sharkbit
04-23-09, 08:33 AM
Thought I'd share:
I'm on my third patrol in the Med out of La Spezia in Jan. of 1943(the Med gives you a whole different challenge, doesn't it? :hmmm: ). I pick up a Granville freighter escorted by a Hunt III frigate in the afternoon with mirror like seas and I'm submerged and right on the target's track :o. I'm trying to get off the track as quickly and quietly as possible but the escort picks me up and drives me down for about a half an hour or so.
I plot an end around to get ahead of him after dark for a night surface attack. I get in good position ahead of him after dark and in good position. I want to keep my distance though when in firing position because the escort has radar and I've not been having very good luck dealing with escorts with radar.
So I get set up about 4500m off his track with decks awash and wait for the escort to pass and the freighter to get in position. I fire 3 eels-initially planned two but I was not very confident about my chances of a hit at that range and I am still pretty new at manual targeting.
After about a four and half minute run time that seemed to take forever, the stop watch was past the red line and I thought I had missed :damn: with all three eels when the last 2 eels hit.
Oddly enough, there was no "Torpedo impact" message. Only a quick "She's going down!" message. :hmmm:
She went down quick with a big explosion and lots of smoke, but I was too far away to see much and it was too dark.
I just don't like these long shots, but at this stage in the war, they may become more and more necessary. I'm just so used to 1-2 km shots. Also, I try to aim at different spots on the ship when firing a spread, so it was difficult to see the target at that range in the dark and exactly where on the ship my UZO crosshairs were pointed on the ship when I fired. I may have to do a little more training to get used to some of these longer shots.
I'm on my third patrol in the Med out of La Spezia in Jan. of 1943(the Med gives you a whole different challenge, doesn't it? :hmmm: ). I pick up a Granville freighter escorted by a Hunt III frigate in the afternoon with mirror like seas and I'm submerged and right on the target's track :o. I'm trying to get off the track as quickly and quietly as possible but the escort picks me up and drives me down for about a half an hour or so.
I plot an end around to get ahead of him after dark for a night surface attack. I get in good position ahead of him after dark and in good position. I want to keep my distance though when in firing position because the escort has radar and I've not been having very good luck dealing with escorts with radar.
So I get set up about 4500m off his track with decks awash and wait for the escort to pass and the freighter to get in position. I fire 3 eels-initially planned two but I was not very confident about my chances of a hit at that range and I am still pretty new at manual targeting.
After about a four and half minute run time that seemed to take forever, the stop watch was past the red line and I thought I had missed :damn: with all three eels when the last 2 eels hit.
Oddly enough, there was no "Torpedo impact" message. Only a quick "She's going down!" message. :hmmm:
She went down quick with a big explosion and lots of smoke, but I was too far away to see much and it was too dark.
I just don't like these long shots, but at this stage in the war, they may become more and more necessary. I'm just so used to 1-2 km shots. Also, I try to aim at different spots on the ship when firing a spread, so it was difficult to see the target at that range in the dark and exactly where on the ship my UZO crosshairs were pointed on the ship when I fired. I may have to do a little more training to get used to some of these longer shots.