Need advice from the most wise......

[andylegate]

This gets me everytime:

U-108 has been assigned to patrol CF-98. On our merry way down there, I get a contact report of a enemy convoy, about 75 km north of my position, headed NNW at about 4 knots.
I pull down my handy-dandy speed and distance info for 4 knots and figure out that in 7 hours convoy will be located. On my way there, sure enough, I receive an additional update and it's where it's suppose to be.

However, on my way there, my speed drops from 19 knots to 16 knots, and then I see it; the depth meter fluctuating up and down dramatically.

@#*^@*&^!!!!

I climb up to the bridge, and sure enough: Overcast, high winds, 10 foot waves, and heavy fog!

(*^&**^((*#$%!!!!!!

Visability is down below 300 meters. Everytime I try engaging a convoy in this type of weather I either come close to running into them, or I'm not able to target my torps very well. :nope:

I don't have radar yet, as it's still 1941.

I've tried shadowing the convoy, but the weather seems to last for many days on end!

Can anyone give me some advice?

[bert8for3]

There was a pretty good discussion about this here ... http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=112604&highlight=convoy+attack+weather

[TarJak]

I don't know if I'm the most wise but I give out advice anyway.

Stick with it the weather will improve some time. If it takes a week to improve then break off the shadowing and leave it to someone else.

[seafarer]

Hey, you want realism? Welcome to the northern Atlantic ocean and its wonderous climate.

My father worked a K-gun crew on RCN River class frigates, mostly on convoy duty. He told me stories about weeks at a time where it was so gray you couldn't tell night from day. And weather so nasty that ships at full throttle could barely make steerage way against the wind and current. Of course, they loved it just because they knew that it effectively shut out the uboats. But, they then really feared the times the weather cleared, as that's when the boats that had been shadowing them would lunge in to take advantage of the momentary visibility. Sucks when the good ol' mark I eyeball is really your only decent sensor :p (although really out eyeball should be called the mark II, or perhaps the mark Ib, since cephalopods have an image forming eye on a par with ours, but they invented theirs before us mammals did).

P.S. for what it's worth, the Pacific northeast in winter could make the N. Atlantic look like a lounge pool - I speak from personal experience in both oceans.

P.P.S. One of my father's ships, HMCS Waskesiu, got some payback at least - they and HMS Nene sank U257 in '44 (she was depth charged to the surface and then sunk by gunfire, with some survivors, so the kill and the uboat identity were clear).

[papa_smurf]

Just keep on shadowing, the weather will clear eventually. Also keep submerging every so often to track the convoy by hydrophone, and you should be able to get a rough idea of the convoys direction/speed.

[andylegate]

Yes, I'd spent many a day on the North Atlantic while in the US Navy myself. And in the Tin Cans that I served on, spent several of those days walking on the bulkheads from the heavy rolls.

However, this was down in the tropics. While it get's bad, it doesn't stay that way. Weather systems do move on and the waters tend to calm down, and fog.....well I've never seen fog that bad around the Canary Islands.........

Ah well, we'll just "weather it out" so to speak! :D

[Spruence M]

I've heard of the GWX spy sat.

I just want a weather satalite...

Seems to me, you leave port, and a random number of days after that, the weather goes to crap for the remainder of the patrol.

[Canovaro]

Nah just quit the chase, stop the engines, go to p/d and wait it out.

[Corsair]

Head South...:D

[Brag]

Oh, the weather, bleah! (it doesn't sound very wise) :damn: :rotfl: :damn: :rotfl:

[sunvalleyslim]

Pray for clear skies and smooth sailing..........:up::up::up:

[Jimbuna]

Your hydrophones can hear a lot further than you can see (in fog, even more so).
Get into a position (submerged) in front of the convoy and plot it's rough course with the hydrophone contacts.
You should soon get a sense of the position of the ships. When they're perpendicular to you, fire a salvo of four (5 degrees spread).....and cross them fingures ;)