Most intense moment...

[zylark]

...or how you barely survived (or didn't).

I'll go first then :D

My previous carreer ended abrubtly. Now that I'm in Hades, I tell this story through Sylvia Browne.

Anyhow.

Had this juicy target of two huge european passenger liners (part of a convoy) in my peri. Typical noobie mistake, I stayed focused on these somewhat too long. That is, I stayed focused on the second a bit too long after torping the first. Looking out for DDs was not a priority. The untold number of beers consumed might have played a factor, but I doubt it :p

After sending fishes to the second target I had a 360' looksie, and this steaming bow with frothing water filled my scope. Zoom out, and it was a tad smaller. Hurray for me I thought. Great. Friggin fantastic. Usual thing. Flank, go deep, like right now!

Not enough. Got hit by a DC in the stern. Flooding of aft tube section. All to battlestation and filled the emergency-crew slots. Not enough to stop the flooding, and this was in deep deep waters. And I was in deep deep trouble. Kept on sinking, but by reaching 60 meters it started to get under control. Ofcourse, by this time, I had a 45' - 50' tilt upwards. Still flank speed ahead. Blow ballast, anything. Leveled off at 80 meters and slowly creeping upwards. Those were some very exciting minutes. DCs going off left and right. Creaking noises. Hissing noises. Water sprouting from just about all plumbing. I'm sure even the toilet overflowed. Stinked anyways.

Do the IJN accept white flags? Do I have any? No matter I breached the surface, still flanking ahead. And three DDs within 1km. Promtly manned the deck gun. But outgunned and outmanouvered and out-speeded, it was time to admit defeat. Not without a fight though. Got two of them ablaze, but the last bugger got the better of me. At this time ofcourse my sub resembled a swiss cheese. It was soon sayonara...

But it was fun as hell though :D

[NefariousKoel]

Heh!

Another victim of target fixation!

[kakemann]

Great story! Surely some intense minutes!

I was just defeated myself. Found a convoy on radar went on the surface to long. I guessed the Akizukis most have caught me on radar, because I wasn't close enough so they could spot me.. They suddenly rushed towards me, and I dived. The problem was that it was only about 30 metres deep there so i couldn't hide behind a thermal layer or anything. They pinged, DC'd me and I was hit. I understood my only chance would be to surface and try to hit them with my deck gun. But not easy to outgun three veteran Akizukis. I was hit several times. Did not stand a chance. I managed to damage one of the Akuzukis before they destroyed me. Ohh well!

I have to be more cautious about enemy radar i guess. The year was 1944.

Anyone know when the AI will be equipped with radar? I met some Ashoui or wathever they are called. But it didn't seem they were equipped with any radar. Wonder which ships I have to look out for. Anyone knows?

[Payoff]

Nice

Worked my way into a convoy at PD in heavy fog, almost 0 visibility. Suddenly a large merchie busts through the fog & we are nose to nose. Went Back Emergency, Full Right Rudder & Dive in reverse. Missed by a few feet. Needless to say she became my first victim once I got everything under control again. Spooky.:ahoy:

[CaptainHaplo]

I ran into a massive convoy last night. First sighting of the Yamato to boot. Three lines of targets. Facing them, I was looking at the port line led by a medium tanker, trailed by a small, then a Maya and 2 Furutake's at the end. The center column - headed right at me (at extreme range) was the Yamato, 2 Ise and 2 Fuso class BB's. The starboard line was led by another Maya, followed by 3 Naka CL's. Needless to say - there was a substantial destroyer screen.....

As you can all guess - first thing I did was save the game! I will one day play a campaign under DiD rules - but not yet! Now - I do use mods - RFB, Kakemans improved escort (which may not be needed with the new verson of RFB) and my own tweaked torps and shells. Torps are about 1.5 in power, as are shells.

My first attempt went well. I was able to penetrate the screen without being detected. 6 bow shots went to a blissfully unaware Yamato at 600 yards. I am not sure, but I think one was a dud, though they all hit. (From close range - its hard to miss a target that size!) Regardlesss of a dud - she went down quick. Ahead dead slow and a turn to starboard pointed me 180 degrees from the group's base course. The zigzagging following Ise nearly ran over me, (I saw its hull with the scope a few feet below the surface - so it was close!) The escorts didnt seem to have any idea where I was, which often happens if you shoot from inside the screen. Once the first Iso passed, I went up a few feet and let loose with my 4 aft tubes - range at firing was under 350 I guessed. Due to the narrow AoB and zigzag, only 3 hit - but they all went off. The target started listing to port seriously. Out of torps, I slowly descended. Apparently the Ise I hit had a crew that paid attention however, because one DD came inside the group and found me. He called for reinforcments and I knew I would be sweating awhile.

Suprisingly, once under a thermal they seemed to lose me. Every once in a while they would drop - but the explosions were farther and farther away. after 30 minutes of no pinging and no drops - we went to PD and looked around - the damaged Ise was on her last legs - heeled over at 20 degrees or more, there was no way they could save her. No other ships in sight. Since we had been at silent running and moving slowly away at 2 knots - we were some distance away. I surfaced and set up and end around on the surviving TF. Secured from SR and hit the gas. No time to worry about fuel consumption now - there was tonnage that needed sinking!

Thats when I made my mistake..... the Ise BB that I thought was dead.... well it was on its way to being that way - but hadn't given up the ghost yet. Next thing I get is "We are under attack!" and then a slew of stuff going damaged. I flipped to the bridge and nothing in sight that should be damaging me. Oh great I think - damage bug - till I see a flash from the Ise - and HUGE splashes around me. I order we turn away, already have DC team at work - but my speed is dropping - damaged engines. A red flash on my afterdeck - and I hear "HULL DESTROYED SIR!"!!! Destroyed? Uhm... that can't be good! Look down - I can see the twisted insides of my own boat.... It looks great when its a hole in a target - but its different when its your ride home!

Well, we arent sinking yet - so something must be going right. Motors were shot so I went ahead and shut em down. Oddly - the game seems to base your visibility off set speed - not the actual speed you are traveling. This saved us - because the Ise stopped shooting. I know at least one escort is going to be headed back as I was spotted - so once I got the flooding under control I set the diesels as the next priority. Keeping an eye on the Ise, I reloaded an aft tube (I was pointing away remember) and fired on bearing only. Contact fuse - and it was enough to finish her. Over she rolled. My engines came available and I started us moving - not a moment too soon, as a DD appeared on the horizon. Now my boat is heavily flooded, wallowing and I can't submerge. Nor can I make much speed. I'm figuring looks like a deck gun duel that we have no shot at winning. (ARGH reload speed in RFB!!!)

Then Bernard says 'No worries Captain, no guts, no glory". Now - considering Bernard is a moron - and part of my deck gun crew - this scares me. We point our aft at the DD and steam slowly - hopefully he wont see us, all the while Bernard is begging to have a go at him. I finally ordered him taken below and restrained. Maybe I will get lucky enough that they decide to restrain him in that blowed out watery portion of my aft hull.....

The DD approached, but our slow speed and settling twilight allowed us to not be spotted. He never got real close, but I can tell you, knowing you can't dive, or run away on the surface, makes you squirrely. We set course for Pearl, as there was no way we could fight an angry seagull in our condition. Somehow - we were never bothered on our transit home. Our luck held all the way to Pearl where the Admiral chewed me out for not only putting big holes in my boat - but never even getting to my first objective.

I tried to explain I couldn't pass up that task force - and he reprimanded me - reminding me that I wasnt the only sub in the pacific and my job was to LET HIM KNOW what I found.

Years later, I learned an American "wolfpack" had been assembled to attack this group, but my attack made the force divert, and the opportunity was missed. Still, in my thought - the loss of the Yamato and one Ise was something that should have been met with praise....

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Luckily for me - in my later years I also developed a time machine - which enabled me to "reload" and replay that battle - and I brought an "equalizer" with me. Its something called "Super Gun Mod" technology..... (Modders rock! :rock: ) Thankfully - due to the automatic reload this technology provides - It seems Bernard has been assigned permanent KP duty in the boat's galley. Granted - coffee sucks - but my gun crew can hit stuff now....

So here I stand on the tower again - watching this group approach. My mind holds the memory of what to me is years, but is to that group of ships a possible future. This time - I am determined to come away the clear victor.

Range to nearest ship gets to 6000 yards - and I order my gun crew to open fire. 45 seconds later and I see all kinds of flashes on the lead Akikaze.... He explodes and slips below the waves. The group starts zigzagging, and escorts are converging on his debris - but at extreme range and all stop - they seem to not see my gun flashes. 2 more DD's fall... I order back 2/3's and allow my gun crew to continue to fire at their closest target - another DD goes down. Then - they shift fire to Yamato.... I can't believe I am doing this - shooting at a BB from the surface. They never return fire.... I see hit after hit after hit - a fire on the aft deck - a few explosions - look like ready charges around secondary guns. But the beast acts as if they are nothing more than gnats. I know my guys are getting hits, I have seen at least 100 or so impact flashes - the armor on this thing is just too strong for my deck gun - upgraded and all. I order a change of target to the lead Maya on the starboard column. 40 or 50 hits and down she goes... Another destroyer within range - target and shoot. Another explosion and another vessel to Davy Jones. I go to ahead standard and turn 90 degrees to starboard - if I can't sink Yamato with guns - by george I will sink all I can with my shells first. I circle the group at extreme range then head up the starboard side - the remaining starboard DD's go down, as well as the 3 Naka's, then the trailing DD and the one on the Port Flank. The last BB (Fuso) becomes my gun crew's target - and I didn't notice. Suddenly I see that one roll quickly and go hull up.... I just sank a BB with my DECK GUN??? Technology from the future kicks tail I say!

Order a turn to port, cross the Groups trail and speed up, circling back down their side and at extreme range sinking the rest of the screening DD's, the 2 Furatake's, the Maya and the 2 tankers. I turn to Port again, slow to 3 knots and am able to engage the remaining Fuso and two Ise classes without them ever firing a shot. Hit after hit - and they each slowly go down...

All that remains is the Yamato - and she is out or range and I dont think I have a shot at her unless I use Torps. Hey, I got a full load, and that admiral is gonna change his tune come my return or I will sink, one or the other.

We track Yamato all night, she finally stops zigzagging and settles in at 12knots. Takes nearly til morning to get around her, but we do, and submerge. Right across our bow she comes. I misjudged the track a bit and had to go to ahead flank to get to Point Blank range. She saw our scope and started to turn away. But when she reversed her helm, she turned right into the spread of 6 I sent her. 4 Hit, and we ducked under her at full speed and popped back up. 4 more fish left our aft tubes as soon as we got to PD depth, and I think 3 hit. Down she went. Not a scratch on my boat, 10 torps expended - and the entire task force was GONE. 317k tons total.

I left my sub at that moment and returned to the present... never did find out what the admiral thought of that alternate battle. I always thought in my mind it didnt really matter anymore, I had done more than any could have hoped for. But going through an old trunk one day, I did learn that someone appreciated that battle - or else that Congressional MoH wouldn't have been in the trunk....

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Sometimes, you just cant pass up the opportunity to just "play" with situations. But after the first battle - I can tell you - I really felt I shared something with those who truly offered their lives during that time.