A very risky harbor raid in GWX 3.0

[FrankTheTank586]

It's Mid-1943, and I am in the same old rust bucket, but very capable and reliable, Type VIIB that I've been in command of since the first months of the war.

I recently decided to sail all the way across the Atlantic and hit some shipping (and harbors, of course) along the U.S. coast.

Sailed over and made my way into New York harbor, where my first target awaited me: a 28,000 ton Nevada class battleship.

Ended up being sunk, of course. My tally also counted a pair of Ceramic type ocean liners, an ore carrier, and a pair of tankers, a modern and a large one.

All in all, they totaled up to about 94,000 tons. Not bad, even for a harbor raid.

Well, I started making my way out when my sonar picked up a small convoy with an ASW trawler and a coastal freighter. I had one torpedo left so I figured, "why not?" I thought I should save the torpedo, but, against my better judgment, I sank the freighter with my last fish, still going ahead slow with silent running. The trawler had no clue where I was. That is, until, a destroyer escort arrived on scene…

This is where things got bad real quick. I had hoped he wouldn't pick me up on sonar. But of course, in shallow water in a calm sea, what else would happen?

He picked me up and immediately began attacking me. It wasn't long before that ASW trawler joined in the hunt.

So here I am, right off the US coast, with no torpedoes and getting pinged by a DE while being listened to by a trawler. Uh oh.

I was not about to lose everything I had just destroyed, so I did what any captain would do: evasive maneuvers to try and escape. They managed to smash off my periscopes (Not that it mattered), but I just kept twisting and turning and praying that somehow I'd get out of this.

Things went from bad to worse when airplanes started flying overhead. When that happened, I really never thought I'd escape. Oddly though, the trawler kept doing dummy runs even after he ran out of depth charges.

Then, a miracle happened.

I don't know what caused this, but all of a sudden, the destroyer escort just went up in an explosion. I can only assume the aircraft accidentally bombed their own forces (or maybe some lame brained sailor was smoking near the ash cans!), but I didn't care. The second that happened, I went silent and crept away. Got back to Lorient without any further trouble.

Thoughts?

[ozzysoldier]

a mine that's what probably killed your destroyer friend

[Hambone307]

A mine would definitely be plausible... Nothing raises the "pucker factor" more than when I raise periscope to check for sub nets and end up in the middle of a minefield...

[banryu79]

Originally Posted by Hambone307

Nothing raises the "pucker factor" more than when I raise periscope to check for sub nets and end up in the middle of a minefield...

Wow that's really a bad bad nightmare...

[Kaptlt.Endrass]

Little hint, anyone who has balls of steel and good luck. Western side of Scapa Flow, northernmost channel. Usually, I get a patrolling Elco and V&W class only. Slip past them and surface when you feel safe. From there stay north and DO NOT DIVE. The area is mined, but the mines are spread out and too deep when you have calm waters. From there, wait until you're 200 meters in and dive, then commence raid.

NOTE: Advised for night ops only.