theluckyone17
03-17-08, 01:07 PM
Yep. Bagged my first carrier. Ok, she was a seaplane tender, but she carried aircraft. That makes her a carrier, see? :yep:
I always start out at the beginning of the war... and when one of my installed mods gets updated, I usually wipe the career rather than wait 'til I return to port. I play a lot of early war patrols :D. As a result, I don't think I've even seen an aircraft carrier more than three times.
Well, this career, on my second patrol, I was charged with recon'ing the Straits of Luzon for twenty four hours as my second objective (the first obj. proving to be targetless). Not six hours into the patrol, the watch crew spot a warship.
I figure it's going to be a destroyer, in one of those "make my day just as bad as it can be" patrols. Nope. Instead, I've got a nice view of a Chitose seaplane tender, 90 starboard AOB, a good 9,000 yards in front of me. Even at that range, she was fairly easy to I.D. There was a small splotch a good 30 degrees in front of her that I assume was an accompanying escort... and no other ships in sight. No bone in her teeth, either, so she couldn't be moving all that fast.
I start taking stadi' readings, getting an handle on her course and speed. About 7,000 yards, I submerge, since we've got calm winds (5 m/s, if I remember right) and starlit skies. No clouds, and no moon, but I figured it was going to appear directly over my boat with a nice big ray painting my location if I stayed on the surface any longer. That's the way my luck usually runs. I point my bow at approximately 45 degree interception course.
At about 5,000 yards, I pop up the 'scope again... and she's decided to run. Got a bone in her teeth now. 'Phones says she's moving at medium speed. Several more minutes, and a few more stadi' readings, and I've got her speed nailed down at 7 knots, course a few degrees off o' north. Thanks to my course change earlier, I'm still off the 90 AOB, roughly. Range is down to about 4,500 yards... and I realize I won't be getting much closer. At 7 knots, I can equal her speed submerged, but I won't be catching her... and I'll be making a racket while I do it. If I surface, that destroyer's going to see me. I could slink off, get some distance, then surface and make an end around, but I'm in the Straits... there's islands in my way. And with my luck, the target's gonna end up zig zagging their way through the Straits, and I'm gonna be high & dry. Might better take a pot shot now, against my better judgements. I'm one of those shotgun guys... up close, personal, less than a 1,000 yards, "make sure you can't miss even if you got Parkinson's" guys. Sometimes you can't get what you want, though...
Just 'bout then, 'Phones announced the presence of another warship, 210 degrees. A second escort, placed well to the rear and starboard side of the tender. That did it. I went to battlestations (wasn't too worried about the target hearing me at this distance), and fired off a set of four torp's. All were at slow speed due to the range, contact, at 6' depth. First 2 degrees to the left, second 1 degree to the left, third zero, fourth two degrees to the right. I thought I'd cover the left side of the target with the first salvo. Started swinging my bow to starboard and went to ahead standard, hoping to get the stern around for another shot, this time covering the right side of the target. I didn't trust the long distance shot, so I wanted to put a lot of warheads out there. Fill a given area with enough warheads, and you're bound to hit something, right? :cool:
Halfway through the turn, the event cam comes up... show the first fish gliding through the water... the hull of the target appears... prop's appear... this one's gonna be close. The torp' is aimed right at the stern of the target, just about at the rudder's post (or whatever you call the part that revolves around). And...... dud. Ppppphhhhhhhtttttttt. Somebody needs to do something about these things. I make a long distance shot like this, and I actually hit the target! And it's a dud! I ranted for a good ten seconds.
Then the event cam popped up, showing the second torpedo gliding in to hit amidships, square on... then the third, hitting in the bow. I didn't bother firing off a second salvo, figuring that I probably wounded her enough to at least slow her down. Besides, I figured I just kicked a hornets' nest. Those two destroyers are gonna be mad. Just stuck the boat on a course to the north, and got my butt down to the depths like it should be.
Sure 'nough, those two destroyers came freight trainin' their way to my location... or where they wanted my location to be, at least. Granted, they were good... they were only off by a 1,000 yards or so, at my best guess. They DC'd and DC'd and DC'd... 'til anything living in that section of the sea wasn't. I just went to runnin' silent, and slinked my way off into the sunset (figuratively speakin'), listening to them blow the crap out of a empty section of water. At some point, the message box pops up, stating the target was goin' under... I took that to mean my 'Phones tech had heard her breaking up.
Got enough distance... surfaced... and whistled my way onto the next waypoint. As long as those destroyers don't try to search the entire Straits, I should be fine :cool:.
Installed Mods:
REL_SH4-ver15_TriggerMaru_Overhaul
TMO_ServicePack_1
RSRDC_TMOv15_V371
RSRDC_v371_Patch1
NSM4 classic
NSM4 Realistic Torpedo Malfunctions
diverate
Difficulty: 100% (Boy I miss that pretty external camera...)
I always start out at the beginning of the war... and when one of my installed mods gets updated, I usually wipe the career rather than wait 'til I return to port. I play a lot of early war patrols :D. As a result, I don't think I've even seen an aircraft carrier more than three times.
Well, this career, on my second patrol, I was charged with recon'ing the Straits of Luzon for twenty four hours as my second objective (the first obj. proving to be targetless). Not six hours into the patrol, the watch crew spot a warship.
I figure it's going to be a destroyer, in one of those "make my day just as bad as it can be" patrols. Nope. Instead, I've got a nice view of a Chitose seaplane tender, 90 starboard AOB, a good 9,000 yards in front of me. Even at that range, she was fairly easy to I.D. There was a small splotch a good 30 degrees in front of her that I assume was an accompanying escort... and no other ships in sight. No bone in her teeth, either, so she couldn't be moving all that fast.
I start taking stadi' readings, getting an handle on her course and speed. About 7,000 yards, I submerge, since we've got calm winds (5 m/s, if I remember right) and starlit skies. No clouds, and no moon, but I figured it was going to appear directly over my boat with a nice big ray painting my location if I stayed on the surface any longer. That's the way my luck usually runs. I point my bow at approximately 45 degree interception course.
At about 5,000 yards, I pop up the 'scope again... and she's decided to run. Got a bone in her teeth now. 'Phones says she's moving at medium speed. Several more minutes, and a few more stadi' readings, and I've got her speed nailed down at 7 knots, course a few degrees off o' north. Thanks to my course change earlier, I'm still off the 90 AOB, roughly. Range is down to about 4,500 yards... and I realize I won't be getting much closer. At 7 knots, I can equal her speed submerged, but I won't be catching her... and I'll be making a racket while I do it. If I surface, that destroyer's going to see me. I could slink off, get some distance, then surface and make an end around, but I'm in the Straits... there's islands in my way. And with my luck, the target's gonna end up zig zagging their way through the Straits, and I'm gonna be high & dry. Might better take a pot shot now, against my better judgements. I'm one of those shotgun guys... up close, personal, less than a 1,000 yards, "make sure you can't miss even if you got Parkinson's" guys. Sometimes you can't get what you want, though...
Just 'bout then, 'Phones announced the presence of another warship, 210 degrees. A second escort, placed well to the rear and starboard side of the tender. That did it. I went to battlestations (wasn't too worried about the target hearing me at this distance), and fired off a set of four torp's. All were at slow speed due to the range, contact, at 6' depth. First 2 degrees to the left, second 1 degree to the left, third zero, fourth two degrees to the right. I thought I'd cover the left side of the target with the first salvo. Started swinging my bow to starboard and went to ahead standard, hoping to get the stern around for another shot, this time covering the right side of the target. I didn't trust the long distance shot, so I wanted to put a lot of warheads out there. Fill a given area with enough warheads, and you're bound to hit something, right? :cool:
Halfway through the turn, the event cam comes up... show the first fish gliding through the water... the hull of the target appears... prop's appear... this one's gonna be close. The torp' is aimed right at the stern of the target, just about at the rudder's post (or whatever you call the part that revolves around). And...... dud. Ppppphhhhhhhtttttttt. Somebody needs to do something about these things. I make a long distance shot like this, and I actually hit the target! And it's a dud! I ranted for a good ten seconds.
Then the event cam popped up, showing the second torpedo gliding in to hit amidships, square on... then the third, hitting in the bow. I didn't bother firing off a second salvo, figuring that I probably wounded her enough to at least slow her down. Besides, I figured I just kicked a hornets' nest. Those two destroyers are gonna be mad. Just stuck the boat on a course to the north, and got my butt down to the depths like it should be.
Sure 'nough, those two destroyers came freight trainin' their way to my location... or where they wanted my location to be, at least. Granted, they were good... they were only off by a 1,000 yards or so, at my best guess. They DC'd and DC'd and DC'd... 'til anything living in that section of the sea wasn't. I just went to runnin' silent, and slinked my way off into the sunset (figuratively speakin'), listening to them blow the crap out of a empty section of water. At some point, the message box pops up, stating the target was goin' under... I took that to mean my 'Phones tech had heard her breaking up.
Got enough distance... surfaced... and whistled my way onto the next waypoint. As long as those destroyers don't try to search the entire Straits, I should be fine :cool:.
Installed Mods:
REL_SH4-ver15_TriggerMaru_Overhaul
TMO_ServicePack_1
RSRDC_TMOv15_V371
RSRDC_v371_Patch1
NSM4 classic
NSM4 Realistic Torpedo Malfunctions
diverate
Difficulty: 100% (Boy I miss that pretty external camera...)