Albrecht Von Hesse
02-02-08, 03:37 PM
I've decided to try taking a boat from the beginning of the war and see how far I can go (in GWX 2 :p ). I'm also going to be swapping Captains as the war progresses and as SH3Commander promotes then-current Captains.
This is my 5th patrol so far, and I've been sent to CF99 from Kiel. More than a bit of a haul, but . . . ::shrugs::
In AN41, 9 Mar '40, around 0400 hours, I start spotting ships. Lots of 'em. Running approximately perpendicular to my course. Unfortunately the sea is dead calm and it's rather bright out with a moon, so going to flank to intercept didn't seem likely to succeed. So I went to dead stop and spent about 15 minutes taking bearings and plotting their course more accurately, then sped off to set myself up ahead of them.
Alas, by the time I could clear visual range and get into position the sun was coming up, so instead of a night surface attack I was going to be stuck with a daylight submerged.
Around 0630 I start getting sound reports. By 0715 I start seeing smoke on the horizon. Again, once they get into visual range I start taking bearings, in case I have to refine my position.
They seemed to be coming right towards me and, yes, when the lead escort (only one, right in the front; I hadn't seen any flankers at that point) was within 5,000 meters it was obvious they were literally coming right towards me. So I decided to make a slow turn towards them and slip right down their middle.
The lead escort had been constantly moving back and forth across the front of the column . . . until we'd closed to around 2,500 meters . . . and then she decided to just steer straight ahead! Going to 1 knot and 14 meters depth and running silent I'd hoped we'd creep past her.
Which we did, although it was a bit tense having her pass within 500 meters!
Even more interesting, once she'd closed within 1,500 meters, my soundman stopped reporting her as a warship. Suddenly, when asking for 'closest warship' instead of having that one reported I started getting reports of a warship at 'long range'. And when I listened in on the hydrophones myself (and boy howdy do screws sound loud at 500 meters! :yep: ) it was coming up as 'unknown' rather than warship.
Needless to say *I* knew what it was, and held my breath as she slowly, gradually slipped down my starboard side, then sternwards.
Now, here I am, free and clear and lurking in the middle of a five-column convoy, about 15 ships per column . . . pop the scope up and start glancing around. Drooling. Large merchants everywhere!!
Ummm . . . wait . . . that one's Norwegian. So's that one . . . And that one's Estonian. And those two are Swedish.
WTF!?
I'm two-thirds the way through the convoy and every stinkin' ship I can spot and ID are neutral!!! :damn: :damn: :damn: :cry:
This is my 5th patrol so far, and I've been sent to CF99 from Kiel. More than a bit of a haul, but . . . ::shrugs::
In AN41, 9 Mar '40, around 0400 hours, I start spotting ships. Lots of 'em. Running approximately perpendicular to my course. Unfortunately the sea is dead calm and it's rather bright out with a moon, so going to flank to intercept didn't seem likely to succeed. So I went to dead stop and spent about 15 minutes taking bearings and plotting their course more accurately, then sped off to set myself up ahead of them.
Alas, by the time I could clear visual range and get into position the sun was coming up, so instead of a night surface attack I was going to be stuck with a daylight submerged.
Around 0630 I start getting sound reports. By 0715 I start seeing smoke on the horizon. Again, once they get into visual range I start taking bearings, in case I have to refine my position.
They seemed to be coming right towards me and, yes, when the lead escort (only one, right in the front; I hadn't seen any flankers at that point) was within 5,000 meters it was obvious they were literally coming right towards me. So I decided to make a slow turn towards them and slip right down their middle.
The lead escort had been constantly moving back and forth across the front of the column . . . until we'd closed to around 2,500 meters . . . and then she decided to just steer straight ahead! Going to 1 knot and 14 meters depth and running silent I'd hoped we'd creep past her.
Which we did, although it was a bit tense having her pass within 500 meters!
Even more interesting, once she'd closed within 1,500 meters, my soundman stopped reporting her as a warship. Suddenly, when asking for 'closest warship' instead of having that one reported I started getting reports of a warship at 'long range'. And when I listened in on the hydrophones myself (and boy howdy do screws sound loud at 500 meters! :yep: ) it was coming up as 'unknown' rather than warship.
Needless to say *I* knew what it was, and held my breath as she slowly, gradually slipped down my starboard side, then sternwards.
Now, here I am, free and clear and lurking in the middle of a five-column convoy, about 15 ships per column . . . pop the scope up and start glancing around. Drooling. Large merchants everywhere!!
Ummm . . . wait . . . that one's Norwegian. So's that one . . . And that one's Estonian. And those two are Swedish.
WTF!?
I'm two-thirds the way through the convoy and every stinkin' ship I can spot and ID are neutral!!! :damn: :damn: :damn: :cry: