First Career, a Crazy Patrol

[jazman]

I finally got up to a VIIB, it's May, 1940. I'm assigned a grid AN97 (I think), just on the West of England. Being the dutiful officer, I obey, and decide to run the Channel. It wasn't too hard, a few cans here and there but easily dodged.

The weather turned _really_ bad, so bad my watch (I had three watch-qualified men on the bridge, so my watch was ace) spotted a T3 Tanker at short range. When I say short, I mean I have to take evasive action. I have to submerge three times to track this ship, because it keeps disappearing on me.

Eventually I get a decent shot. I send a couple of eels, one passes under the thing! Yeesh. I'm turning, so I get a perfect stern shot. Somehow it misses. After turning around I manage to send another eel, it blows up before it gets to the ship. My last loaded eel I send in, it hits, but the ship keeps on. So I have to shadow the thing while I reload, which means I'm basically tailgating. So far 5 eels. Maybe the thing will sink?

I slowly work my way to a great final shot, waiting for the thing to sink, but it doesn't, so I'm just lining up, setting the torps, when the bridge calls out another ship! I look and it's a can, right behind me, starting to fire. ALAARM.

I dive and run silent. It looks like the tanker is sitting still, so I work around to the other side, where I aim to resurface and finish that thing off. Six torpedoes! What a waste, next time I won't try in such bad weather, eh?

Well, next time comes a lot sooner than I think. As I'm surfacing, HARD LOCK. Saved from an excess waste of eels by Microsoft.

[Steel_Tomb]

one thing, never use magnetic setting in heavy seas as it will almost deffinately lead to premature detonation. Also, check the recognition manual for the draft, to stop fish passing underneath the ship. One last thing, for large ships like tankers send a salvo of two fish to guaruntee a sinking. Because in most cases she will sail on, quicker than you can thus loosing a target and wasting a fish. Which in the VIII class are valuable.

[jazman]

Yes, I was using magnetic. I was thinking, if the eel goes under the ship, then that's just what I want. I guess they went under further than I set, or went shallower and bounced off. I was looking at the recognition book to make my settings.

In really bad weather like that is it best to avoid attacks altogether?

[EZeemering]

I had mostly bad weather in my first patrols. I used magnetic as well and most detonated before impact. However if I got one hit all the ships sunk a while later in the heavy storm. Just wait a bit.