Corsair
03-26-07, 11:08 AM
Now I understand what the frustration must have been some times for real life Uboot crews...
I left Kiel on June 30 1940 in a VIIb, assigned to patrol AN 41. Went the usual way along the norwegian coast (don't like to hang too much in North Sea shallow waters) Crossed from Stavanger to AN 41. Patrolled my 24 hours, nothing but 2 DD patrols... Had no special mission from SH3 Gen so decided to head for the western approaches. Going around North Scotland thru the Orkneys/Shetland straight, I understand what the Uboot Kapt'ns had to bitch about : daylight almost 24 hours a day, Hurricane alley... Most of the time just surface for reloading before 1 or 2 airplane coming, only between midnight and 4 o'clock is it about safe, although I am 200+ miles from airbases.
I usually bag a couple of merchants in the straight, this time nothing despite hydrophone checks every 3 hours all stopped. Once out of there, head for AM 52, then get report from a large convoy coming down from NW. Intercept went fine, except it was early morning and very calm weather (O knots winds) If I waited for the night, it would have been already deep inside Irish Sea and shallow waters, decide to give it a try. Get spotted by escorts , spend 2+ hours evading 2 Black Swans (hate those with 4 Kguns and 2 rails) and a Flower. So much for the convoy...
Patrol AM 52, head west for Rockall banks and back... nichts, rien, nada, not a sound outside some DD patrols sometime coming close... Merchant Navy on summer holiday ?
Already 20 days out and not one shot... take the way home. Getting in the Shetland Straight again, get another convoy report... except it's already almost between Stornoway and Ullapool and heading SW... no chance.
Then suddenly after 26 days at sea, a merchant sound contact south of Shetland... large merchant identified, interception plotted, 2 electric torps salvo... Boom !! Never been so happy to sink 7500 tons...
All in all a realistic patrol (they didn't shoot 50 Ktons every time) and hopefully the manual navigation has kept me busy.
Also first time I used the new SH3 Weather version, never had more than 2 or 3 days with the same weather, most of the time some change twice every 24 hours. All kinds of wind speeds (from 0 to 15, but also 10, 11, 13, 7, 3 m/sec...) rain, no rain, all kinds of clouds/fog combinations, only a couple days with heavy fog and many days of clear / lightly cloudy weather/calm winds, seemed OK for a summer weather..
NYGM 2.4 - SH3 Gen - SH3 Weather - Manual Nav -
I left Kiel on June 30 1940 in a VIIb, assigned to patrol AN 41. Went the usual way along the norwegian coast (don't like to hang too much in North Sea shallow waters) Crossed from Stavanger to AN 41. Patrolled my 24 hours, nothing but 2 DD patrols... Had no special mission from SH3 Gen so decided to head for the western approaches. Going around North Scotland thru the Orkneys/Shetland straight, I understand what the Uboot Kapt'ns had to bitch about : daylight almost 24 hours a day, Hurricane alley... Most of the time just surface for reloading before 1 or 2 airplane coming, only between midnight and 4 o'clock is it about safe, although I am 200+ miles from airbases.
I usually bag a couple of merchants in the straight, this time nothing despite hydrophone checks every 3 hours all stopped. Once out of there, head for AM 52, then get report from a large convoy coming down from NW. Intercept went fine, except it was early morning and very calm weather (O knots winds) If I waited for the night, it would have been already deep inside Irish Sea and shallow waters, decide to give it a try. Get spotted by escorts , spend 2+ hours evading 2 Black Swans (hate those with 4 Kguns and 2 rails) and a Flower. So much for the convoy...
Patrol AM 52, head west for Rockall banks and back... nichts, rien, nada, not a sound outside some DD patrols sometime coming close... Merchant Navy on summer holiday ?
Already 20 days out and not one shot... take the way home. Getting in the Shetland Straight again, get another convoy report... except it's already almost between Stornoway and Ullapool and heading SW... no chance.
Then suddenly after 26 days at sea, a merchant sound contact south of Shetland... large merchant identified, interception plotted, 2 electric torps salvo... Boom !! Never been so happy to sink 7500 tons...
All in all a realistic patrol (they didn't shoot 50 Ktons every time) and hopefully the manual navigation has kept me busy.
Also first time I used the new SH3 Weather version, never had more than 2 or 3 days with the same weather, most of the time some change twice every 24 hours. All kinds of wind speeds (from 0 to 15, but also 10, 11, 13, 7, 3 m/sec...) rain, no rain, all kinds of clouds/fog combinations, only a couple days with heavy fog and many days of clear / lightly cloudy weather/calm winds, seemed OK for a summer weather..
NYGM 2.4 - SH3 Gen - SH3 Weather - Manual Nav -