Capital ships

[Damo1977]

In all my careers all I have seen is a Dido and Fuji class together. They were steaming away, are they as rare as hens teeth (capital ships)? or am I looking in the wrong places. The biggest flag has been a destroyer for me.........

[Duncan Idaho]

Originally Posted by Damo1977

In all my careers all I have seen is a Dido and Fuji class together. They were steaming away, are they as rare as hens teeth (capital ships)? or am I looking in the wrong places. The biggest flag has been a destroyer for me.........

I've seen a few task forces so far, (in 3 careers). One can be found passing roughly in the center of the English Channel between France and England, it steams fast through there every week or so it seems, and has at least 1 KJV battleship I believe, as well as a handful or so of escorts. Again, make sure you're well into the center of the channel though, they don't go near either shore. I've noted it passing there two times. I want that battleship, but haven't had the patience to sit there waiting for them to pass by. (Especially with all the Convoy's running in the channel just south of Portland).

The other I ran into was up near Scapa Flow, (to the northeast), and was similar in composition. It probably comes by every so often, but that one I've only ever seen once.

[jasonb885]

No, they are rare.

In two months of playing I received my first task force contact report last week. I wasn't sure they were ever actually reported. Needless to say, I missed the intercept.

You can find capital ships at anchor at various times at Loch Ewe and Scapa Flow. In SH3 v1.4b, the harbor defenses have been increased. It's no longer a joke to sneak in and sink a battleship, carrier, or light cruiser.

You will find merchant ships in some harbors as well in v1.4b, although it's rarely worth the trouble. Single ships and convoys are far easier to attack.

The best way to nail a task force is to head down to just west of Gibraltar and patrol in the deeps 50 km outside the channel. Submerge frequently and listen. Eventually (within two weeks) you'll receive multiple warship contacts. If you listen manually and hear many ships, that's a task force. It will be moving at 21 kts either nearly due east or due west. Listen to see which way it's headed, then move quickly to intercept.

Good luck.

[gws226]

I've had 2 task force encounters in 2 careers.

1. Was a dido and fiji moving into the atlantic by cape town. (early 44)

2. Was a Illustrious and revenge battelship.... they came out of no-where. High seas, heavy rain/ fog. early 40

I was listening on the hydrophone and told myself WTH is that? Just a mess of noise that I couldn't decifer. They were moving in a column directly @ me, and it sure didn't sound like a couple of destroyers.

gotta say it was probably the luckiest encounter ever for me. by the time I got myself together they were already ontop of me, A quick hard to port, and fire a 4 shot spread into the fog @500 meters...

I tried watching the explosions and sinking with the external camera..... but i couldn't see a thing and my fps dropped to 1.

both encounters the speeds really threw me off, they're making 21 knots and you really have to play waaay farther in advance otherwise you'll find that your torps are chasing after the target instead of running towards it.

[The_Pharoah]

I was playing last night and found a convoy in the AM grid (my fav). Right in the middle of a huge convoy is this Dido cruiser! hmm...interesting. Bah, I didn't have any torps left anyway (I put 3 torps in to a C3 which kept sailing at 4kts even though it was on fire - I didn't get nothing for it).

[Damo1977]

I have been playing with patch 1.4 (u know the latest one) RUB1.42.......and been into scapa flow (between 39 and early 41) and never seen a ship bigger the a DD or maybe me looking in wrong area. I head towards the little town than go anti clockwise....... and alas never a ship bigger than a dd......... same as Loch ewe (been in there once) and there were a squadron of dd......... never alas a big stinking capital ship

[DedEye]

I'm on my 4th career and have seen 2 prior task forces, both were early war.

Yesterday, I was assigned to patrol AN26 during May/ July 1940. I got a merchant contact report and was heading to it when suddenly a task force appeared. Total fluke I was in excellent firing position and sank a Rodney class BB. A first for me

[Nopileo]

In lots and lots of patrols (probably about 100) I've seen 2 or 3 task forces. The latest (outside Freetown in June '44) was a squadron of 3 DDs...

Earlier I used to cheat and look at those lists of where the BBs etc. are located in Scapa Flow and Loch Ewe, but that got quite boring after a while. All too easy.

Btw. I encountered a large convoy recently, and among the ships was an auxilliary cruiser. It is no more...

[Evil Duckie]

Capital ships are rare. There were only 2 Nelsons, 4 KGV's afloat max and so on.

How is the game on the dates on which ships enter service? I've encountered a C-class destroyer in 1940, even though they didn't enter service until 1944

Only task force I've seen so far (14 patrols) was a friendly one, on my recent patrols out of Brest, I usually run into a Bismarck battleship with one or two destroyers west of Brest. Once caught them in the middle of an air attack, helped them by downing a Swordfish.

[sergbuto]

Originally Posted by Evil Duckie

How is the game on the dates on which ships enter service? I've encountered a C-class destroyer in 1940, even though they didn't enter service until 1944.

In SH3, it is C-class for Canada and D-class for UK which in reality entered service early 30s.

[Damo1977]

Originally Posted by Nopileo

Earlier I used to cheat and look at those lists of where the BBs etc. are located in Scapa Flow and Loch Ewe, but that got quite boring after a while. All too easy.

Where can I find these lists?

[Type941]

they should be rare, just like in real life. a bb task force through the channel every week is not even realistic.

Blame yourself for it - they are scarred of U-boats already!

[Mouseketeer]

Originally Posted by Evil Duckie

Only task force I've seen so far (14 patrols) was a friendly one, on my recent patrols out of Brest, I usually run into a Bismarck battleship with one or two destroyers west of Brest. Once caught them in the middle of an air attack, helped them by downing a Swordfish.

Bismarck class battleship with destroyers escort west of Brest??? It's not realistic i think. Are you sure it wasn't Hipper class cruisier (they look very similiar)? I've met that with escort in Brest but in real life there was no Bismarck class BB in Brest (Bismarck was sunk en route to Brest and Tripitz stationed in Norway and never got to France).

[Nopileo]

Originally Posted by Damo1977

Where can I find these lists?

Here:

http://edseek.com/archives/2005/05/0...urvival-guide/

Towards the bottom of the page. Some other nice tips there as well, including where to find task forces.

[jasonb885]

Originally Posted by Nopileo

Here:

http://edseek.com/archives/2005/05/0...urvival-guide/

Towards the bottom of the page. Some other nice tips there as well, including where to find task forces.

I apologize in advance to IE users. I had to force the overflow: hide so the right side menu isn't pushed to the bottom.

It should render the whole table of task forces if you use Firefox, Safari, Konqueror, Opera, or some other browser without broken CSS suport.