Maserati
01-06-08, 05:33 AM
Shooting at those two destroyers was a mistake. It's not that I didn't know that. But two J & K class destroyers steaming in line ahead, at 3500m, 10 degrees off my bow is a tempting target. And no Kaleun worth his whiskey can pass up British warships 20 km south of Heligoland in broad daylight.
Yes, that position report is correct. Two fleet destroyers penetrated south of Heligoland. In daylight. Of course I shot at them, you can't let that pass. Besides, I saved as soon as I left the canal this patrol.
With only three tubes in a IIA I decided on one each, magnetic. The third tube would be a reserve in case I needed, and could arrange, an emergency shot. And I'm still stuck in a IIA in January 1940 because I'm an idiot and transferred to a squadron that didn't have a spare VIIB.
Naturally I missed, but I would have gotten lucky with one if the detonator had fired. Naturally, two destroyer captains aggressive enough to be where the were, when they were would prosecute a submarine contact. They had a bearing, but not a range on the fish. I got deep. Well, 50m anyway. And I got quiet.
They boxed me in. I was sure they didn't have even a fuzzy contact, but they knew they had a sub and they knew they were close. and they had two units to run search patterns with. I dodged around a bit and tried to mainly keep my slowly turning propellers to them and work slowly south. That wasn't terribly bright of me since the island was closer, but somehow I headed south figuring the destroyers were more likely to avoid the coastline than an island.
This went on. And on. An hour or two worth of faint prop signatures circling me at 20 knots, ot even stopping to listen when they thought I wouldn't have a torp shot. And they passed overhead a few times. I had plenty of air and juice in the batteries, but these guys wanted me bad.
Finally, what I was afraid of. The rumble of explosions. Wait a sec... no splash. Another boom. I check the external camera (sue me, I wouldn't have missed this for the world) and there it is. A squadron of Stukas has pounced on the two destroyers. It's over in minutes.
A few intensely violent minutes. The destroyers twist and turn like mad beasts, spitting fire from every gun. They take their toll, the event camera is spamming flaming Stukas. But one destroyer is hit twice forward and goes down after what looked like the forward magazines cooking off. The second destroyer is tougher. She accounts for most of the Stuka casualties (really only 3 or 4), but takes first one and then a second hit and starts to sink.
It looked like the Fourth of July, explosions, flame and smoke everywhere. When I first hit an external view I saw one of the destroyers almost hidden by bomb splashes. The explosion effects were terrific and the action was jawdropping. Unfortunately, that meant I forgot to take screenshots. I wish I'd had FRAPS going.
That was a pretty ballsy move by the RN. I learned later that minefields had been discovered east and west of Heligoland, so they had a legitimate reason to be there. I'd have loved to have caught a Manxman class minelayer in the act. This wasn't the foolhardy move that it proved to be. The RN hadn't experienced dive bombing attacks yet, so they had no idea just how much trouble they were in. The losses of the Norway and Channel operations hadn't happened yet. Brave bastards anyway for going into range of land based aircraft anyway.
The rest of the patrol was more scenic than anything. The patrol grid was notably empty, and I didn't make any contacts until I was well into my return leg down the coast. I picked off an ore carrier off Hartlepool for about 8800 tons. Further south I passed on a coastal coal lighter, 300 tons is worth neither a torpedo nor all my 20mm ammo and an hour surfaced shooting it off. A coastal freighter wasn't so lucky the next night. And that ran me out of fish and I headed home.
The return leg was the really scenic part. I spotted a Dutch tugboat and fishing boat stationary well out to sea. Then at sunset the last full night at sea, a schooner was a lovely sight with her sails red in the last light. Pulling into the canal I was amazed to see the result of a collision, two small boats stopped with one on fire and sinking. This may have something to do with a large ASW trawler and a saved game (forgot to check depth and assumed I only had 20 meters to work in). Then smooth sailing through the canal and home.
All in all, one of the most exciting patrols I've had without bagging a major warship (got the Renown and a Dorsetshire in my last GWX 1.03 patrol; lost that captain to Gibraltar convoy off the Spanish coast). Checked my career tonnage total when I docked and was annoyed to see I was only a couple hundred tons out of third place. Then I saw that Hartmann had third and felt a lot better about it.
Yes, that position report is correct. Two fleet destroyers penetrated south of Heligoland. In daylight. Of course I shot at them, you can't let that pass. Besides, I saved as soon as I left the canal this patrol.
With only three tubes in a IIA I decided on one each, magnetic. The third tube would be a reserve in case I needed, and could arrange, an emergency shot. And I'm still stuck in a IIA in January 1940 because I'm an idiot and transferred to a squadron that didn't have a spare VIIB.
Naturally I missed, but I would have gotten lucky with one if the detonator had fired. Naturally, two destroyer captains aggressive enough to be where the were, when they were would prosecute a submarine contact. They had a bearing, but not a range on the fish. I got deep. Well, 50m anyway. And I got quiet.
They boxed me in. I was sure they didn't have even a fuzzy contact, but they knew they had a sub and they knew they were close. and they had two units to run search patterns with. I dodged around a bit and tried to mainly keep my slowly turning propellers to them and work slowly south. That wasn't terribly bright of me since the island was closer, but somehow I headed south figuring the destroyers were more likely to avoid the coastline than an island.
This went on. And on. An hour or two worth of faint prop signatures circling me at 20 knots, ot even stopping to listen when they thought I wouldn't have a torp shot. And they passed overhead a few times. I had plenty of air and juice in the batteries, but these guys wanted me bad.
Finally, what I was afraid of. The rumble of explosions. Wait a sec... no splash. Another boom. I check the external camera (sue me, I wouldn't have missed this for the world) and there it is. A squadron of Stukas has pounced on the two destroyers. It's over in minutes.
A few intensely violent minutes. The destroyers twist and turn like mad beasts, spitting fire from every gun. They take their toll, the event camera is spamming flaming Stukas. But one destroyer is hit twice forward and goes down after what looked like the forward magazines cooking off. The second destroyer is tougher. She accounts for most of the Stuka casualties (really only 3 or 4), but takes first one and then a second hit and starts to sink.
It looked like the Fourth of July, explosions, flame and smoke everywhere. When I first hit an external view I saw one of the destroyers almost hidden by bomb splashes. The explosion effects were terrific and the action was jawdropping. Unfortunately, that meant I forgot to take screenshots. I wish I'd had FRAPS going.
That was a pretty ballsy move by the RN. I learned later that minefields had been discovered east and west of Heligoland, so they had a legitimate reason to be there. I'd have loved to have caught a Manxman class minelayer in the act. This wasn't the foolhardy move that it proved to be. The RN hadn't experienced dive bombing attacks yet, so they had no idea just how much trouble they were in. The losses of the Norway and Channel operations hadn't happened yet. Brave bastards anyway for going into range of land based aircraft anyway.
The rest of the patrol was more scenic than anything. The patrol grid was notably empty, and I didn't make any contacts until I was well into my return leg down the coast. I picked off an ore carrier off Hartlepool for about 8800 tons. Further south I passed on a coastal coal lighter, 300 tons is worth neither a torpedo nor all my 20mm ammo and an hour surfaced shooting it off. A coastal freighter wasn't so lucky the next night. And that ran me out of fish and I headed home.
The return leg was the really scenic part. I spotted a Dutch tugboat and fishing boat stationary well out to sea. Then at sunset the last full night at sea, a schooner was a lovely sight with her sails red in the last light. Pulling into the canal I was amazed to see the result of a collision, two small boats stopped with one on fire and sinking. This may have something to do with a large ASW trawler and a saved game (forgot to check depth and assumed I only had 20 meters to work in). Then smooth sailing through the canal and home.
All in all, one of the most exciting patrols I've had without bagging a major warship (got the Renown and a Dorsetshire in my last GWX 1.03 patrol; lost that captain to Gibraltar convoy off the Spanish coast). Checked my career tonnage total when I docked and was annoyed to see I was only a couple hundred tons out of third place. Then I saw that Hartmann had third and felt a lot better about it.