In need of early war hunting grounds

[Sigurd]

U-32 is departing soon on her sixth patrol, and the crew is all asking, where are the enemy ships? Enemy contact is minimal, and we frequently are forced to return to Wilhemshaven with low fuel, and all of our torpedoes, or perhaps one or two short. Morale is low, and we took to sneaking around neutral ports to see if the English were hiding anywhere. Operation Sinnennetz provided us with a little info, but the coverage on the waters east of England is not avaliabe.

Where do people usually patrol around this time (currently November 1939).

[papa_smurf]

Try the straights in between Orkney and the Shetlands, alwaysa good spot to find lone ships. Just watch out for the odd aircraft or 2.

[von hally]

lo mate

as ive said before ...i find the small area west of scapa flow to the northwest tip of scotland is quite busy

there has been a similar thread to this mate...hope ive done this right!!
click below

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=128765

:up:

[FIREWALL]

I use simular mods and also SH GEN. I find it works and always get at around 8,000tns per patrol at 100% realism.

[GoldenRivet]

an unchallenged U-boat could shut down the English east coast almost single- handedly in 39-40. When starting a 1939 career, I patrol up and down the coast from 25-75km off the coastline. No large convoys, but a fair number of lone merchants. Just watch out for neutral Norwegian shipping running east west.

[bigboywooly]

6th patrol in Nov 39 :o

ON\HN convoys are around now in the North Sea also

[Blacklight]

Three places are my favorite: Between Orkney and the Shetlands and also BF17 and BE39.

Also sticking yourself in CG 94 and moving through the squares to the west to around CG86 will net you LOTS of targets if you happen to be down near Gibraltar. :D

[Avatar]

Use the shipping lane map in the upper left-hand corner of the charts view, that should give you a rough idea as to where shipping lanes are located. But early in the war, you'll be lucky to come across a convoy. Just operate in those patrol areas and go to Kleine Fahrt Voraus and cruise around at 5 knots. Not very exicting, but you should get a contact report of a convoy nearby.
Oddly enough, convoy contacts are better when close to Ireland, Scotland, or England, early in the war.
My last patrol, I cruised the area between Ireland and Scotland and was down to 50% fuel when I actually encountered a convoy.

[Gezoes]

Check the area off Hartlepool, many lone merchants aboout 100 km out of the coast :yep:

[deepboat]

Try Newfoundland Nov 39, lots of warships around the island and small convoys if you like action.

[Hanomag]

Kaluen,

Try the operation spinnennetz site in the sticky above for accurate ship routes and time periods. :up:

It hasnt let me down yet! :arrgh!:

[Tool]

Just west of scapa, then SW towards denmark.. or into the denmark straight. Lots of convoy action there.. easy 50k ton patrols.

Tool.

[harzfeld]

Usually after I reached my patrol area and patrol for 24 hours to get extra renown, I headed off to AM64, sitting at periscope depth camping for any juicy ships or convoys going thru bottleneck. I stopped doing that sometimes in 1941 after increasing enemy warships and planes were getting too much for me to handle. Then I moved to BE39, plenty of tankers, cargo ships, convoy, going thru or by there, and u can go as deep as you like.

[vodkavera]

Early in the war before the invasion of France I hunt
along the Portugese coast. Usualy I come across Large Merch. that steam
in threes or pairs. No escorts or aircover.
It´s like being the fox in the henhouse.:D

/VV

[Tobus]

AM53 is always a place where I can lose 14 torpedoes.

[Canovaro]

AM53 is always a place where I can lose 14 torpedoes.

You just dump them in the ocean, now that's a shame :rotfl:

http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2008/01/13/GREENPEACE_wideweb__470x300,0.jpg

[vedrand]

AM53 is always a place where I can lose 14 torpedoes.

:up: do not look any further. this is great fun, especially in 39! Lonely merchants mostly.

[Jimbuna]

As you can see, there are a multitude of places. One of my favourites is approx 200km west of Gib.....or AM52 :arrgh!:

[Sigurd]

Kaluen,

Try the operation spinnennetz site in the sticky above for accurate ship routes and time periods. :up:

It hasnt let me down yet! :arrgh!:
I mention in the original post that I've tried it :up:
No info on the North Sea, only the Atlantic.

Thanks for the info people. I returned to base yesterday with about 25k tons under my belt. Unfortunately, this patrol taught me I need more practice with manual targeting, as all sinkings were via the deck gun.:doh:

[Gezoes]

AM53 is always a place where I can lose 14 torpedoes.
You just dump them in the ocean, now that's a shame :rotfl:

http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2008/01/13/GREENPEACE_wideweb__470x300,0.jpg
Oh I wish, I wish... :up:

"Hey Nakamura, look! This stupid whale is swimming right at us. He's really pissed too, look at the airbubbles!"

[MarkShot]

Here are the main routes and sinking reports. Sorry, the images are not compressed, since I use them locally when playing AOD. (Yes, I know this is SH3, but the data should be historically accurate.)

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/markshot/tempimages/c01.jpg

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/markshot/tempimages/c02.jpg

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/markshot/tempimages/c03.jpg

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/markshot/tempimages/c04.jpg

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/markshot/tempimages/c05.jpg

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/markshot/tempimages/c06.jpg

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/markshot/tempimages/c07.jpg

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/markshot/tempimages/c08.jpg

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/markshot/tempimages/c09.jpg

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/markshot/tempimages/c10.jpg

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/markshot/tempimages/c11.jpg

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/markshot/tempimages/c12.jpg

[Sigurd]

:o Thanks for that info MarkShot!

I dont know how accurate it will be, but I'll give it a shot. Shore leave is ending soon, so back to the war I go :up:

[Avatar]

Thank you Markshot,
oh do I miss CAoD!

(well, GWX fills that void!)

[Reece]

I'm on my third patrol (4th Carreer), 1939, and just went through the Channel, there were some hairy moments there, to patrol BF25, very good hunting and 3 large Merchants::yep:
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h244/Reecehk/Patrol3b.jpg
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h244/Reecehk/Patrol3a.jpg

[Jimbuna]

KEEP OUT OF THE ENGLISH CHANNEL!! http://www.psionguild.org/forums/images/smilies/wolfsmilies/pirate.gif

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v203/NorthernBel/Smilies/lol2.gif

[Reece]

KEEP OUT OF THE ENGLISH CHANNEL!! http://www.psionguild.org/forums/images/smilies/wolfsmilies/pirate.gif Yeh I like to live dangerously Jim, wasn't so bad in 1939, but still not recommended for beginners!!:lol:

[Sniper_Fox]

right in that little opening before you go into the straight of gibraltar, itssss sooo damn juicy... just watchout for the few DD's that'll venture out to look for youif your lucky, youll catch em off guard and sink a few DD's aswell

if you want to even, go through the straight, go to la spezia for fuel,and then hit alexandria or malta, they've got tons of shipping around there, especially as the war drags on in the med

when the invasion of italy takes place, there will be lots of allied shipping along that area to resupply the invasion

[Jimbuna]

KEEP OUT OF THE ENGLISH CHANNEL!! http://www.psionguild.org/forums/images/smilies/wolfsmilies/pirate.gif Yeh I like to live dangerously Jim, wasn't so bad in 1939, but still not recommended for beginners!!:lol:

Rgr that matey http://www.psionguild.org/forums/images/smilies/wolfsmilies/thumbsup.gif

[KeptinCranky]

Which is exactly why whaling factory ships are priority targets for me, not just the tonnage but the moral high ground for a change :smug:

[Blue_Ninja63]

I've always found AM51,52, and 53 to be very good on a regular basis.

Good luck and good hunting!! :ping: