Ping Panther
12-06-07, 05:52 PM
I have tried this method several times while hunting convoys from inside, and it seems to suit my hunt & shoot style. These are the screens I could manage to get from one of my earliest single missions using this kind of attack. It's not your usual run down the line tactic, it's a little different. And it has all worked pretty good, even in daylight.
At first, I made a traditional outside attack with a couple of eel shots. Then I quited down a while... one escort had sniffed around and pinged just a bit.
(they were steamers, and the first shots on this group, all by surprise & approached submerged broadside)
I then waited on a patient reload. :|\\
Then... run in sort of deep, keep hydro. sound checks going ahead as approaching with no scope up at all until you are in! Find a small, shallow draft merchant.
(it helps here to visually sight this guy ahead of time in your first recon., in this case I made an earlier note of his spot in formation, 2nd column, 2nd rank)
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d173/EricWK/SilentHunter-Post/SH3Img17-10-2007_1845.jpg
^ Here's a screen of my sub (orange marker), inside this medium-sized convoy. Some escorts are still on the flanks of the convoy. I had already sunk an armed trawler at my fast & submerged approach run from outside & then timed a similar hit on a leading merchant (hit a leading merchant at near center column of convoy & hope for getting it dead-in-the-water in the props./engines to slow one down and cause the followers to swerve courses! :yep:, not going for a fast kill shot on that one, just choosing one to send skidding around slow & ahead)
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d173/EricWK/SilentHunter-Post/SH3Img17-10-2007_1846.jpg
^ Now in this F12 underwater screen, you can se me hanging close & at periscope depth to one of my selected merchants (best to pick a ship of shallow draft depth, small merchants are good ;) ). As the remaining escorts perk up more to your earlier hits (and the previously targeted & limping merchant stirs up some chaos in the formations and zig-zag shifts), you get to stay centered in the fleet. Carefully keep tabs on the smaller ship you are trailing, he's the key to the hunt & peck. He's the guy giving you super visual cover when you poke your scope up for targeting on numerous bow & stern shot opportunities.
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d173/EricWK/SilentHunter-Post/SH3Img17-10-2007_1847.jpg
^ Here's a screen-shot a few minutes later (notice I stayed silient-running, first tries at this :nope:, not really needed, keep them loading!) & I strayed just a little off of my drafting of that small merchant for the moment, yet kept the more-confused escort just ahead and shadowed off from me... why?, because I was targeting up that sweet large ship (notice torpedo trail (steamer) heading for midships! :up: I finish this big guy up a little later on after a good reload. Once again here, notice I am cruising the left-perimeter column of this convoy, so this guy gets hit here, heading him back into the front & center of the convoy & shakes up the trailing ships here as well.
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d173/EricWK/SilentHunter-Post/SH3Img17-10-2007_1852.jpg
^ Now here I let go of just one more eel (I had a fortunate hit on this guy from my first attack, then some down time to reload before I hit them with this inside run tactic), so this is a steamer eel again, set it fast running to just about full range length, and on MAGNETIC DETONATOR! I love these mag. shots when the chance ever arrives! It's best when chasing down a ship from its stern, no more than 1 meter under draft depth for best effect. Often rips a ship clean open even with just 1 shot like this one is headed. Bad angled shots with no other chance are good as well for magnetics, you just need a good large ship. It quadruples the effect over broadside impacts, you gain damge to the keel-line seams, and the explosion lifts the ship up from it's water displacement & slams it back down again.
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d173/EricWK/SilentHunter-Post/SH3Img17-10-2007_1855.jpg
^ So to end with a final highlight of this skirmish... here's the damage going on to that same escort I had hid from as shown in image #2 above. I let a shot go to this escort just after the broadside shot on the large ship, turned my scope a bit to port, watched the escort steam from behind a bit from my "shadow" ship and got lucky! It took a while to burn along, & slid down slow. (Racerboys effects! :up: )
Drafting inside the convoy just behind a small merchant & at periscope depth or just below at times, allows you to:
1> hide from most escort runs, pinging is confused with the merchants wake, and escorts shy from making depth charge attacks as well
2> keep visual/hydro. coverage of most of the fleet while staying mostly hidden from escort siting your periscope
3> be fairly safe from merchant & escort deck gunners (risking hits to one of their own ships), and you stay submerged & slowed speed from most any chance for their re-targeting to your scope
4> as I learned even more later, you can run full operations (reload, repair), since most of your underwater racket is being now often masked & confused from the ships props. you are trailing
5> even in later war era, with more armed merchants around, even it the poor guy you have chosen to trail under is fully armed, his crews can't traverse and depress their gunnery low enough to target you... enemy aircraft even get pretty upset to try a bomb-drop on top of you as well!
At first, I made a traditional outside attack with a couple of eel shots. Then I quited down a while... one escort had sniffed around and pinged just a bit.
(they were steamers, and the first shots on this group, all by surprise & approached submerged broadside)
I then waited on a patient reload. :|\\
Then... run in sort of deep, keep hydro. sound checks going ahead as approaching with no scope up at all until you are in! Find a small, shallow draft merchant.
(it helps here to visually sight this guy ahead of time in your first recon., in this case I made an earlier note of his spot in formation, 2nd column, 2nd rank)
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d173/EricWK/SilentHunter-Post/SH3Img17-10-2007_1845.jpg
^ Here's a screen of my sub (orange marker), inside this medium-sized convoy. Some escorts are still on the flanks of the convoy. I had already sunk an armed trawler at my fast & submerged approach run from outside & then timed a similar hit on a leading merchant (hit a leading merchant at near center column of convoy & hope for getting it dead-in-the-water in the props./engines to slow one down and cause the followers to swerve courses! :yep:, not going for a fast kill shot on that one, just choosing one to send skidding around slow & ahead)
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d173/EricWK/SilentHunter-Post/SH3Img17-10-2007_1846.jpg
^ Now in this F12 underwater screen, you can se me hanging close & at periscope depth to one of my selected merchants (best to pick a ship of shallow draft depth, small merchants are good ;) ). As the remaining escorts perk up more to your earlier hits (and the previously targeted & limping merchant stirs up some chaos in the formations and zig-zag shifts), you get to stay centered in the fleet. Carefully keep tabs on the smaller ship you are trailing, he's the key to the hunt & peck. He's the guy giving you super visual cover when you poke your scope up for targeting on numerous bow & stern shot opportunities.
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d173/EricWK/SilentHunter-Post/SH3Img17-10-2007_1847.jpg
^ Here's a screen-shot a few minutes later (notice I stayed silient-running, first tries at this :nope:, not really needed, keep them loading!) & I strayed just a little off of my drafting of that small merchant for the moment, yet kept the more-confused escort just ahead and shadowed off from me... why?, because I was targeting up that sweet large ship (notice torpedo trail (steamer) heading for midships! :up: I finish this big guy up a little later on after a good reload. Once again here, notice I am cruising the left-perimeter column of this convoy, so this guy gets hit here, heading him back into the front & center of the convoy & shakes up the trailing ships here as well.
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d173/EricWK/SilentHunter-Post/SH3Img17-10-2007_1852.jpg
^ Now here I let go of just one more eel (I had a fortunate hit on this guy from my first attack, then some down time to reload before I hit them with this inside run tactic), so this is a steamer eel again, set it fast running to just about full range length, and on MAGNETIC DETONATOR! I love these mag. shots when the chance ever arrives! It's best when chasing down a ship from its stern, no more than 1 meter under draft depth for best effect. Often rips a ship clean open even with just 1 shot like this one is headed. Bad angled shots with no other chance are good as well for magnetics, you just need a good large ship. It quadruples the effect over broadside impacts, you gain damge to the keel-line seams, and the explosion lifts the ship up from it's water displacement & slams it back down again.
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d173/EricWK/SilentHunter-Post/SH3Img17-10-2007_1855.jpg
^ So to end with a final highlight of this skirmish... here's the damage going on to that same escort I had hid from as shown in image #2 above. I let a shot go to this escort just after the broadside shot on the large ship, turned my scope a bit to port, watched the escort steam from behind a bit from my "shadow" ship and got lucky! It took a while to burn along, & slid down slow. (Racerboys effects! :up: )
Drafting inside the convoy just behind a small merchant & at periscope depth or just below at times, allows you to:
1> hide from most escort runs, pinging is confused with the merchants wake, and escorts shy from making depth charge attacks as well
2> keep visual/hydro. coverage of most of the fleet while staying mostly hidden from escort siting your periscope
3> be fairly safe from merchant & escort deck gunners (risking hits to one of their own ships), and you stay submerged & slowed speed from most any chance for their re-targeting to your scope
4> as I learned even more later, you can run full operations (reload, repair), since most of your underwater racket is being now often masked & confused from the ships props. you are trailing
5> even in later war era, with more armed merchants around, even it the poor guy you have chosen to trail under is fully armed, his crews can't traverse and depress their gunnery low enough to target you... enemy aircraft even get pretty upset to try a bomb-drop on top of you as well!