Tanker in Strange Area

[bill clarke]

I was sailing out of Cavete bay on my third mission when I picked up a contact.

Headed for it and to my astonishment it was a modern 10,000 ton tanker with no escorts !

It was headed on a se course too wich would have meant it would have passed by the entrance to the bay.

Strange indeed, suffice to say two fish and 4 HE shells ended it's voyage.

[Loudspeaker]

This is precisely the moment, where a screen cap would have been highly appreciated.

Maybe you have installed a mod a then forgot about it?

[bill clarke]

Oh forgot to mention RSRD campain, though it's still strange

[Bubblehead1980]

Originally Posted by bill clarke

I was sailing out of Cavete bay on my third mission when I picked up a contact.

Headed for it and to my astonishment it was a modern 10,000 ton tanker with no escorts !

It was headed on a se course too wich would have meant it would have passed by the entrance to the bay.

Strange indeed, suffice to say two fish and 4 HE shells ended it's voyage.

Date? early war it was not strange to see ships like that unescorted, Japanese did not anticipate unrestricted submarine warfare, in fact it took them quite a while for convoys to become a common thing.mid to late 43 to the end, it was not a normal thing for big valuable merchants and tankers to be riding without escort intentionally.Unfortunately, in the game this still happens occasionally.This bothered me so in later war I went and eliminated all singles without escorts by deleted some and just adding an escort to two to a few of them.Little more realistic than a big tanker sailing alone in 1944 lol.

[USS Drum]

3 times in TMO I found THREE ships(European liner, modern passenger ships and small liner) coming out of Singapore UNESCORTED.

[bill clarke]

Apologies for the lack of info guys,
Dec 23 1941 03:29
Long 120 13' E Lat 14 23' N
LGE Modern Tanker
10024 Tons

[Dread Knot]

Originally Posted by bill clarke

Apologies for the lack of info guys,
Dec 23 1941 03:29
Long 120 13' E Lat 14 23' N
LGE Modern Tanker
10024 Tons

Does seem a bit odd. I guess you could rationalize that it was on it's way to the oil-rich nation of Brunei which had fallen to the Japanese a few days earlier. However, to sail a valuable tanker through the front lines so close to a known submarine (and PT boat) base without escort does seem foolhardy. Clark airfield on Luzon was still in operation too. Plus, there wasn't much oil to be had at Brunei. the British had done a pretty good job of wrecking the wells and docks. By the time of the 1945 surrender, the Japanese had only brought oil output back to half of pre-War production.

[Bubblehead1980]

Originally Posted by Dread Knot

Does seem a bit odd. I guess you could rationalize that it was on it's way to the oil-rich nation of Brunei which had fallen to the Japanese a few days earlier. However, to sail a valuable tanker through the front lines so close to a known submarine (and PT boat) base without escort does seem foolhardy. Clark airfield on Luzon was still in operation too. Plus, there wasn't much oil to be had at Brunei. the British had done a pretty good job of wrecking the wells and docks. By the time of the 1945 surrender, the Japanese had only brought oil output back to half of pre-War production.

Would not surprise me, Japanese did not run many convoys or have an organized escort force in 41/42.A high speed modern tanker would prob be on it's own if an escort was not an option.