Tom
07-30-07, 02:19 PM
Wow, the past couple of hours were probably the most intense I've ever spent playing SH3. I'm still excited about it, so I thought I'd share the experience.
It had been a lousy 3rd patrol for U-99. Heading to sea from Kiel on January 16, 1940, under command of Oberläutnant z. S. Günther Pflock, she had managed to sink 4 smaller merchants using 6 torpedoes, totalling 8500 tons, on her way around England towards her patrol area, BE 94.
Then, on January 28th, the weather turned bad. U-99 reached her patrol area 2 days later, and spent 16 days in the area, most of the time drifting slowly underwater, beneath the storm above. Windspeed was 15 m/s, it was raining, and fog was heavy most of the time. Visibility was close to zero. During the 2 weeks she heard two ships, but couldn't find either of them. The only contact report, a convoy heading north some 200 km away, managed to slip away undetected too.
So, I decided to head towards England, hoping to catch a tanker or two somewhere around BF17 or BF15. On February 17th we had a sound contact. The weather was better, still strong winds but only light fog and no rain. After 8 hours of searching we finally have a good idea of the targets course, and are running flank speed on the surface trying to catch it.
"Ship sighted, bearing 356!" I rush to the bridge, grab the binoculars, and see a large tanker 800 meters ahead of us! You can imagine my frustration as I realize the ship is all lighted up, looking almost like a Christmas tree. Will this bad luck ever change?
We turn around and submerge to 20 meters again, hoping to hear something else. And soon we get the contact, a merchant heading slowly away from England. We follow the contact flank speed, making only 14-15 knots on the surface in the strong wind, occasionally submerging to check the contact bearing. But what's this? More contacts in the same general direction! A convoy! Finally!
Finally, on 4 am, February 19th, our luck turns. We spot a heavy freighter, bearing 270, range 2500 meters, AOB 45, speed 7 knots. Since visibility is still rather poor, windspeed 15 m/s, overcast, light fog, I decide to proceed on the surface, flank speed. As I turn slightly for a more favorable gyro angle, we see another ship. Then another. And a fourth one. A total of 3 large freighters and one passenger/cargo in sight. And no warships. This really is our night!
Instead of firing on the first ship I saw, I move a bit forward and proceed closer to the convoy. I fire a steamer on medium speed at the large freighter furthest away, from a range of 3000 meters, and an electric on the other one, at a range of 2300 m. They'll probably explode at about the same time alerting the ship I saw first, but I could get a shot at it from point blank range, so that wouldn't matter.
Now, where is that third large freighter? I turn my binoculars to the port side, and see it heading straight at us at a range of about 1000 meters. Did we really move this far into the convoy? Funny, what flank speed on the surface can do. I order full starboard rudder, deciding to shoot my stern torpedo at it.
Just before we complete the turn, we hear 2 almost simultaneous torpedo impacts! I see 3 ships turning on their spotlights, about 3 km away. They have no idea where I am. And the large freighter closest to us doesn't have a clue either. I fire a perfect stern shot from 700 meters, aiming just behind the first mast.
After firing the stern torpedo, I take another good look around. I now see the next two ships in the same column as the closest large freighter - a tramp steamer and a medium freighter. No destroyers in sight, and I still have two bow torpedoes, so I decide to turn once again for a bow shot, especially considering that the last torpedo I fired didn't even cause any spotlights to turn on when it hit right on mark, dooming the freighter.
As I complete the turn and prepare to take my last shot, I see another shadow in the darkness, behind and slightly to the left of the medium freighter. What's that? An auxiliary cruiser, range 3500 meters, heading along with the convoy, apparently clueless to my presence! Just as I'm pondering what to do with my two remaining torpedoes, should I shoot one torpedo at both ships, or both torpedoes at the cruiser, I receive the report that tube three is ready to fire again. Well, that solves it. ;)
Now, the only remaining problem was to decide when to fire. The medium freighter was at an almost perfect firing position, 1000 meters ahead of us, at 340, and the auxiliary cruiser was 2200 meters away at 310. Since the ships didn't seem too good at spotting me in this weather, I decided to take my shot at the medium freighter immediately, and run closer towards the cruiser before firing at it, hoping to ensure hits due to short range, even if the cruiser was alerted from the torpedo impact on the freighter. Let's just hope it doesn't spot us too soon.
Boom! The freighter explodes as my torpedo hits. 1800 meters to the cruiser, and no spotlights. 1500 meters, and still no spotlights. At 1200 meters I shoot my last two torpedoes and order full port rudder, still running at flank speed on the surface. Halfway through the turn, I see 2 explosions, one just in front of the bridge and another midships. And then the spotlights turn on and suddenly the sky is full of flares.
As my watch officers tells me we're under attack, I get a brief glimpse of a destroyer heading right towards us from behind the convoy, maybe 3000 meters away. I order a crash dive as shells from the cruiser explode around U-99. We slip beneath the waves, unharmed, and slow down to silent speed as soon as we reach 70 meters, and continue diving towards 140 meters with 5 degrees starboard rudder.
The destroyer makes one, not very good, attempt at dropping depth charges at U-99, before she loses us. Günther Pflock and U-99 decide to set course back home, with 2 torpedoes remaining. One auxiliary cruiser, three large freighters and one medium freighter will never set course anywhere again. :)
Wow! That was amazing. Oh, and all this happened in GWX 1.03. Night surface attacks are apparently quite feasible early in the war with favorable weather conditions. And my attack wasn't even properly planned. With all the bad luck earlier during the patrol, I just decided to shoot whatever I got a chance to shoot, and not risk losing the convoy in bad weather.
For whatever reason I wasn't credited for the sinking of the auxiliary cruiser though. I know I sank it, and I know it was British. Well, I'm so happy with my success, that it really doesn't matter. :)
When we reach Kiel, the drinks are on us.
It had been a lousy 3rd patrol for U-99. Heading to sea from Kiel on January 16, 1940, under command of Oberläutnant z. S. Günther Pflock, she had managed to sink 4 smaller merchants using 6 torpedoes, totalling 8500 tons, on her way around England towards her patrol area, BE 94.
Then, on January 28th, the weather turned bad. U-99 reached her patrol area 2 days later, and spent 16 days in the area, most of the time drifting slowly underwater, beneath the storm above. Windspeed was 15 m/s, it was raining, and fog was heavy most of the time. Visibility was close to zero. During the 2 weeks she heard two ships, but couldn't find either of them. The only contact report, a convoy heading north some 200 km away, managed to slip away undetected too.
So, I decided to head towards England, hoping to catch a tanker or two somewhere around BF17 or BF15. On February 17th we had a sound contact. The weather was better, still strong winds but only light fog and no rain. After 8 hours of searching we finally have a good idea of the targets course, and are running flank speed on the surface trying to catch it.
"Ship sighted, bearing 356!" I rush to the bridge, grab the binoculars, and see a large tanker 800 meters ahead of us! You can imagine my frustration as I realize the ship is all lighted up, looking almost like a Christmas tree. Will this bad luck ever change?
We turn around and submerge to 20 meters again, hoping to hear something else. And soon we get the contact, a merchant heading slowly away from England. We follow the contact flank speed, making only 14-15 knots on the surface in the strong wind, occasionally submerging to check the contact bearing. But what's this? More contacts in the same general direction! A convoy! Finally!
Finally, on 4 am, February 19th, our luck turns. We spot a heavy freighter, bearing 270, range 2500 meters, AOB 45, speed 7 knots. Since visibility is still rather poor, windspeed 15 m/s, overcast, light fog, I decide to proceed on the surface, flank speed. As I turn slightly for a more favorable gyro angle, we see another ship. Then another. And a fourth one. A total of 3 large freighters and one passenger/cargo in sight. And no warships. This really is our night!
Instead of firing on the first ship I saw, I move a bit forward and proceed closer to the convoy. I fire a steamer on medium speed at the large freighter furthest away, from a range of 3000 meters, and an electric on the other one, at a range of 2300 m. They'll probably explode at about the same time alerting the ship I saw first, but I could get a shot at it from point blank range, so that wouldn't matter.
Now, where is that third large freighter? I turn my binoculars to the port side, and see it heading straight at us at a range of about 1000 meters. Did we really move this far into the convoy? Funny, what flank speed on the surface can do. I order full starboard rudder, deciding to shoot my stern torpedo at it.
Just before we complete the turn, we hear 2 almost simultaneous torpedo impacts! I see 3 ships turning on their spotlights, about 3 km away. They have no idea where I am. And the large freighter closest to us doesn't have a clue either. I fire a perfect stern shot from 700 meters, aiming just behind the first mast.
After firing the stern torpedo, I take another good look around. I now see the next two ships in the same column as the closest large freighter - a tramp steamer and a medium freighter. No destroyers in sight, and I still have two bow torpedoes, so I decide to turn once again for a bow shot, especially considering that the last torpedo I fired didn't even cause any spotlights to turn on when it hit right on mark, dooming the freighter.
As I complete the turn and prepare to take my last shot, I see another shadow in the darkness, behind and slightly to the left of the medium freighter. What's that? An auxiliary cruiser, range 3500 meters, heading along with the convoy, apparently clueless to my presence! Just as I'm pondering what to do with my two remaining torpedoes, should I shoot one torpedo at both ships, or both torpedoes at the cruiser, I receive the report that tube three is ready to fire again. Well, that solves it. ;)
Now, the only remaining problem was to decide when to fire. The medium freighter was at an almost perfect firing position, 1000 meters ahead of us, at 340, and the auxiliary cruiser was 2200 meters away at 310. Since the ships didn't seem too good at spotting me in this weather, I decided to take my shot at the medium freighter immediately, and run closer towards the cruiser before firing at it, hoping to ensure hits due to short range, even if the cruiser was alerted from the torpedo impact on the freighter. Let's just hope it doesn't spot us too soon.
Boom! The freighter explodes as my torpedo hits. 1800 meters to the cruiser, and no spotlights. 1500 meters, and still no spotlights. At 1200 meters I shoot my last two torpedoes and order full port rudder, still running at flank speed on the surface. Halfway through the turn, I see 2 explosions, one just in front of the bridge and another midships. And then the spotlights turn on and suddenly the sky is full of flares.
As my watch officers tells me we're under attack, I get a brief glimpse of a destroyer heading right towards us from behind the convoy, maybe 3000 meters away. I order a crash dive as shells from the cruiser explode around U-99. We slip beneath the waves, unharmed, and slow down to silent speed as soon as we reach 70 meters, and continue diving towards 140 meters with 5 degrees starboard rudder.
The destroyer makes one, not very good, attempt at dropping depth charges at U-99, before she loses us. Günther Pflock and U-99 decide to set course back home, with 2 torpedoes remaining. One auxiliary cruiser, three large freighters and one medium freighter will never set course anywhere again. :)
Wow! That was amazing. Oh, and all this happened in GWX 1.03. Night surface attacks are apparently quite feasible early in the war with favorable weather conditions. And my attack wasn't even properly planned. With all the bad luck earlier during the patrol, I just decided to shoot whatever I got a chance to shoot, and not risk losing the convoy in bad weather.
For whatever reason I wasn't credited for the sinking of the auxiliary cruiser though. I know I sank it, and I know it was British. Well, I'm so happy with my success, that it really doesn't matter. :)
When we reach Kiel, the drinks are on us.