Awesome encounter

[GoldenRivet]

So there i am in the north sea near lerwick cruising toward my patrol zone when the watch spots 4 destroyers approaching at medium speed.

I fire off a contact report and set periscope depth awaiting to ambush the group.

I let lose of a stern shot which misses the Hunt I destroyer, however my bow shot finds its mark and instantly obliterates the Hunt II Destroyer ahead of me.

So the destroyers go understandably "ape sh*t".

one sets a bee line right at my position and my instincts tell me its time to get the hell out of dodge - so i set ahead flank and order 180 meters.

about this time another warship contact is made, closing fast.

"crap, these guys have called a friend"

WRONG

it is ME who has the friend!!

a commerce raider made the scene and started blasting away relentlessly with all guns firing.

The destroyers were caught completely off guard!!! one took a few shells to the water line mid depth charge run and exploded violently direcly over my head while i was passing about 60-70 meters.

this commerce raider was elite.

soon, my sunken ship marker for the hunt II was joined by two other sunken ship markers... i practically had to dodge the sinking wrecks as they rained down.

I came to periscope depth and watched as the only remaining destroyer limped off to the west at slow speed aflame... the commerce raider came charging in at full speed blasting away as best as he could.

splashes landing all around the final destroyer in the stormy sea...i surfaced behind the commerce raider.

im going to buy that commerce raider's crew an entire damned brewery :rock:

doesnt look like they sustained any damage in the engagement, but i heard a lot of shell splashes and gunfire on hydrophones.

pitty i have no screenies - i was playing my DiD 100% career so all of this was true to life... it was experienced by hydrophone, or by periscope, and finally from the bridge

just thought i wouls share.

good hunting

[GoldenRivet]

doesnt look like they sustained any damage in the engagement

(looks like i spoke too soon :nope: .)

To: BDU
From U-36

Stopping to pick up survivors from sinking Kriegsmarine Commerce Raider Grid AF79, Will deposit them into Bergen, Norway unless otherwise ordered.

~Becker

[Laufen zum Ziel]

Nice. Very brave even for a raider. On first sighting I would be in need of a change of under clothing.

[Galaga Galaxian]

What got her? Damage from engaging the destroyers or backup?

[GoldenRivet]

Would appear to be damage sustained in the fight with the destroyers. She sank 2 and ran the third off with heavy damage. The events took place around 2300 hrs very dark, I didn't notice any obvious damage to the raider but I surfaced nearby and she had developed a list to starboard. She started sinking quite rapidly.

I only had eyes on the last moments of the engagement. Most of the exchange was heard over hydrophones ... Seemed she landed a lot of hits while the destroyers didn't shoot well.

The crew enjoyed exchanging stories with one another in the Bergen beer hall.

We are back under way however... We are expected in our new home of lorient

[BasilY]

What version is that? :salute: Will a commerce raider in the real world really sink 4 destroyers? After all, the DD are faster and they are made for war.

[magicsub2]

the raider took them by surprises, they where expecting a u boat, but not a raider.

[harzfeld]

What version is that? :salute: Will a commerce raider in the real world really sink 4 destroyers? After all, the DD are faster and they are made for war.

Probably if all 4 didn't target raider at same time due to poor weather. Although, destroyers tend to put their heads into water looking for U-boats all the times instead of looking over the horizon. 4 sunk by a raider is probably lucky shot, but raider can still be a serious threat in real world since one did sunk an Australia's light cruiser sending 645 Australia's strong crew to the bottom.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_between_HMAS_Sydney_and_German_auxiliary_cr uiser_Kormoran

[GoldenRivet]

GWX 3.0

Here is the full situation report

2300 hours, no moon, heavy overcast, visibility limited to about 4 or 5 km.

there were 4 destroyers, but i had torpedoed and sunk one of them leaving 3 for the commerce raider to deal with.

Honestly i had no clue it was a commerce raider until i saw it in the scope but the ascent from 180 meters to PD took several minutes.

I observed the situation through hydrophones during the ascent.

it appeard that 2 destroyers were off to the west about 1500 meters commencing depth charge runs against open sea. :O:

the third destroyer had branched off in a search pattern to the east in the vicinity of the approaching commerce raider. I heard exchange of gunfire between these two vessels to the East. it sounded as if there were 3 critical impacts against the destroyer... i only heard several splashes in the vicinity of the yet to be identified commerce raider. it was at this time that i had commenced the ascent to PD

after the three critical hits i heard several secondaries followed by a massive blast and a red sunken ship icon.

at this point it was my assumption that whatever engaged the destroyer neutralized its target quickly... perhaps in a lucky hit?

upon this sinking, the two destroyers toward the West quickly changed course and headed toward the east toward the approaching sound contact.

At this point i heard more gunfire exchanged between the contacts.

again i heard a massive secondary which resulted in a sinking ship icon.

it was about this time i was able to poke up my periscope for a look at the situation.

in the darkness i could only see the faint outline of a destroyer in flames which had reversed course toward the West - his situation seemed quite undesirable.

behind him, i saw muzzle flashes from the now identifiable commerce raider's port side. but the commerce raider landed no additional hits, and the third and final destroyer seemed to retreat to the northwest disappearing into the fog.

At this point the commerce raider seemed to slow rapidly as if to give up his pursuit of the third target.

I surfaced about 900 meters off his port bow noting no damage to the commerce raider.

amazed by the event, i alt tabbed out of the game and made the first post in this thread and returned to the game.

by the time i had returned to the game i had looped around in a shallow left turn and paralleled the raiders course establishing a position about 500 meters off the starboard bow now.

it was then that i noticed a small fire on the deck, and an ever so slight listing to starboard. the angle of the list favored the starboard bow more and more aggressively and within only a few minutes the boat was sinking quite fast.

As the bow slipped under, i noticed two small life boats with rowers.

it was then that i felt the good and decent thing to do (* even if just for pretend) would be to swing by in the rough sea and pluck them out of the cold water and deliver them to the nearest friendly dirt... Bergen, Norway.

[polynike]

WOW exciting stuff! :yeah:

Do these things only happen at 100% realism?

[Kapt Z]

I've only come across a commerce raider(outside of base) once. It was in the Med and my lookouts reported a ship. We closed to investigate and it was a German commerce raider, already awash to the decking. You could hear the bulkheads creaking even on the surface. We pulled in close and 'pretended' to take off survivors and made a trip to Salamis to 'drop' them off.

Don't know who sunk her, but since we were in range of Allied airbases I figure the RAF. I was suprised that a commerce raider would even be sent to the Med. Not too many places to hide there if you cannot submerge.

[Sailor Steve]

WOW exciting stuff! :yeah:

Do these things only happen at 100% realism?
No. Realism level has no effect on ship scripting or random encounters.

Good report GR.

[GoldenRivet]

Good report GR.

Thanks :yeah:

[mookiemookie]

Very nice! No way would I have even considered taking a swipe at the DD's in the first place though. When I see DD task forces, I just leave them be.

[Faamecanic]

Damn...that is sweet. I have tried many times to see ANY friendlies engaging the enemy. I have even died once sending a convoy contact report just off the east coast of England... Hung around and didnt see any of my planes or ships for over a day, then I got too close and had to run and hide as the Convoy escorts came after me.

[GoldenRivet]

Very nice! No way would I have even considered taking a swipe at the DD's in the first place though. When I see DD task forces, I just leave them be.

Not only did i attack the DD task force, but i did so from in between the columns :rock:

fortunately the sea was a bit rough, it was dark, i was in deep water and it was 1940... i would have never considered this attack outside of those conditions.

[Canovaro]

Great story! :yeah:
Next time leave the dd's alone though, you'll get yourself killed.

[Brag]

Excellent report, Rivet :salute:

I am yet to see friendlies in action. :rock:

[subdude]

this is an amazing story, well done!:salute:

[Lt.Fillipidis]

Am i the only one here that had NEVER witnessed a friendly VS enemy encounter besides harbor attacks?

[Weiss Pinguin]

I haven't. I've not even seen the Luftwaffe in action.

[GoldenRivet]

off norway, mid 1940... report any contact using the radio man and follow it and keep reporting it. 70% of the time something shows up to attack it

[mookiemookie]

Yup. There's an airbase in Stavanger.