Task Force !

[JG10r_Bull]

hi Guys

well is now 22/5/40 in my GWX 2.0 campain and i keep getting radio reports of Task force's around GB but every time i set off to cach them i can never find them ???? WTH this is the only thing i can NOT find.. I can all ways find convoys and sing Ships but no TF ???? and if i jump on the hydrophone i can pick up targets from 25kms away .. ( GOOD EARS ) :) so anyone know some tips on how to fine them ?

[GoldenRivet]

the problem with intercepting a task force is that these task forces are usually running along at 25+ knots... and at best your U-boat is going to crank out 17-18 knots depending on the weather.

If you use typical intercept tactics like you would on a 4 - 7 knot merchant convoy you will never find them, also you will have a difficult time interepting them if you are not already in an ideal position to do so at the moment your receive the report.

furthermore, it is my understanding that many convoys and task forces in GWX2 will change course slightly every few hours to throw off possible intercepts (just as they did in real life) so by the time you get to your estimated intercept point, they may have changed direction already and would therefore not be where you were expecting.

as far as intercepting contact reports go... be it a single ship, a warship a convoy or a task force... Task forces are the most difficult to ambush because your approach must be fast... but it must also be increadibly stealthy.

[GoldenRivet]

one other thing i will Add:

A task force can be defined as a group of 2 or 3 small destroyers

OR

it could be a group of 6 to 8 destroyers with 3 cruisers a battleship and a fleet carrier.

If you are playing on full realism (no external cam etc) You dont really know what you will find until you intercept, so keeop it in mind, you will either be really upset with what you see through the scope... or really excited!

[Fenris_Wolf]

From my limited experience in this, military task forces usually don't take the usual convoy / shipping routes and travel much faster. From experience, atleast 16 knots during the early years but ~20 knots after 1942.

I do have a hint but the place is in Mediterranean. If you want to encounter a task force (playing GWX 2.0, May 1942), head to C064 which is north east of Tobruk. Move exactly to the center of the place where it's written C064 on the navigation map. Now with the ruler draw a straight line to the east, keeping it's origin at the dead center of C064. Now measure a ~30 degrees angle below this line (like between SE and ESE) and draw another line of 25 km length at this angle. Delete the former line. This new line is your patrol route and if you patrol it long enough while also submerged, you will have a healthy chance of encountering large task forces with capital ships too!

I recently bagged two capital ships here. Patrol it submerged at 2 knots and you can get contacts at either sides! (but only military ships) :arrgh!:

Good luck!

[Biggles]

I donwed Horatio two days ago. (Nelson that is). Just west of Narvik, april 1940. I got reports of a TF heading north by the coast of Norway, so I added two and two and positioned myself in a thin straight where I assumed they'd show up. And so they did: H.M.S Nelson and 9 DDs, that's all. Nothign else. Four eels in the side of Nelson, and it went down under within minutes. The escorts was pretty ticked off after this, and they managed to guess my position, give or take a few hundred meters. They dropped a crapload of DCs, but they didn't even give me a scratch. I went away unhurt. Piece of cake. That's the easiest way to deal with a TF: Examine the possible routs, take one spot, stay there, and wait! Very difficult on the open sea I would guess, and I would be right.

[Hanomag]

Kaluen,

You'd have better luck chasing a Ferrari on foot! :o

TF's are overrated anyways... usually 5 DDs and some lame-o warship, maybe a Bogue Carrier or Cruiser. Thats what the ones I have stumbled across would contain or even worse all DDs and or Torpedo Boats <GaG>.

Be happy with convoys and your singles. Chances are you may bag a BB or other warship steaming in with convoy, especially earlier in the war. :arrgh!:

[Jimbuna]

That's really cool :rock: .....when your guestimate is correct ;) But a real bummer when it doesn't quite pan out :damn:

Most times for me it's the latter :lol:

[JG10r_Bull]

Kaluen,

You'd have better luck chasing a Ferrari on foot! :o

TF's are overrated anyways... usually 5 DDs and some lame-o warship, maybe a Bogue Carrier or Cruiser. Thats what the ones I have stumbled across would contain or even worse all DDs and or Torpedo Boats <GaG>.

Be happy with convoys and your singles. Chances are you may bag a BB or other warship steaming in with convoy, especially earlier in the war. :arrgh!:

Yes true.

so far in this in campain i have sunk 3 BB's, 2 Cruisers, over 10 DD's but i what a Carrier!!!!:ping: that's Y i lookin 4 them

but the TF around GB are only running at 7-8 knots but from what u guys are sayin thay must be cangein there rout alot ??? :damn:

[GoldenRivet]

By targeting Task forces you are eliminating ships that consume a great deal of England's limited fuel and oil supply... while millions of tons of fuel and oil slip by you safely making it to the british coast this strategy does not assist the German war effort.

its true that BBs are worth a great deal of "empty tonnage", and if the opportunity presents itself, true U-boat captains would have attempted to sink one... but the primary objective is to starve england out of the war by cutting of her supply routes.

interestingly enough, small merchants can sometimes be worth more tonnage and renown than an average sized destroyer. :doh:

sinking individual warships is like treating the symptom - sinking merchants is like curing the disease!

lets think about this like Admirals for a moment:

The British Royal Navy was the largest in the world in 1939... consisting of

15 Battleships with another 5 in construction

7 aircraft carriers with another 5 in construction

66 (approximately) cruisers of various types

184 destroyers of various types with approximately 50 more either being built or being acquired through the lend lease agreement

60 submarines with another 9 being built at the time

40 to 60 short range patrol vessels of the flower class or larger

including the Royal Australian Navy, Royal Canadian Navy, Royal Indian Navy, and the Royal New Zealand Navy the crown was putting up some impressive numbers.

Compare the above to the Kriegsmarin numbers (approximate)

major Battleships = 6
pocket battleships = 3
heavy cruysiers =7
light cruisers =6
auxilliary crusiers =11
destroyers = approximately 60
U-boats = 1,153 in total (but there were only approximately 40 available at the outbreak of war)

U-boats would have to successfully attack british warships continuously for most of the duration of the war to even remotely approach evening out the numbers.

On the other hand, Merchant ships are increadibly valuable. while Bristish warships are out on patrol consuming valuable resources like fuel and oil, merchant ships are continuously replinishing the stock.

For u-boats to be considered successful they must stop the replinishment of fuel and oil or slow it to a trickle.

Warships should not be attacked as they can be captured once Germany invades England. :up:

( I have to wonder though... why didnt nearly half of the British Home Fleet sortie into Wilhelmshaven and start raising hell in 1939?) hahaha

[Biggles]

The difference mate: we know the ending of this war. No matter if you sink every single merchant that sails across the Atlantic; Germany loses the war in May of -45. So why not have some fun and sink the big guns too?

[GoldenRivet]

well yes... we do know how this ends... but my post is based on the assumption that a player is playing with historical accuracy in mind.

agreed though, play it however you wish to play it.

[Hanomag]

Kaluen JG,

I hate telling you this BUT last patrol I sank 2 Bogue class carriers, 1 TF was in Grid BE and the other DO between Puerto Rico and Dominican Rep. Was Aug 1943. Both had a 5-7DD screen. They are not alot of tonnage. :smug:

The juice definitely didnt seem worth the squeeze. :arrgh!:

But its always fun to sink some of the different types of warships.

[Fenris_Wolf]

Germany lost the war, but did Britain really win?

London ceased to be the "world capital" after the war.

:|\\

[JG10r_Bull]

Germany lost the war, but did Britain really win?

London ceased to be the "world capital" after the war.

:|\\

no one ever wins a War my friend.there's allways great loses on both side's just one side is better off then the other :hmm:

[bookworm_020]

no one ever wins a War my friend.there's allways great loses on both side's just one side is better off then the other :hmm:

No side wins a war, both lose, one more that another.

BTW Love your sig, A Cows with guns fan???:hmm:

[JG10r_Bull]

no one ever wins a War my friend.there's allways great loses on both side's just one side is better off then the other :hmm:
BTW Love your sig, A Cows with guns fan???:hmm:

rgr that :) http://www.killsometime.com/animations/animation.asp?ID=36