Namkwan Harbor January 1945

[Bubblehead1980]

My 6th war patrol in Drum was off China coast. As part of my upgrade to RSRD I placed the convoys attacked by USS Barb in Namkwan Harbor on 1/22-1/23 1945 in historical position as well as the patrols guarding the area. Added minefields as well and fleet of sampans to dodge as Barb had to do on this fantastic raid.I decided to check it out and see how things played in the sim.


So on January 22, 1945 I went basically same roue Barb did, having to dodge a subchaser around Incog Island and after moving in found harbor with nearly 30 merchants, tankers, and troopships in 3 nice columns, anchored. Closed to 3000 yards and fired my last four bow torpedoes, then turned and fired my final four stern torpedoes. All hit, sunk a large tanker, and an obvious ammo ship, massive explosions plus another merchant. Hauled out at flank speed, some shell splashes from anchored escorts guarding convoy. One frigate on patrol detected me on his radar and was chasing me as I went the same path out as Barb did. Soon the escort near Incog was coming around and had two after me. Utilizing the "Ahead emergency" special ability officer(Barb did tie down the governors on her engines to get away at 23 knots(!). I was making 22, nearly 23 knots after activating his guy, which helped me get away from the two radar escorts pursuing me. While I raced away trying to get to deeper waters could dive in before the dawn air patrols arrived in the area, two radar equipped escorts(I did not add these to namkwan, must be a patrol group diverted to area when alerted of attack) were on radar and in perfect position to intercept us. Their radar was painting our broadsides when we detected them and thus they picked up Drum with ease, at one point they closed to 8,000 yards but never could close distance due to our speed advantage.Finally around 0630 they gave up.Made it to waters could dive in(130 feet lol) just about the time the first air patrol was on the SD radar.Docked at Saipan, with the light cruiser and two merchants previously sunk in days before this raid, not a bad patrol at all.

Few screenshots from the Namkwan raid.

[Rockin Robbins]

Whoa! Well done!

[propbeanie]

We've gotta help him along all we can RR, and have him get his mix out to the general public too! Cool beans again, Bubblehead1980 You sure do like dark nights, dontcha?

[Bubblehead1980]

Originally Posted by propbeanie

We've gotta help him along all we can RR, and have him get his mix out to the general public too! Cool beans again, Bubblehead1980 You sure do like dark nights, dontcha?

Thanks. Lol yes, those nights are not quite dark enough though, it's in progress.I'm finished with 1944 traffic for most part, working and testing 1945 now, thinking I will release them together then move onto 43, 42, and 41 when finished. Major thing have to get working in 45 is the AA guns or at least the forward one functioning as a deck gun or if can get them to target both, even better. Trying to figure it out lol.