blocks runs. Finally damage gets 52%, but things are getting fixed. I blow tanks and slowly rise with aft comps. still flooded. Before I break water I have to kill speed. As I head for the bottom at 11 kts, I hit flank and try blowing tanks to stop the aft dive. I still hit bottom at 7kts which did me in. Shoud've tracked longer and charged those batteries. Last edited by Armistead; 07-09-10 at 11:37 PM.

07-10-10, 01:57 AM	#2
rein1705 Samurai Navy Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: somewhere in the Past. Posts: 582 Downloads: 541 Uploads: 0	patience... you got greedy. happens to me more than i like to admit. __________________ "Diesel Pig" Not so long ago...

07-10-10, 10:24 AM	#6
WernherVonTrapp Admiral Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Now, alot farther from NYC. Posts: 2,228 Downloads: 105 Uploads: 0	All I can say buddy, is that you're a much more daring Skipper than I am. __________________ "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." -Miyamoto Musashi ------------------------------------------------------- "What is truth?" -Pontius Pilate

07-10-10, 07:22 PM	#9
green_abobo Sparky Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: running silent 700 meters off your starboard bow.. Posts: 151 Downloads: 50 Uploads: 0	bummer. i wouldn't even think of going after a convoy with escorts if my batteries are less than 50%. you never know how long it's gonna be before you get another chance at recharging them after evading the escorts,and that's the bottom line. don't know what mod(s) you are using, but in most, along with stock, you can recharge batteries, surfaced,all stopped,preferably at night. it's not too bad if you use time compression, and certainly saves on your diesel reserves. this may not be 100% historically accurate. i'm pretty sure they had to be running diesels at some speed, surfaced, to recharge them. uboats had snorkels later in the war for this purpose, along with restoring their O2 supply. i think that's what they did anyway. __________________

07-10-10, 03:06 AM	#3
TabbyHunter Ensign Join Date: May 2010 Location: Pandora. Not the blue cat people Pandora... Posts: 227 Downloads: 52 Uploads: 0	Tobad you didnt have a nuclear reactor, huh?

07-10-10, 03:39 AM	#4
Armistead Rear Admiral Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: on the Dan Posts: 10,864 Downloads: 364 Uploads: 0	Went back to my base save and back to Formosa. The convoys are coming through in mass. Better this time, storms and heavy seas the first convoy, but no rain...massacre. Found the second heavy, 4 merchants with 12 DD's, but in a squall, so this will be fun. I went in for surface sonar attack and to use the deckgun, but several of the DD's with radar chasing me in the storm.. Have to finish this one tomorrow, in a big minefield.........

07-10-10, 06:22 PM	#8
Bubblehead1980 Navy Seal Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Florida USA Posts: 6,922 Downloads: 550 Uploads: 42	Ah Arm got a little greedy, it happens.My policy is to wait to attack and recharge if battery is 75 or less, of course sometimes this isnt possible and I take a calculated risk....factor things such as sea state, depth, below keel etc .Sucks but lesson learned right?