I hit 1944 in carrer mode wow its hard now.

[iven72]

It seams like no mater what i do the destroyers just come straight for me and it is very difficult to get away. I can not get even close to a convoy anymore any suggestions? I have tried approaching using snorkle but still they seam to always know where i am.

[bigboywooly]

Your snorkel can be picked up by the DD radar
Thats how they know you are there

Wasnt easy to get close to convoys late war
Thats why the ladder torps evolved
Long range shooting

You will have to get ahead of the convoy and stay submerged if you want to shoot close in
Raise the peri only to check headings
Keep it above water as little as you can

[P_Funk]

Well for one the snorkel creates a wake and is equivalent to having your periscope up all the time PLUS at this point DDs have radar that can detect it, so around convoys you should just rely on your electric engines. Also with the very advanced ASDICs that they have they can also hear you sooner so that also cuts down your ability to approach unseen. Now not only do you have to give the escorts a wider berth when making your ingress BUT there are now tons more of them, thank you very much American Industrial Machine.

So you have two options now. You can either fire from far far away and expect alot of your torps to miss (the safer idea) or you can be insane and try and slip in a bit closer to the convoy but with excessively better course management. And even then once you fire a torpedo you have to consider getting out.

One way to do that is to fire all your torps at targets on the far side of the convoy and in such a way as cause each target to be hit simultaneously. Then you dive and drop a BOLD and go deep under the convoy at a high speed, but once you reach a suitable depth cut it to 2 knots and go silent Head in the direction of your targeted quarry and by doing this hopefully the BOLD will be whats picked up once those torpedoes explode and it will draw the DDs away from you on that side. On the other side the DDs will be looking for you from the side you DIDN'T fire from and you will be safely hiding amongst the noisy columns of the convoy.

At this point if all has gone well then you can creep to the other side where you didn't fire from and find an open position, because those DDs on this side are looking for you. From there you can fire again at the far side and do the same evasive pattern.

I didn't invent this method but damn its fun.

[AndyW]

Welcome to the "1944+ big boys" club! ;)

Don't frighten the others too much, I survived two patrols (well one if you disregard the Dec.43/Jan.44 patrol) without snorkel and sunk seven ships so far, four of them from convoys (it was stormy).

Cheers,
AndyW

[Herr Russ]

I'm in late 43 & getting pounded regularly.. I used to set up so I'm in the middle of the convoy, but that's become fatal. Now I set up about 2KM away and fire my standard eels at the prime targets and then my FaT's at secondary targets with the ladder directed along their direction of travel.. Then I dive, pull a 180 & get out of town.. If I'm real lucky, I can reload, raise my snorkel and speed ahead of the convoy for another go..

Good luck & good hunting..

[Deep-Six]

Now you know why I hate convoys.:D

[P_Funk]

Now you know why I hate convoys.:D
I think thats why they used them.:p

[STEED]

Most of my careers are 43-44 and don't expect to hit much at all. If you get in front on a convoy fire a salvo and get the hell out of there, don't even hang around for a second as you need every second before those destroyers turn up. It's hit and miss, but it really puts you in the hot seat to test out if you got what it takes to stay alive.

[Spray]

So far everyone has given good advice so I guess its my time to chime in. When you find a convoy get their bearing and line yourself up to face the same direction as them rig for silent running stop the sub and make usre your under 100 metres. Wait for the convoy to go above you then push forward to as slow as you can go and get to periscope depth. You should be at the back of the convoy now in between the last 2 or so rows of ships if timed correctly. Take aim use up to 2 torps per target unless its something heavy. Fire your torps and start diving down to under 100 immediately and turn to either side you have done all you possibly can. Make sure to go slow on the descent if you get pinged go all ahead flank once you pass about 150m drop 2-3 bolds go silent and turn once again you should be heading away from the convoy this is good it is normally bad if you are with the convoy because the DD's will sometimes rejoin if they get too far and will leave you alone. You should go to about 220m. This worked for me in 3 seperate convoy attacks during 1943-1944. IVe just used my XXI sub for the first time sinking 3 BB's and 1 Fleet Carrier on my first run. I was not detected once except for intentionally by the BB's when I tried to catch up to them (and did). Follow this and you shall be fine young padawan.

[Keelbuster]

Yea 44 is hell. I started restricting my attacks to bad weather - like wait for wind > 10m/s. This blows their ASDIC at periscope depth. You can sit at PD and not be detected. This works both ways I think - your sonar man won't hear them either. Anyway, the only way I would enter a convoy in 44 is in rough sea, and then, stay at PD or darn close. Otherwise it's the FaT long-range bombardments that were described above.

[P_Funk]

Yea I can't say that I take my own advice very often when doing the 44 thing. But sometimes to cut through the monotony you just need to uh... "be more aggressive".