Tell us what you are upto in your current campaign

[Zosimus]

Lorient
U-130
Patrol 15 complete.
10 merchants sunk.
92,667 tons.
IXC
82.58 hull integrity.

Career Total: 1,082,302 tons.
Status: Retired.
Fifteen patrols is enough.

[Zosimus]

U-108 in Lorient
First patrol started on 2 April 1941. Now completed.
13 ships sunk.
87,866 tons.
Promoted to Oberleutnant
Hull Integrity: 88.49%

The last kill was especially lucky. I had one torpedo left up front and so I closed on the convoy I had been following. I targeted the smallest ship I could find and let fly. About 20 seconds after I fired, I got pinged. I figured the ships would start zigzagging and they did because my shot missed the small ship. It hit the ship behind it, a larger 10,000 ton merchant and sank it.

Better lucky than good, I guess.

It's been awhile since I've had to deal with crew fatigue. I'll need to earn some medals and get things back where they belong.

[Nerazzurri]

U-30 returns to Wilhelmshaven with Karl Richert aboard after patrol 5 on 11.4.40.

He sunk 9 allied ships (and 1 neutral :oops:) for 32,961 tons. 3 Swordfish aircraft were also shot down in one engagement.

Was a dreadfully quiet patrol until we were almost at Gibraltar where we picked up some lone merchants. Richert foolishly didn't confirm the identity of an unlit freighter and it was a neutral - Bdu congratulated the good work in sinking it nevertheless :ping:

The journey homeward was lacklustre too. The actions off Gib will be noted for future sailings :hmm2: Looking forward to the next patrol.

[Nerazzurri]

Got myself into the middle road of a large convoy, May '40, just to have a look and observe. All of a sudden the Nelson appeared in a central column.

Despite Bdu orders it would've been rude not to, as it was just about to naturally cross my bow :ping:

Put 4 into her and she went down after 12 minutes. Goebbels will be pleased, if not Doenitz :arrgh!:

I tried to shadow the convoy and get in front again, but I made a silly mistake of not confirming it's course periodically and it gave me the slip. Having said that I did save (far enough away from the Nelson sinking) - maybe that's a bug I'm not aware of? Could the convoy have disappeared because I saved too close to it? Don't know; still learning :hmm2:

[Zosimus]

U-108 reporting from Bessel.
Second patrol complete.
66,235 tons.
Hull Integrity: 65.23%

The weather was terrible every step of the way. Fortunately I finally found a 6 knot convoy and polished some ships off. There was an auxiliary cruiser, but I didn't try any shots.

The only really interesting thing that happened was I had a Medium Cargo ship damaged, and I was trying to close for the kill with a deck gun. I was at about 6,000 meters when the weather cleared to 16 km and the ship opened fire on me. It also called for nearby destroyers. A frigate answered the call and started firing on me.

I accelerated to 18 knots to try to close to 4,000 meters and open fire, but it soon became clear that the frigate was going to catch me, so under I went.

Apparently while the frigate was firing it hit another merchant in the area that was unrelated to the convoy. That merchant returned fire and before long it sunk (gray). Later when I was back at the surface the frigate was burning merrily as it steamed its way through the night.

[Nerazzurri]

Apparently while the frigate was firing it hit another merchant in the area that was unrelated to the convoy. That merchant returned fire and before long it sunk (gray). Later when I was back at the surface the frigate was burning merrily as it steamed its way through the night.

:har: :arrgh!:

[Nerazzurri]

Patrol 6, 9.5.40-12.6.40, 6 ships, 60k tons, Knights Cross and German Cross

No contacts for 11 days then the convoy described earlier with HMS Nelson. Attacked a convoy after that and took out an empire and coastal freighters and a passenger cargo.

Later on we sank a lone tramp steamer and whale factory ship.

I also attacked a coastal tanker but missed. I've got a feeling the torpedo went under it as it had a draft of only 4.5m and there was a bit of a sea. Am I correct in thinking in GWX torpedoes can travel at a minimum depth of 3m regardless of a shallower setting in the TDC??

[Foggy]

I also attacked a coastal tanker but missed. I've got a feeling the torpedo went under it as it had a draft of only 4.5m and there was a bit of a sea. Am I correct in thinking in GWX torpedoes can travel at a minimum depth of 3m regardless of a shallower setting in the TDC??

I don't recall ever having an eel go under a ship until it happened to me last night. Twice. Heavy seas, was hard to use the periscope. The eel got right up to the Black Swan class that I fired at and it conveniently went right under it and kept on trucking away on the other side. Then I had another shot moments later at something else in the convoy and it went under that ship as well. After that, I set my torp to cruise at 2m and hit a whale factory ship, but it didn't sink that ship (maybe because I hit it higher up and it didn't flood properly?). I set the rest of them to 3m after that, which seemed to be a happy medium for the rough sea.

[sublynx]

"Am I correct in thinking in GWX torpedoes can travel at a minimum depth of 3m regardless of a shallower setting in the TDC??"

Not to my knowledge but of course it's hard to know for certain.

Without h.sie's mods the eels keep their depth pretty well and there are no surface runners. With h.sie one might actually rather wait for better weather than risk all of one's eels to fail in heavy seas.

[sublynx]

Commentary of the BdU to the KTB of "U-353" from 17.10.41 to 3.11.41

1.) The lack of other U-boats hindered an efficient attack on the HG convoy.

2.) The heavy seas made depth keeping difficult while attacking.

3.) Torpedo failures hindered success despite two good approaches to the convoy.

4.) For the first war patrol of the crew and commander in difficult weather the result of two ships for 6300 GRT is adequate.

[Nerazzurri]

Thanks :up: My memory is getting worse - thought I could remember reading that somewhere a number of years ago; obviously not :oops:

Very pleased with myself tonight (what is they say about pride again.......?). Latched onto a convoy and sank 11 ships in 3 separate attacks. Some things have finally clicked into place regarding escort evasion and attack positioning for convoys.

I'm not saying I'm good - I'm not. Especially as it's only July 1940. But during that patrol I can finally relate to what people have advised on the forum over the years about convoy attacks and evasion.

I'm glad I picked SH3 up again, after installing and uninstalling four or five times over the last seven or eight years. The immersion is nice this time too - I'm keeping a simple log (paper and pen, not electronic) and printing out patrol reports from Commander for a hard copy to look back on.

I've also bought the U Boat Commanders Handbook and I'll be utilising some of that in my gameplay. Not because I want a hardcore experience, but just to add a bit more immersion.

Thank you to those members who have always been here offering advice to everyone each time I've came back. I notice one or two have disappeared over the years, but there's new ones too who obviously have passion for the game.

:ping::salute:

[Foggy]

I've been getting into a bad habit lately - playing around with convoy escorts, then taking them out. I'm getting pretty good at it, especially if they are chasing me and my tail is towards them. It's a bad habit, results in poor tonnage per torpedo, but it's fun and satisfying for some reason lol. It's an unnecessary cat & mouse game that Uncle Donitz wouldn't approve of, and overall a bad habit and waste of time.

I found a massive convoy last run and ended up taking out 3 escorts just because. Afterwards, I felt shame for having wasted 3 torps on such small vessels, while watching defenseless merchants sail away after I was out of eels. :oops: I must stop this behavior lol.

[Nerazzurri]

I've been getting into a bad habit lately - playing around with convoy escorts, then taking them out. I'm getting pretty good at it, especially if they are chasing me and my tail is towards them. It's a bad habit, results in poor tonnage per torpedo, but it's fun and satisfying for some reason lol. It's an unnecessary cat & mouse game that Uncle Donitz wouldn't approve of, and overall a bad habit and waste of time.

I found a massive convoy last run and ended up taking out 3 escorts just because. Afterwards, I felt shame for having wasted 3 torps on such small vessels, while watching defenseless merchants sail away after I was out of eels. :oops: I must stop this behavior lol.

I had a very long spell of good weather in my last patrol with calm seas and could easily have taken out the escorts at distance with magnetics and bagged several smaller merchants and freighters with the deck gun.

However, I resisted :rock:

I couldn't resist taking out the Southampton though. Well.......if capital ships insist on sailing in the midst of a convoy then they'll get what they're asking for :ping:

[Foggy]

I couldn't resist taking out the Southampton though. Well.......if capital ships insist on sailing in the midst of a convoy then they'll get what they're asking for :ping:

Haha, I once took out the Southampton when it just happened to be docked at Dover. Was on my way through the channel and I figured I'd just pop my head in their base to see what was parked there and the Southampton was front and center. Fired a couple at it and ran like hell. :arrgh!:

[Nerazzurri]

Harbour raids, a channel run and attacking escorts - there's a pattern forming here :hmm2:

[kilzima]

Narrowly missed being rammed by a destroyer (literally within 1 meter of my stern) after a vast miscalculation of his speed and direction. I was trying to go toe-to-toe with my deck gun and got a few good hits, unfortunately not enough to immobilize or destroy him. Once I realized his intention of ramming I quickly ordered hard to port / ahead flank and as mentioned barely squeaked by. I decided that a straight up surface fight with this guy was a bad idea at this point, luckily his shells didn't do too much damage and my pressure hull was fine, so after the near miss I ordered a crash dive and evasive maneuvers. Ran silent for a while at 60m and got out of there. I decided not to re-engage with this guy considering the close call he gave me. Gonna continue to my patrol grid and learn from my mistake. Back to hunting.

[AZTiger98]

It was Sept. 1, 1939. I had been in command of U-3 for only a short time, following the unexpected death of her previous captain, Captain Lieutenant Joachim Schepke. Still very green around the gills. But orders were orders, and U-3 was shipping out that night. I watched, silently, as the crew came and went from the base, enjoying their last few hours of revelry before boarding the ship that would be our home for the next several days. The youthful innocence of most of the crew struck me. Most of them didn't seem old enough to have enlisted, I thought. But here they were, ready to defend their homeland.

Our orders came through at 23:00 hours. We were to sail out of Wilhelmshaven and head northwest to the Scapa Flow region just off the northern coast of Britain. "Great," I thought. Our first cruise, still trying to get these guys to tell the front end of the torpedo from the back, and these dummkopfs were sending us to the coast of Britain? Near the Naval Air Station north of Scotland? "Someone in High Command doesn't like me very much," I muttered.

After a rousing speech to the crew, we fired up the engines, and off we went. It was 3 minutes until midnight, 9/1/39. Heading at a modest speed out of port, we sailed around the coast and entered the dark gray waters of the North Sea. It was beautiful weather - clear skies, the stars seemed to light up as if to say, "Follow us!". With anticipation rising, the crew began their regular shifts, eager to find our first targets.

9/3/39 - Two days at sea, and already getting an itchy trigger finger. Suddenly, a message starts printing out from the transmitter box. We are now at war with Britain. High Command has told us that we are free to engage and sink any British ships we encounter. Gladly. These Tommies will never know what hit them after we finish with them!

9/5/39 - After another two days, we finally enter region AN16. Slowing our speed, we begin a nice little search patter around the area. With our being so close to Scapa Flow, I don't want to attract too much attention. All of a sudden, the deck watchman calls down to tell me that he's spotted the HMS Johnston - a J Class destroyer - about 45 degrees off our port bow, heading due north. A bit panicked, I order the crew to crash dive - forgetting to take a sounding of the water, first. We hit the bottom pretty hard, damaging several systems and the hull a bit. After waiting a while, our sonarman reports that the Johnston has proceeded to the north and is no longer a threat to us (unless she turns around).

Surfacing the boat, I put the damage control team to work on repairing the damage caused by our hasty crash dive. They don't take long to get it completely fixed up, and we resume our patrol. This was NOT the way I wanted to have my day start after breakfast!

Around 1350 hours, all has been quiet, but then the deck watch reports a British merchant about 3700 yards away. We dive to periscope depth and begin to plot a solution. Looking through the periscope, I can see we've found the Sherwood. She has no clue we're here, either.

The torpedoman tells me he's got a firing solution. I look through the scope and order 2 torpedoes to be fired, from about 800 yards away. The time is 1506 on 9/5/39. The first torp strikes the Sherwood at just behind midships, but the second one misses. No matter, though. The Sherwood is listing to starboard pretty badly. At 1507, she begins to slip beneath the waves, and U-3 has claimed her first kill of the war!

For the next several hours, nothing much happens. The excitement is building with the crew, fresh with confidence at their early success. At 9pm, we spot a coastal merchant, the Dover. We try to sneak up on her, but she sees us and leads us on a bit of a chase through the area. Just before 0200 on 9/6/39, we finally catch her in our sights and get a good firing solution. At 0148, two fish leave the U-3's tubes, 870 yards away from the Dover. Soon two huge explosions rock the U-3 and shatter the silence of the night. The Dover is blown to pieces, with what's left of her burning hulk beginning to slip beneath the waves at 0149. Kill #2.

With only one fish left, not much else I can do. All of a sudden, sonar tells me he's picked up a warship in the area. Not really wanting to tangle with a Tommy warship when I only have 1 torpedo, I hurriedly bring the periscope down, order the boat to dive to periscope depth, and change course to the SE. Staying at 2mph for a while to avoid giving the Tommies any idea where we are, we increase to flank speed when we're somewhere off the eastern coast of Scotland.

Travelling underwater for a while to avoid any searching planes, we finally surface early on the morning of 9/7/39. At 0920, sonar tells me he's picked up a Norwegian merchant near us - but with only one fish left, I just want to get home. We continue on a ESE course back to Wilhelmshaven, arriving at the base around midnight on 9/9/39.

Upon speaking with my flotilla commander, I learn that Command was impressed with the way my crew handled themselves on their first run. Sinking 2 boats for a tonnage of 8491 isn't too shabby. Torpedoman Dieter Goldbeck even earned a U-Boat Front Clasp for his skillful work in bringing down the Sherwood and the Dover. The crew and I are looking forward to a few days of well-deserved rest, but we know the next patrol is not far away.

[Zosimus]

U-108 in Lorient
Third patrol complete.
62,956 tons.
Hull Integrity: 75.75%

Was unintentionally rammed by merchant shortly after firing a salvo.

[sublynx]

I kept a war diary for most of the 3rd patrol of U-353. Three attacks against a convoy for one ship. Torpedo malfunctions ruined the attacks. Was able to keep hidden or escape without danger. I cruised home after the third attack with x2048 TC, so no report on the journey back. The weather didn't work like I thought I had edited it.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eaeVUuAROh5GdkD0tQSj3C_jmUwRak7A-al_q0TscHE/pub

[Admiral Halsey]

Currently in the North Sea on September 24th and just sank a Polish freighter for my first kill of the war. Was quite surprised when I saw the Polish flag flying from the mast.

[Admiral Halsey]

28th of September 1939 and sending complaints to BdU about the torpedoes. Was just north of Scotland when I came across a TF consisting of 4 destroyers surrounding a lovely Courageous class aircraft carrier heading on the perfect interception course. Got into firing positizon and fired a spread of 4 that headed straight and true towards the carrier from no more the 700 yards away. Every single one of them ran deep even though I set them to run shallow! Dönitz better get my messages about the torps or heads will roll!

[Jimbuna]

BE MORE AGGRESSIVE!!


http://s4.postimg.org/d56tfu4bd/whistle_1.gif (http://postimage.org/)

[Admiral Halsey]

BE MORE AGGRESSIVE!!


http://s4.postimg.org/d56tfu4bd/whistle_1.gif (http://postimage.org/)

I try but its hard when BdU is handing us some defective torps! If I get one more reply saying that i'm the problem I know exactly were to shove those torps as well.

[Sailor Steve]

I try but its hard...
You misunderstand the situation. Your thinking is that sinking enemy ships is good, but living to fight another day and protecting your crew is better.

Somewhere in BdU's structure is a petty bureaucrat whose thinking is that if you don't die in combat you weren't being aggressive enough.

All clear now?

[utops]

February 18,1941

U-46,VIIB

200km south of Rockall Bank im very,very quiet because we hunting convoy.

I saw there is plenty of tankers in this convoy :rock:

[Nerazzurri]

im very,very quiet because we hunting convoy

A black swan just heard you typing that post............I'll be at your funeral to pay my respects..............

[Scout614]

I'm in between a dead career and restarting a new one so lets just stay studying so when ship selection day comes I can be on one of those shiny new Zerstroyers

[Admiral Halsey]

Just got a reminder to respect even early war destroyers.

December 23rd, 1939.

I'm about 800 miles due west of Gibraltar when I encounter a convoy at night escorted by two destroyers. I slip past the destroyers and sink a Medium Oiler, Old Merchant, and Medium Merchant before I get bracketed by the destroyers and i'm forced to dive. Well once under water I could not shake either of the two and no matter how deep I went the kept finding me. Then lucky hit by a depth charge ends up destroying both periscopes and the radio antenna so if I survived i'd have to RTB. Eventually after going to 180 meters I was eventually able to shake them off and soon surfaced wondering if one of the captains name was Frederic John Walker.

[utops]

A black swan just heard you typing that post............I'll be at your funeral to pay my respects..............

Maybe so but they mistaken it for sound of seagull drops or something.

16000 BRT to my account.

They never knew what hit'em :)

[Procyon1966]

U-45 TypeVII B
Hanging around AN16 area. I've sunk ten ships so far for 42,000 tons.
I took a tour of Scapa Flow and put three eels into a battle ship. Royal Oak?
I have two eels left and 40 rounds in the deck gun.
When this patrol ends I'm going to install the no Vampire night vision mod.
I'm having a blast! And so is my crew, but I think it's time for them to go back to port for some partying. LOL.

[banryu79]

December 23rd, 1939.
... Eventually after going to 180 meters I was eventually able to shake them off and soon surfaced wondering if one of the captains name was Frederic John Walker.
No, Walker at the moment, still a Commander and not yet a Capitain, is scheduled for early retirement... :D

[Admiral Halsey]

April 10th, 1942

Disaster heading out of Lorient as my crew were getting ready for a Caribbean trip. I ran into the escort(you turn away for 5 seconds...) and ended up with the sub dead in the water and barely afloat. I aborted the patrol at once and ended up having a tense talking with the Flotilla commander.

[banryu79]

December 23rd, 1939.

some moments later...

April 10th, 1942.

Hey, Admiral Halsey, have you recently intalled the "Flux Capacitor" upgrade on your uboat? How much renown does it cost?! :)

[Admiral Halsey]

some moments later...

Hey, Admiral Halsey, have you recently intalled the "Flux Capacitor" upgrade on your uboat? How much renown does it cost?! :)

Been playing almost non-stop and been getting around 3 patrols done a day.

[sublynx]

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eaeVUuAROh5GdkD0tQSj3C_jmUwRak7A-al_q0TscHE/pub

[Zosimus]

U-108 in Lorient
Fourth patrol complete.
70,258 tons.
Hull Integrity: 89.98%

It was shaping up to be a bad patrol until I lucked into a 5-knot convoy with two large merchants of 10k tons each. I sank both of them in a 4-shot salvo. Two fired aft, and two fore.

[Admiral Halsey]

U-108 in Lorient
Fourth patrol complete.
70,258 tons.
Hull Integrity: 89.98%

It was shaping up to be a bad patrol until I lucked into a 5-knot convoy with two large merchants of 10k tons each. I sank both of them in a 4-shot salvo. Two fired aft, and two fore.

You call 50K tons sunk a bad patrol? For me a patrol with any tonnages is a good one.

[Zosimus]

Well, I got the orders from BdU to start shooting at destroyers, and I tried it without much success. Wasting 4 torpedoes without even hitting anything normally shapes up to be a bad patrol.

Now that I've upped to the IXC I should have more eels, and thus get better tonnage.

[sublynx]

↯ from U 353 to BdU: = Convoy AL6392 course east medium speed. SSW 7 clear sea 6 medium visibility. Sea too rough to follow. Continuing towards patrol grid. Wähling.=

[Admiral Halsey]

October 28th 1942, somewhere in the South Atlantic off the coast of Africa,
Got warnings of Radar being detected and after watching them realized it was a ship heading towards me on a parallel course. Decided to take a chance and plotted an intercept course which I guesstimated would leave me about 3000 meters away from it when it came time to loose my torps. 5 minutes after submerging my hydrophone guy picks up not only a warship but three merchants heading towards me and after plotting their course they should arrive 3000 meters in front of me still. Time passes they get close to me, I raise my scopes and lo and behold they're 6000+ meters away from me! That was a big problem as by this point of the war my loadout consists solely of T3s until the homing torps come online so I had to watch a convoy that only had one escort and 3 large freighters with no guns other then AA(so I could've shelled them) pass me by. The lesson to take from all of this? No matter how correct you think your bearings are keep checking them!

[Zosimus]

U-108 in Lorient
Fifth patrol complete.
91,723 tons.
Hull Integrity: 100.00% :up:

Had two CTDs with the new IXC.
Crash dive depth adjusted to 100m

While on patrol overheard on British radio that Pearl Harbor had been bombed.
Restrictions on targeting American ships removed.
No American ships sighted.

[Zosimus]

February 17, 1942

U-108 in Lorient
Sixth patrol complete.
88,846 tons.
Hull Integrity: 90.56%

No CTDs. No American ships sighted.

Enemy sonar is getting better. At 194 meters under the sea I still had trouble with pings.

[Zosimus]

April 5, 1942

U-108 in DR11.
Seventh Patrol Assigned to Port of Spain.
Very long trip.
One ship sunk.
Attacked by one airplane. Fired on plane as approached. Dived when plane passed. Before we could get under the plane turned around and began shooting at us again. Plane crashed shortly after we got safely under water.

On return trip no hydrophone contact. No sightings. No contact updates. No radar hits. Radar use problematic with high seas.
Weather 2 Sea 6.
Changing course for DR77 hoping to pick up convoys heading towards New York. Plan to dock with new U-boat in CC for fuel.

[sublynx]

From U 353 to BdU: = Convoy in AK3820. 5-6 escorts and guarded from air at times. SE 4, clear, sea 2, visibility medium. 4 torpedoes left. Boat heavily damaged in depth charging. Lesser damage from air attack. Deep diving questionable. Request permission to return to port. Wähling. =

[sik1977]

CAPTAIN'S LOG
Patrol 18
U-107, Type IXB, 2nd Flotilla
Left at: May 16, 1941, 15:08
From: Lorient
Mission Orders: Patrol grid CF98

Patrol results
Crew losses: 0
Ships sunk: 18
Aircraft destroyed: 0
Patrol tonage: 220647 tons

My maximum tonnage in a patrol so far... and it was the one where i went to support Bismarck at BE53 and sank both HMS Rodney and HMS King George V... But couldn't save Bismarck, as it sank after taking down one of the two cruisers...

Current Type IXB/C career:

20 Patrols (468 days) - 274 (212/62 merchants/warships) ships sunk - 2477411 (1643586/833825) Tonnage - 6 enemy planes shot down - over 70k renown accumulated.

(GWX 2.1, only 71% realism settings)

[Zosimus]

Congratulations. That's an impressive total for a patrol.

However, I wonder about the number of patrols you've done. Twenty? Really?

Otto Kretschmer was the was the most-successful U-boat commander of World War II, and he had a total of 16 patrols. In my opinion, 20 patrols is a lot for one kapitänleutnant.

[sik1977]

Congratulations. That's an impressive total for a patrol.

However, I wonder about the number of patrols you've done. Twenty? Really?

Otto Kretschmer was the was the most-successful U-boat commander of World War II, and he had a total of 16 patrols. In my opinion, 20 patrols is a lot for one kapitänleutnant.

Otto was captured in 1941 after sinking the Liner I think, otherwise he may have done more patrols... lol...

Actually, my first career has 42 patrols, when i gave it up after installing GWX. Another one has 16 patrols, and now this one, my most successful in Type IXs only has 20 so far. I plan to finish the war with this career... realistic or not... lol...

BTW, by now all my officers, petty officers and half of the sailors have the Knights Cross etc.... lol... so realism isn't really all there anyway...

[Scout614]

I died 7 days into the war a MTB rammed me

[Darthlucky]

Just returned from my ninth patrol in U-46

Left Wilhelmshaven on March 27, 1940. Started off southwest of Norway, only saw neutral Danish and Norwegian ships (heh, just ya'll wait). Decided to head around the north of Scotland.

March 31, sank first ship on this patrol, a coastal tanker just south east of the Pentland Firth. One torpedo, sank by the stern, hated using a torp on such a small fry, but the weather was too rough to use the deck gun.

Headed south to patrol off Hartlepool-Hull

April 2, got a radio message about a convoy, heading south east, plotted intercept course and headed off. Weather was horrible, visibility down to a few hundred meters, driving wind and rain. Went to PD and guided my way into the convoy, went up scope and saw a coastal freighter bearing down on me. Fired a snap stern shot at a large merchant, then did a 180 and fired on an empire type and an ore carrier. Torpedo hit the large merchant, and all hell breaks lose, star shells are going off, searchlights are sweeping the area and the escorts barge in and start dropping dc's. Mind you, I'm stil at pd, so I just go all quite, dumb and happy, and wait for things to settle down. The Ore carrier is hit and goes down by the bow, the large merchant goes dead in the water, with a fire forward of the bridge, and the empire type just sits there. I find this odd, it hasn't been hit or anything, just goes dead in the water. I wait till the convoy moves off, then finish off the empire and large merchant.

April 2, after leaving the convoy area, I encounter a lone ore carrier, which is set ablaze and sunk with the deck gun. Having broken open the sealed orders, I set a course for Norwegian waters.

April 3, encounter my first Polish flagged vessel, eleven rounds of gun fire later, a small merchant goes to the bottom.

I head to AF53 and wait a week, soon enough, we're at war with Norway.

April 10, I surface to sink a fishing boat only to have a Swordfish come diving at me, my AA gunner hits the pesky flier with the first burst from the 20mm and the plane crashes into the sea. The fishing boat doesn't last much longer, three well placed shots and it goes under. Later that day, a large tugboat crosses my path, and is removed from the surface.

April 11, fired two torpedoes at the HMS Nelson, they missed but one of the escorts must have seen the tracks, they spend an hour looking for me in the wrong area, then sail off.

April 13, I spy a convoy of three troop ships, one Southampton class CL and several destroyers. I fire my last three torpedoes at 6500m at the troopships. One premies, one misses and the last one hits the middle troopship in the bow. An hour and a half later and she drives herself under the water.

My torpedoes expended, my crew and I return to Wilhelmshaven, with promotions and medals to go around.

[Friedhelm Winter]

I died 7 days into the war a MTB rammed me



"ALARM!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dm-uif8SYYs

[Scout614]

couldnt submerge lol a DD put a nice hole in me a few days earlier
"ALARM!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dm-uif8SYYs

[Friedhelm Winter]

Still would've moved the men out, and repaired it submerged.

Unless it was your electric engines, then you're a sitting duck.

What mod were you playing? Flooding realism in the vanilla version is terrible, I'm assuming it was GW but hey, it might be cool once I've finished my career.

[Scout614]

GWX i was trying to get the hell out of scapia flow 4 inch shell though the pressure hull i was a gonner anyway

[Zosimus]

U-108 in BB75.
Seventh Patrol Assigned to Port of Spain.

Two ships sunk so far. Diesel fuel 50 percent gone.

No sightings. Two contact updates in BB75 so I came here. No radar hits. Hydrophone contact with warship. I am so desperate for tonnage that I actually surfaced and attempted to position myself for a shot. Could not get into position.

Weather 6 Sea 5.

Convoy reported in CB31 heading ENE. God that's far. 7 knots. I'm trying anyway. Full speed on surface. Visibility about 800 meters. Radar completely useless. I hope to get another contact update along the way, or those two ships and one plane will be my patrol.

[Zosimus]

U-108 docked at U-461
Seventh Patrol Complete.

Disastrous Patrol.
Attacked by planes.
Two men dead.
Hull Integrity: 36.2 percent.

54,264 tons.

[Zosimus]

July 28, 1942

U-108 in AM29
Attacked by two planes while at full speed on convoy intercept.
Weather 1 Sea 1
Could not dive in time.
Both planes shot down.
Some hull damage.
Continuing patrol.

[codmander]

black gap may 43 things are getting extreme:stare::stare::stare:

[Aktungbby]

Intercepted Allied support convoy in Narvik fjord. Closed convoy from NW submerged. Slipped passed port flank destroyer (5) to close 8000 ton freighter; sank same with one electric eel at 1200 meters. Tried second freighter at similar range but less than optimal away angle; electric eel hit but was a dud. Rapidly switched to rearmost targeted troop transport--12000 tonner at 2500 meters with two steam eels set at 7 meters; both hit but also were duds. I was attacked and forced to crash 2H turning port full ninety to 200 meters. Thermal layer noted at 50 meters. Heard explosions and bulkheads parting on stricken freighter. Ran silent and evaded shallow depth charges until sunk by well trained three destroyer escort who read my mind.:dead:

[sublynx]

From U 353 to BdU: = A 6500 GRT tanker sunk in BE6491. Chasing a 2300 GRT coastal freighter 50T 6 knots. NE 7, cumulus 4/10, sea 5, medium visibility. 7+2 torpedoes left. Torpedo depth keeping troubles. 81 cbm of fuel left. Wähling. =

[sublynx]

From U 353 to BdU: = A 2300 GRT coastal freighter sunk in BE6463. WNW 7, cumulus 2/10, sea 5, medium visibility. 5+2 torpedoes left. Wähling. =

[Kommandant_Wesser]

U-174 Commander Karl Hardegen Just got done refiting at U-461 on September 3 1942. Moving back into action then is to return to base.

[u35_captain]

Returning to SHIII after a long absence. Decide to be bold on my third war patrol and sneak into Loch Ewe.

Expect, as with the Scapa visits I've made, to find at best a destroyer and a Fiji for my troubles.

Find a Nelson instead. Takes six torpedoes to put her down, by by Gott we did it. Stirred up the hornet's nest, with a mix of seven destroyers, Elcos, and trawlers all trying to find and kill me. Went north around the Isle of Ewe to escape, which they didn't see coming. Gunned it around the island at flank to charge batteries up just a little, then crept out the channel as silent as a mouse.

The patrol after was uneventful, but I'm happy. First time I've spotted a Battleship.

[Zedwardson]

After a long delay I repurchased SH3 off steam, and was able to get the three mods I wanted (GWX, Sub Commander, and a widescreen mod) all working

Very rusty but I am going to play till I killed, then start a new guy at the same month and see how many captains it takes to get to the end of the war.

Heinz Bido

1st Patrol - Pre war shakedown patrol. (OOC - it was useful for me to remember the game controls)

2nd Patrol - War Begins as I am heading out to my spot. Sink six merchants For 16334 Tons

3rd Patrol - 7 Merchants and one Dutch warship. :oops: - Shot a lot of the merchants with the deck gun as the waters of the north sea were unseasonably calm. Found a Small Depot ship not moving 100 km North of Scapa flow. It was unlighted and fired two steam eels at long range. Turned out to be dutch and BDU was quite upset with me. They also sent me a reminder of how the french flag does not look like the dutch flag.

4th patrol - Fruitful, including sinking a large freighter (MV Siamese Prince) and I was awarded a Iron cross 2nd class. I also gave one to my watchman.

5th Patrol - Now well into 1940. Did not find much - but what I did find was good. A large freighter and a Glanville class freighter. Also found isolated tribal and a V&W steaming without zagging, and sent them to the bottom as well.

So far I sunk 20 merchants, and 3 warships, 59.5k in Merchant tonnage, and almost 10k in warship tonnage. Hopefully I can take part in some way with Operation Weserübung but that depends on the timing of the shipyards. (its Feb 1940)

[Darthlucky]

I've sunk that same Dutch depot ship....what in the blazes are they doing so far north?

[Zedwardson]

I've sunk that same Dutch depot ship....what in the blazes are they doing so far north?

Since it wasn't moving I think it was secretly waiting for a British ship to transfer supplies to. Glad I had some other tonnage to claim so I wasn't cashiered as a commander.

[Zosimus]

U-108
Patrol 8 complete.
67,695 tons
Fired at a light cruiser. Both missed. I swear the cruiser went back full to avoid the torpedoes.
2 aircraft shot down -- Whitleys

[Zosimus]

U-108 preparing for patrol 9. Pleased to note that T3s are available for the first time... but there are only 4.

[Admiral Halsey]

U-108
Patrol 8 complete.
67,695 tons
Fired at a light cruiser. Both missed. I swear the cruiser went back full to avoid the torpedoes.
2 aircraft shot down -- Whitleys

I've never seen a ship go back full except for one reason only. To avoid a collision with another ship and even then occasionally they still can't avoid it.

[Zosimus]

I fired two steamers at that cruiser, and they were perfect shots. Yet the ship seemed to come to a complete stop and the torpedoes whizzed by in front of him. I swear that cruiser put on the brakes somehow.

[sublynx]

Radio message from U 353 to BdU and group Vorwärts:

= Enemy position in square BE5962, course 238T, speed 8 knots. Weather SSE 6, stratocumulus 10/10, sea 4, visibility poor. Reporting hourly. Wähling=

U-353

[Zosimus]

Patrol 9

On September 1, 1942 U-108 sank three ships that were part of a massive British convoy. Approximately 40 minutes later she was lost with all hands because of massive depth charges. Even at 198 meters under the sea, the ASDIC and depth charges were too accurate to avoid. Decoys were ineffective.

[Zosimus]

Patrol 1: U-157 out of Lorient
Assigned to CA29.
Ahead slow to conserve fuel.

Crash dived in BF53 to test crew reaction. Blew ballast at 202 meters. The boat handles well. No strange sounds at 202 meters. I could have gone deeper.

IXC

[Jonesy]

after years away I got the urge to give SH3 a spin again...I gave up on it before when starforce was messing with my pc.

Patrol 4 - felt like someone was playing a prank on me...I patrol for almost 2 hours on the area just west of ireland at 1024 time compression running across absolutely nothing to sink...only a couple of neutrals sighted.

Patrol 5 - as soon as I pull away from France I run across an English cargo ship by is lonesome...sunk, right afterwards I sight a convoy with 2 destroyers, I sink one of the destroyers and 3 merchants.

it's only when I get to port that I realized the merchants were neutral :huh:

anyway...playing on low realism...still getting my feet wet again, I forgot how fun this game can be.

I´m thinking about ordering 4 + the uboot missions, never played that one.

[Aktungbby]

Jonesy!:Kaleun_Salute:

[Admiral Halsey]

May 1st 1943,


Attacked a convoy mid-Atlantic. Convoy turned in the middle of the attack to a new heading and threw off torpedo aim. No hits were recorded as I snuck away with the destroyers never catching on to me.(doubt that'll last long considering the date) I spent two torpedo's as I tried to sink a Granville and a Destroyer(Clemson I think).

Surfaced 2 hours after attack to find that one of the eels had hit the Granville which had stopped and better yet she was unarmed. Crew manned the deck gun and finished her off in what I expect will be one of the last if not the last deck gun attack by my crew as i'm probably gonna get rid of it within the next two patrols.

I'm going to continue towards the US coast and try my luck around the mouth of New York Harbor.

[Zedwardson]

14 Feb, 1940.

Hinze Bido spots a massive convoy in the North sea, reports it in and begins the attack.

It did not go well.

Sunk two large freighters at long range with Type Is

Norwegian large freighters escorted by British ships..

And those escorts drop perfection in depth charges, and U-53 was placed at the bottom of the sea. :down:


So one commander down - 9/1939 to 2/1940 - 25 Ships sunk - 22 Freighters, 3 military, for 73k tons of Merchants and 9.2k in warships.

Next commander will start in 3/1940

[UKönig]

Tooled around with the type XXI for a little bit, reset my career from only that point and did the last 8 missions again. Returned to Norway and scuttled the boat, most of the advanced technology had been destroyed by battle damage (as with pretty much all of the conning tower) so I don't feel too badly about sinking the rest of that hunk of junk, good luck getting anything worthwhile out of that, Tommie!
Anyway, Started a new career in 1940 with the 7th fleet. Lt.z.s. Konig assigned to type VIIB, U73.
Just completed the first patrol with 36000 tons, after a successful break into Loch Ewe.
Launched 2nd patrol and so far have sunk 1 small merch for 2300. The hunt continues...

[Zedwardson]

Walter Peter had a very long patrol, but the HMS Nelson is on the bottom!

Was assigned a Norway patrol, early 1940, and while patrolling very conservatively, was able to shell and sink a English Trawler and a two Tramp steamers. Did wander off and was chased by swordfish, but was unable to corner the task force. So I headed back to Norway. Not much but reporting all the ships coming in and out of Narvik.

Then the Invasion of Norway happens. I warn of the first task force that comes in, (all DD.) then a week later, here comes a task force around the HMS Nelson. I set myself in position, Launch a spread of two and then two independently fired shots to hit, and then dived, hoping I could get enough depth before all hell broke loose.

3 of the 4 eels hit (Not sure if the 4th missed or was a non-explosion dud) and the HMS Nelson is crippled, and I go deep and quiet, and at 1 Knot head towards the HMS Nelson, confusing the escorts who really never spot me. After a hour they go away. I go to scope depth, and seeing I have a decent shot with the stern tube (and the HMS Nelson dead in the water) I fire the electric eel and earn a hit in the stern. This proved terminal.

I surface and about to radio the good news to BDU when suddenly my watchmen report 7 warships. The Escorts are heading back and they where pissed.

I crash dive, and at 80 meters crash into the bottom.

for the next six hours I am fighting for my life, I end up with two dead, 10% battery after my front Batteries are dead, in 97 meters of water on the bottom, flooding making me not buoyant. I stop my engines, and slowly de-water my boat in brief flashes, then go silent. . hearing pings and engines over me. For a while I think they ran out of depth charges. But the escorts sit on me for hours. I tell my crew to relax and not produce too much CO2, as the air gets stale. Then a few more depth charges and it knocks my boat down to 101 meters (sliding on the bottom) and I repair the damage.

Then there is a one last volley, my sonar/radio section nearly floods before I can fix it. One more round and I will be dead, or it will pound me deeper into the depths, where i will be crushed in my damaged boat.

Silence.

More Silence.

I order scope depth. My boat does not move. Its been a hour since we heard the escorts. So I order a emergency blow and U-28 bobs to the surface, and the waterways are empty. We head back home.


(This was by the worse escort attack that I survived in GWX. )

My second Patrol with this captain will be June of 1940. He didn't even get a medal for this, though two of his crew earned Iron Crosses.

[UKönig]

on my way into scapa flow, at night, on the surface. have already sunk 4 ships and one torpedo boat, even though I expect the anchorage is empty.
the hunt continues...

U73, out.

[UKönig]

U73 found no worthwhile targets in scapa flow. As expected. We didn't need to get very far into the basin to find out there was nothing decent to bother with. So we beat a hasty retreat on the surface, at night.
Returned to base with a modest amount of tonnage, and the right to wear the bull of scapa flow on our conning tower.
U73s third patrol begins in a grid near to Gibraltar. In process of checking out shipping in the straights. Not a good move on my part and am starting to regret plotting a course here. Have 23K tons in the locker so far, but almost everything floating out here is a destroyer of some kind.
The hunt continues...

[banryu79]

BdU
Lost all contracts with U-47 and Oberleutenant z. S. Lothar Prochnow while he and his crew where returning to Wilhelmshaven from their fourth war patrol.
Last radio message received was a distress call date 30 January 1940, from a position roughly E of Helgoland.

Kaleun Prochnow is our most successful commander with a confirmed 107K tons of enemy vessels sunk and a further 54K claimed during current, last patrol.

Probable fate of U-47: sunk by mine, all hands lost.

[suitednate]

Just lost my latest career in April '41 after starting it in April '40. I'm too mad regarding this one to put any poetic flavor into my post.......I was feasting on a convoy in the BE grid area......I had already sent 3 large tankers, 1 modern tanker, a small merchant, and a large cargo to the bottom from this convoy. It was the middle of the night and after finishing off one of the crippled aforementioned ships above with my deck gun, I knew the convoy was still close enough that the escorts would still come rushing back to investigate. I decided that in order to help make 1 more attack on this convoy easier, I was going to pick off the escort that came back. Well, I dove and while not visible yet, there were 2 escorts approaching.......

I sank 1 with a head on shot shot from my stern tube........played cat and mouse with the 2nd escort and finally got him in my sights for a shot from a bow tube. It was a pretty incredible shot too because he was drifting to port still searching for me, It wasn't a head on shot and I wasn't sure of his speed either.......it detonates right under it's bow and I'm like....:rock:.......and all of a sudden this burning hulk which is only 600 meters now of my port quarter turns right towards me and speeds up!!.......I'm like :huh:.......I hit full ahead and a dive order but it was too late.....the destroyer runs right over me coming from port and seemingly saws my boat in half as I look at the damage screen....everyone from stern quarters on back is dead.....:Kaleun_Mad:

To have my career ended like this after escaping some harrowing and critically damaging depth charge attacks in previous patrols in this career was such a buzzkill......

[UKönig]

Now you know what Joachim Schepke, Gunter Prien, and Otto Kretschmer must have felt like...

[sublynx]

↯ from U 353 to BdU:

= Convoy in CF8659 240° 8 knots. 3 - 4 radar equipped escorts, no air cover, one straggler making about 7.5 knots. WSW 4, 2/10, sea 3, very good visibility. 4+2 torpedoes. Light damage from depth charging repaired. Sending hourly reports. Wähling =

[sublynx]

http://i.imgur.com/fM5EnRX.jpg

[Zosimus]

Another computer malfunction may have wiped out my latest campaign. The computer won't start, so I have no idea whether the information is lost.

I have started a new campaign. On 23 January 1943, U-514 set sail from Lorient. I am pleased to say that all internal torpedoes are T3s. I am equipped with the finest anti-aircraft batteries that I can find.

I set sail from Lorient at ahead slow. I have been assigned to EE65. En route I got my first new experience – a radar detection. Curious, I headed that way. YIKES! It was an enemy aircraft. I did an about face and manned the guns. After it passed, I dived to 50 meters. Three destroyers showed up at my last known location. I ran silent and slunk away in the depths. Remind me not to do that again.

[UKönig]

you can always count on the enemy to remind you not to do certain things in battle...

[sublynx]

Radio message:

From U 353 to BdU: = Convoy in CG8846 250° 7 knots. 20 merchants 4-5 escorts. A 5000 GRT freighter sunk. 3+2 torpedoes left. Wähling =

[Zosimus]

U-513 ran into a convoy on its way to its patrol sector. The convoy was headed almost directly for me, so I decided to investigate. I moved into position at 4-5 knots, on the surface, and dived as soon as radar detection came on. The convoy's speed was 6 knots and almost due north – perhaps 7º

Sea: 6 so I chanced a scope up, and lowered it till the waves lapped across it covering it more often than not. I located two desirable vessels, but they were not in neighboring lanes. I decided to chance the double shot through an intervening lane. At back slow, I maneuvered to about 200m from the intervening lane and fired an aft salvo at the ship in back. Then I located the ship in front and fired a salvo at her set for five meter depth, impact. Then I ordered ahead slow and dived.

The ship aft took two torpedoes right on schedule and no more than 10 seconds later the fore ship took two torpedoes and sank. She was a whaling vessel of some 12,000 tons. Just as we passed 50 meters, I heard the first ping. I ordered ahead full and turned into the convoy's wake to hide my noise. Going to the hydrophone I located the escort and just as the pinging stopped I turned to 225º

The depth charges sound awfully close, and I jumped as the first one went off. I slowed to ahead slow, with all silent, and went to 209 meters under the ocean – the deepest I have ever gone. There were no strange noises, no leaks, no problems, and, most importantly, no pings. The second ship sank at this time. The escort did a few depth charge runs, but with the rough seas, he never reacquired us.

I considered that following up on the convoy would be too risky, so I am continuing to my patrol area.

[Scarredclown]

Last night, it was dark, very windy, raining very hard and very high waves. I approach a convoy. I was pinged by a warship, didnt know what type, I manage to evade him but lose the convoy doing so. after a while i go to periscope depth and there he was right in front of me, about 600 meter. It was too good to be true, i fire once at him, a perfect shot right in the middle. It was a hellish vision that big warship in flames. I wait a bit, all was calm, i surfaced the boat and bam ! I was rammed by another warship !

He turned my sub and scraped starboard side, damaging almost ervery room. Weather was too foul to use my deck gun, he continue on his way. I was a bit panicking, i wouldnt risk diving with my sub in that state. He goes on his way, never turning back to finish me off. I guess it was my Lucky day.

[UKönig]

March 1, 1942.
Breaking into Loch Ewe, again. For the 3rd time? 4th? I forget exactly.
They (BdU) told us to stay away from the tropics for awhile. Apparently, we've been so successful in the Gibraltar area lately, that enemy operations are peaking. Everything is tighter there now, so our intelligence forces have to work harder, more supplies are needed, more enemy troops and tanks are being deployed, it's a huge mess, thanks to us.
We cruised the lanes around Iceland for a while, but didn't find any worthwhile targets, so on a whim, I decided to return to our very first hunting ground, Loch Ewe. I was about 3/4ths of the way in, with 2 sunken destroyers behind me, beat cops no longer on patrol, when I found a Fiji class light cruiser at anchor. Figuring this to be a milk run, I started selecting targets. No easy task because it was at night, and I am struck by the feeling that I arrived at Naval Review week or something. This place was packed! I had more targets than torpedoes. I was forced to use my seekers against parked ships. But the best kill in the bag, was the Illustrious class aircraft carrier we found.
(I've been playing this game steadily since 2012 and until now, I never knew they existed. I've heard about them, I've just never seen one. I sank a Bogue class escort carrier, once. So I had hope that I would eventually find a heavy unit, and I did!)
U73 took a hit to the conning tower, but the water deflected the shell somewhat so we were spared serious damage. We had to leave 3 destroyers behind, 1 of them was American, but we sank the Fiji-CL, the Illustrious-CV, and 2 Hunt III-DD.

[bstanko6]

Had a successful 3rd patrol. It's late November, 39'. I was rounding Scapa Flow (Westward) one late night when I came across a V&W, and 2 Aux cruisers travelling my along my route. I take flank speed up to them, reach 1000 meters surfaced and send out 4 eels, two each. Both sank to the bottom, I flank out keeping the V&W at my stern before it could send out a star shell. Never knew what hit them!

[Karl Hungus]

I don't want to cut and paste, so just read this-

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showpost.php?p=2303967&postcount=9

[Zosimus]

Harbor incursion report: Bridgetown.

After a long, and uneventful slog down to my patrol sector, and a 24-hour uneventful patrol, I was itching for some action and so I decided to attack the Bridgetown harbor. It was a nice cruise in because the water is quite deep -- over 400 meters when I was only a few km away.

As soon as I got the radar detection I went to periscope depth and started moving the rest of the way in. It was a long, slow journey to get into the right position. In fact, my CO2 level was pushing 1.5 by the time I got into position.

Sea 6 I went scope up and couldn't really make anything out. It took a long time, but finally I spotted a tanker. The sweet joy turned to sorrow as I realized that there was no way I could get a good angle on her. Finally and after some painstaking work, I spotted a stationary destroyer -- probably the source of the radar signal. I moved into position and then fired a 2-torpedo salvo at 2º spread (T3s) at 1800 meters out. The destroyer went down immediately, and one of the cargo ships promptly turned away from me and beached itself where it fell victim to the weather and sank. I didn't get any credit for that, though.

Well, I figured that was that and I surfaced to move away at full speed as my CO2 was about 1.8. However, I quickly slowed back down as I realized that:

A) I wasn't getting radar warnings and
B) my crew quickly located multiple ships I hadn't been able to see through the periscope.

So I set up for a nice shot on a cargo ship and sent two torpedoes zinging in. I was so pleased until I got the notification that it was a neutral ship.

Come ON! Shouldn't I get credit for sinking a neutral ship in a hostile port?!

[Zosimus]

Intercepted two icebergs today.

[banryu79]

Intercepted two icebergs today.
Didi they spot your uboat and tried to ram it? :D

[Zosimus]

No. I thought they were some kind of ship, actually, and had the course and speed worked out. They were going quite slowly, though. When I set up for the shot, I went to the periscope and saw icebergs.

[banryu79]

No. I thought they were some kind of ship, actually, and had the course and speed worked out. They were going quite slowly, though. When I set up for the shot, I went to the periscope and saw icebergs.
I think you have just been fooled by the new, experimental Artic camouflage of the merchant navy!
It works well, now the last problem to sort out is how to shorten the long transit time without busting the deception... :p

[UKönig]

Kaleun Konig's really bad dream...
Or U73 has a really bad day

After a boring patrol we got some excitement in the form of a nosy British destroyer. Lined up a shot on the unsuspecting target and sunk him at 2 clicks away.

Decided to try out Iceland again. Was back on the surface, with the last bloom of daylight resting on the horizon, putting some charge back in the batteries when we spotted the Short Sunderlands on approach. Too late, and too close to dive, we took evasive action. We managed to avoid the incoming bombs of the first wave, and when the coast looked clear, I gave the order to dive.

We got under, and down to about 18 meters, when the next volley arrived. Bad luck this time. We took one of the bombs in a direct hit to the conning tower. All at once, the attack scope, the sky scope, and the radar set (the big bulky one bolted to the tower), were all destroyed.

We took some other damage that I didn't have time to consider, and we got down to a safe depth to 'ride it out'. We came back up to periscope depth a few hours later, after night had completely fallen, and found the coast was again clear.

Back topside to refresh the air and the batteries, we continue.

Entering Iceland, the weather turned to crap. I figured we should be a little bit safer from surface detection that I delayed submerging for the daytime run. My not-so-alert watch crew was slow in spotting the destroyer that was on patrol. As a result, I was forced to dive with an enemy ship in close proximity. Like, 1800m and closing. In the end, it was the flight of Sunderlands that did the job, and got the honors. We didn't notice them at all.

"Alaaaaaaarrrrrmmmm!!!!!"

But it was too late. The flight of four worked as a team and we took another direct hit, 2 really, forward in the crew's quarters/torpedo room and aft, in the diesel engine room, with hull breaches immediately reported. The damage control team went to work, against hopeless odds, to repair their boat, and their lives. The next series of bombs hit us, only when we had dropped to about 20 meters, a cluster of 3, which took us just aft of the conning tower. The force of all three blew the boat in half, with the aft wall of the control room collapsing under the weight of the incoming water...

...Where I awoke, on my bunk, in a cold sweat. I was having a really bad dream, when our 'ships doctor' threw a glass of water in my face, to wake me up.

"Sorry sir", he shrugged. "But you were talking in your sleep, saying some pretty nasty things, I might add, and it was starting to spook the men."

"I understand". No hard feelings, I would have done the same. "I have an inspection tour to conduct anyway, might as well just get to it"...

[Gunnarr]

August 3, First Patrol

I sink 2 British and 1 French Merchant Ships. But I was so gun ho I did not notice it was AUGUST not SEPTEMBER yet. I thought the war already started! German boats fire at me at my return to base.

August 31, Second Patrol

War is declared on route to destination. I see a passanger ship but pass it up, I didn't want to kill any more civilians so soon...

British destroyer finds me at night. A depth charge lands square on top of me, and explodes. I sink like a rock.

There ends the pathetic career of Günther, who is now rotting in hell, by mistake.

[banryu79]

August 3, First Patrol

I sink 2 British and 1 French Merchant Ships. But I was so gun ho I did not notice it was AUGUST not SEPTEMBER yet. I thought the war already started! German boats fire at me at my return to base.

Lol, BdU was so mad they didn't take the time to properly court-martial you and apply summary justice on the whole crew :eek:

[Gunnarr]

Lol, BdU was so mad they didn't take the time to properly court-martial you and apply summary justice on the whole crew :eek:

Hey, I sent patrol/contact reports and they replied with GOOD JOB and hope for good hunting, they tricked me! I think person in charge had it in for me

[Kip Chiakopf]

I'm really ticked at myself. I completed a career with 10 successful missions in my VIIB and was the 4th ranking ace when I was reassigned to a training command. I opted for a second tour. I was just in time for Dunkirk. I took my VIIB near the action. Twice, I snuck in and each time I sank a destroyer. I pressed my luck and snuck in for a third attack. I'd just launched my eel, when I was detected and sunk.

I got too cocky and pressed my luck too far. I forgot that the real objective of this game is survival!:/\\!!

[sublynx]

http://i.imgur.com/z5nqXgG.jpg

U 353, November 1942, west of Gibraltar. It sure is slow trying to get through the straits...

[Gunnarr]

fourth patrol!

I leave Wilhelmshaven after a great third patrol, best I ever done. Happy and cranking the gramophone, "ships spotted"! At AN 95, southern part of the German bay, just west of Helgoland. I go to the bridge, and assume they are german. they are heading east after all, and very close to german portsL I can't see their flag clearly, but it looked red, so I assumed, german! Who else still to be here?

but then I am under fire! they must be British! I immediately go to periscope depth, but take damage from their AA fire, heir larger calibre miss and do not get a hit before I am under water. They turn and are headed right towards me! I didn't have time to submit a contact report either! I head north east, hoping to get closer to Heldoland, where I assume some Germann ships would help me. But they are too fast, they are catching up!

I fire a torpedo from the aft but it misses. I let them get much closer , and fire my last aft torpedo, and it hits directly under their bow. she turns away, but the other ship is close behind. I have to somehow evade them , and then face them to fire my fore torpedos, I cannot get away and I cannot fight their 4-5 hefty calibre guns. I turn this way and that, and even stop and go full reverse to slow down , to catch them off guard as they are turning to where I am heading. I keep evading and finally get a shot !

All four miss!

I feel dread, we had a great patrol last month, sinking a battle ship for the first time , and now we are going to all die in german waters with our shiny new medals! I try again, as it is reloaded. I trick them again, and a shot is forming as I turn hard. I am waiting for the precise moment, there is little room for error as we are both turning towards each other. But then I see through my periscope, just as I am going to fire my torpedos, their guns are all firing in the air! And then, explosions! Help has arrived!? right when she is hit, I get my shot, and fire.

I am so close though that I worry about being hit by these friendly bombs and my own torpedo exploding and turn hard.

she is sunk! I surface, and see around 7 Ju dive bombers ! never had I been so relieved!

if it were not for those bombers, I fear we would have been done for. they got there just at the last moment!

as the ship sank, I noticed it had mines , not depth charges. I do not know what the first ship was carrying.

I am now heading back home, shaking at this suprise incursion. I hope they forgive me for not doing my patrol, I spent all my torpedos minus 2 on that engagement

[UKönig]

Well trained radio officer received contact report of England bound convoy in grid AJ96. Moved to intercept on the surface. Dove to take a quick listen to make sure I was in the right area. Sound contacts popping up all over. Jackpot. Perfect approach position. Weakly guarded convoy. Some ships new to the task and are sailing in differing directions.
First shot, seeking torpedo at clemson destroyer, one hit, one kill.
Second shot, flanking C3 heavy cargo ship. Hit and sunk.
Third shot, trailing C2 heavy cargo, hit and damaged, forward speed slowing.
Fourth shot, T2 tanker. Missed.
Fifth shot, flower corvette walking drag. He got a little too close for comfort so we fired the seeker from tube 5. Looked like it wasn't going to hit, so we upped scope as far is it would go, and cranked up the speed a bit. That got his attention. As he came in to investigate, the seeker bit him in the ass. Sank stern first. Two of three escorts down.
Had some nailbiting moments while we reloaded, and came around again at the damaged cargo ship. Second corvette getting too close, but not sure where we are. Hit on the cargo ship, damaging it again, but if refuses to sink. Played cat and mouse with the corvette, until we were able to line up a shot with our 3rd seeker. Hit and sunk. No more escorts.
Fired again at another tanker, and hit. No more tanker. Fired at C3 cargo that suddenly changed course. Missed him too. Let the convoy gain a bit of distance on me, surfaced, and began with the deck gun.
Finished off the damaged cargo ship, sitting less than 2km away. Only a few merchantmen seem to have guns themselves so we risk staying surfaced.
Took a few hits reducing our hull to about 49% of normal, but managed to sink 3 more ships. Had to crash dive and blow ballast a few times in between, but we finally ran out of ammo.
With 55,000 tons in the locker, we return to base...

[Rambler241]

First post here - hello all! Any commanders out of Brest - I'll look out for you at Anton's café opposite the big crane near the dry dock...

It's 2155 May 25th 1941, and I'm creeping into position to attack a large convoy heading NE through what's now called the "Celtic Sea", SE of Ireland. The Hunt II destroyer on point has so far made my approach easy by dashing around at speed, but it's now settled down to convoy speed of 6 knots and is only 1500 metres away, so we're on silent routine at 2 knots with periscope partly awash. With just 3 bow and 1 stern Type I fish (I'm a speed freak) left, I've got to make 'em count, so I'm intent on "getting right in there" at close range. So far I've identified a large tanker (type 3?), a troop ship, a C3 and several C2s, so very juicy targets. Wish me luck and hope that the destroyer commanders are sinking too many pink gins in the officers mess. [Update - there's another T3 tanker two behind the first. I should have let that SM get away in the severe storm S of Iceland, and saved the torp. The waves were so high I had to set the fish to minimum depth and magnetic to guarantee a hit. Perhaps not - I don't know how I'll fare yet - my first post here may be my last... Remember me in Anton's café.]

I detected this convoy using sonar - around 2/3 of my contacts are found that way, soon after sinking a small merchant with 2 shots - my second such unexpectedly rapid success on this, my 8th patrol out of Brest. On both occasions, I'd put two shots on the waterline below the bridge, the ship heeled over, and as I was manoeuvring to the far side to attack the upturned hull, the ship sank. That makes 8 CMs and 6 SMs sunk by gunfire (20 AP and 60 HE) this patrol. Either I'm getting my eye in or they're using inferior rivets in these austere days.

So turning the peak of my cap to the rear in the approved piratical manner, it's back to the 'scope, and glory.

[Jimbuna]

Great first post Rambler, welcome to SubSim :salute:

[Rambler241]

I like to get into the spirit of things - especially the Armagnac that Anton keeps hidden away in the cellar for me. I've told anyone who asked it's a single malt Islay whisky kept just for me - they're green with envy, not knowing that the truth would make 'em almost as envious.

[Aktungbby]

Rambler241!:Kaleun_Salute: I go with 20 year old Glengoyne myself...sink the troopship first!:Kaleun_Periskop:

[Rambler241]

I did - with a shot from just under 3K. No apparent reaction from the escorts, so I closed with the first T3, and hit it at a range of about 500m - big explosion, but didn't sink immediately. By now a C3 was close behind - too close at 250m, so I risked standard speed to increase the gap, keeping an eye on the CM bearing down on my port side. Got the shot off at just over 300m bearing 180 almost exactly and ordered "normal dive" hoping the CM wouldn't end my career. Loud explosion heard over the sound of the CM passing (just) overhead. Slowed to 2 knots, silent routine, and ordered periscope depth. The second T3 had turned to port increasing the range, or I'd have been too close. Stop engines and waited for it to approach bearing 0 degrees while still at 14m depth, fired last fish at 330m, range increasing slowly. 'Scope down, ordered depth of 80m to be safe, course 30 deg. to starboard just as the Type 1 hit. Massive explosion - instant "ship sunk" icon on the map to add to the other 3 - the first T3 must have sunk also, along with the C3.

Time to break out the brown trousers - I had two DDs close on my tail. One stopped - either listening, or perhaps waiting for a merchant to pass in front. The other was on my starboard quarter, very close, and started an attack run. Flank speed, ordered 60m depth, hoping the DCs were fused at my current depth, and ordered a depth ping (nothing to lose now). Depth below keel 16m, so bottom must be 95m. Shaken but not stirred by first attack, I survive almost 2 hours of attacks, changing direction and depth frequently. Finally one DD breaks off, and the other is still dropping charges well astern of me. Creep away to fight on - I've still got plenty of deck gun ammo left.

I'd say this is a prime example of my motto "don't panic". Keep your head, don't rush things, and don't forget to open the tube doors in advance!

[Jimbuna]

BE MORE AGGRESSIVE!! http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/8636/cdw.gif (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/856/cdw.gif/)

[UKönig]

Had to let a King George Battleship, followed by an Illustrious class aircraft carrier, with 4 destroyers as outriders pass me by unharmed. I had only 2 torpedoes left, and they were both for tube 5... :/\\!!

[Aktungbby]

^ I'd have fired at the carrier myself with the stern tube... you never know:arrgh!:

[UKönig]

^ I'd have fired at the carrier myself with the stern tube... you never know:arrgh!:

I would love to have, trust me!

I was too far to intercept, and when I got into range, I would have had to turn the boat around to bring the aft tube to bear. If I tried to pass by and fire, I would not have made it out to tell the tale.
There simply was no way...:wah:

[Karl Hungus]

Patrolling off Sydney in July 1944. Went all the way round SW Australia and the entire southern Australian coast before sighting my first ship. A sloop.

[UKönig]

I've sunk trawlers just because I was in a bad mood...

[Farflung Wanderer]

Starting my first campaign. 29% realism, SH3Commander. Yes, I know, it's pansy realism and no mods, but it's my first time out. Give me time.

Gerhard Wagner, attached to U-Flotilla Weddigen, based out of Wilhelmshaven, Germany. Commanding officer, U-11, Typ-IIA.

Expect updates forthwith.

[Sailor Steve]

There's nothing wrong with playing the game however you do it. Learn and have fun.

Besides, hyper-realism is for crazy sick people anyway. I should know. :sunny:

[shotbywolf]

U-52 September 20 1939
I have started my first ever carrier as u-52 type vIIBrecently reposted at keil from the second place you can pick ( I'm bad with names and I forgot the flotilla name) using gwx and sh3 comm I managed to make it to my first patrol grid with nothing no contacts except a small tugboat of French make towing a German merchant vessel from the looks of things we passed at 15 meters under so we wouldn't be seen.
September 21 1939
War started we finished patrol area and moved to the English Channel sinking a c and k butler class along the way however I made the mistake of going for the harbor And suffered a ctd attack before we saw the light of dawn I reloaded and found myself back at port with no kills :/\\!!:/\\!!:/\\!!:nope:

[Farflung Wanderer]

Report 0, Patrol 1: 01 September 1939
Recruited two new Petty Officers and one more Sailor to act as a back-up crew for the diesel and electric engines. Due to the Typ-IIA's small crew size, I figured it prudent to make sure that there were enough to allow for any death, injury, or fatigue on the behalf of the crew.

Due to the expected time for adding an anti-aircraft gun, I decided against it. Depending on how common air attacks will be in the coming patrol, I will either continue not to add one or add it after returning to Wilhelmshaven.


Report 1, Patrol 1: 01 September 1939-1457L
Left Wilhelmshaven at 1430L, setting course for AN81 for 24 hour patrol as ordered by BdU. The garrison, and to the glee of the crew, the local women, all were there to see us off.

Once we left the port, I called for ahead standard. It is estimated that it will take approximately 36 hours for U-11 to reach AN81. Will report to BdU at 2000L.


Report 2, Patrol 1: 01 September 1939-2000L
Status report to BdU as follows: U-11. Position Grid AN 95. Torpedoes left: 5.

Waters are rough, the bow is being lifted into the air and slammed back into the brine. However, the sun is still out and visibility is still decently, so conditions are not bad enough to warrant a dive to avoid damage.

Unfortunately, the waters we will be patrolling will be extremely shallow, meaning that avoiding both air attacks and any destroyer will be exceedingly difficult. A lack of a deck-gun will also make our lives more difficult, as do the small amount of torpedoes, but if we are clever we can certainly send more than a few ships to the bottom if need be.

No reports from what is happening on the Polish border yet. The crew is on edge, and the BdU sending us out to sea is likely a response to possible war with England. God knows how that will turn out.

Will send another report to the BdU at 0800L.


Report 3, Patrol 1: 02 September 1939-0800L
Status report to BdU as follows: U-11. Position Grid AN 69. Torpedoes left: 5.

Waters have calmed greatly, and visibility has improved. Around 16 hours to AN81 left in our travel. Nothing else to report yet. Will report to BdU again at 2000L.


Report 4, Patrol 1: 02 September 1939-2000L
Status report to BdU as follows: U-11. Position Grid AN 68. Torpedoes left: 5.

Another change of the watch. I wish that I had more men, so I could fully swap out those on duty. The Typ-II, I suppose, just doesn't have the capability to hold that many crewmembers.

Nothing else to report. Beautiful sunset, still no news about what has happened in Poland. The BdU isn't telling us anything still, which bothers me greatly.

Tomorrow we will be on station at AN81. Hopefully by then we shall receive more information.

Report again to the BdU at 0800L.


Report 5, Patrol 1: 03 September 1939-0221L
We've arrived on station at AN81, and are beginning our 24 hour patrol. Hopefully it will be uneventful and we can return to Wilhelmshaven soon.

Still will report to BdU at 0800L.


Report 6, Patrol 1: 03 September 1939-0800L
Status report to the BdU as follows: U-11. Position Grid AN 81. Torpedoes left: 5.

We've been patrolling for six hours already, and there's nothing to talk about. Another changing of shift, and still awaiting word from the BdU. I hope this wait doesn't put us in any form of danger.

Will report again at 2000L.


Report 7, Patrol 1: 03 September 1939-1313L
A message just came in from the BdU for all German naval vessels. We are to engage in operations against the British navy forthwith. Germany is at war.

The crew is being put on action stations, and we will continue our patrol. It seems that we are in for the long haul.

Weather outside is very stormy, cutting visibility and making for rough waves. Perhaps we can use this to our advantage should we stumble across a British vessel.

Will still report in to the BdU at 2000L.


Report 8, Patrol 1: 03 September 1939-1544L
We have been receiving reports of a ship not too far away heading into AN81. I've ordered a dive to 20m and will wait for an hour or two to see if that ship will be coming into our grid. If so, we will be in an opportune position to attack it.

Will report in to the BdU at 2000L.


Report 9, Patrol 1: 03 September 1939-1711L
It seems my gamble has paid off. My SO has picked up a merchant to my southwest. I will order ahead slow and we will proceed closer to it in order to get into firing position. This might be our first kill.

Because of this situation, our report to the BdU will need to be later than 2000L. Will report when I can.


Report 10, Patrol 1: 03 September 1939-1807L
Contact with enemy coastal merchant, 4900m at about bearing 023. Will move in for the kill. Visibility is low, may attempt surface approach in order to maximize speed and mobility.


Report 11, Patrol 1: 03 September 1939-1914L
After a long chase, the coastal merchant pulled too far ahead. The waters are too rough for our SO to catch him. Damn.

The crew is tired and I am having trouble managing them. I'm not sure how to manage keeping them alert and awake given how few people I have.

Will report in to the BdU at 2000L as planned.


Report 12, Patrol 1: 03 September 1939-2000L
Report to BdU as follows: U-11. Position Grid AN81. Torpedoes left: 5.

The SO regained contact briefly with the merchant, but he's still moving too fast. There's nothing I can do to catch up with him. Damn it all, that was my mistake. I should have remained submerged, we never would have been spotted.

Will report to the BdU at 0800L.

Report 13, Patrol 1: 04 September 1939-0800L
Report to the BdU as follows: U-11. Position Grid AN81. Torpedoes left: 5.

Nothing to report. AN81 is a ghost-town. Nothing is going through it, and there's nothing to do. It's just a boring day ahead unless something changes.

Keeping by my previously established reporting schedule.


Report 14, Patrol 1: 04 September 1939-1200L
We've completed our 24 hour patrol of AN81 with nothing to speak of. This grid is about as dead as dead can be, but I'm not about to return to Wilhelmshaven without a ship to our name.

I'm setting course south to see if I can't find some activity around the Channel. Hopefully I can find a ship or two, sink it, and return to base proud as can be.


Report 15, Patrol 1: 04 September 1939-2001L
Report to BdU is as follows: U-11. Position Grid AN 84. Torpedoes left: 5.

God, I hope this gamble works. It's been a boring day. The crew is on edge, and we're all tired. I'm having a hell of a time juggling all of the officers getting bed rest.


Report 16, Patrol 1: 05 September 1939-0943L
Forgot to report in to the BdU because of a sudden spike in contacts. We've stumbled across one rather close to us that does not seem to have spotted us, though it is going fast. Moving to engage.


Report 17, Patrol 1: 05 September 1939-1007L
Target was a Tugboat, too small to be worth trying to kill, too fast to keep up. Continuing on course south. The upsurge in contacts is a good sign, but the slow speed of U-11 is a bad omen. I worry that this means that we will be unable to find and sink any targets.


Report 18, Patrol 1: 05 September 1939-1444L
Success! After two torpedoes turned out to be duds, our third hit a coastal merchant that had stumbled upon our submerged sub right amid ships. I didn't need to fire any more, she listed on her aft until she capsized and fell underneath the waves. Our first kill!

We have only two torpedoes left, which means that we will have enough ammo for one more attack on some poor bastard before we return to Wilhelmshaven, but that's a victory if I ever saw one!

Our patrol report to the BdU was as follows: U-11. Position Grid AN 79. Torpedoes left: 2. Cargo ships sunk: 1. Total tonnage: 2043.


Final Report:
Got in over my head, sunk another ship but was attacked by no less than 3 destroyers. We were sunk forthwith, all hands lost.

Damn.

[banryu79]

Hehe, not a bad first experience Herr Kaleun!
One life less and one more lesson learned :salute:

[Farflung Wanderer]

Hehe, not a bad first experience Herr Kaleun!
One life less and one more lesson learned :salute:

Danke, Herr Kaleun. I shall endeavor to survive my next career.

Speaking of which, I have already started said new career. This time, I shall be filling the shoes of one Lieutenant Junior Theodor Lawrenz, Commanding Officer of U-18, a Typ-IIA U-Boat (Yes, I know they're awful, but I want to learn to master it), attached to 1st. Flotilla based in Wilhelmshaven, Germany.

I shall start posting updates soon.

[banryu79]

Speaking of which, I have already started said new career. This time, I shall be filling the shoes of one Lieutenant Junior Theodor Lawrenz, Commanding Officer of U-18, a Typ-IIA U-Boat (Yes, I know they're awful, but I want to learn to master it), attached to 1st. Flotilla based in Wilhelmshaven, Germany.

Awful!? :D (yes, they are)
I think they are fantastic from a learning point of view. If you can master the tecnique of correct and efficent Intercept, Approach and Attack in a Typ II then you are more then ready for the bigger ones! :arrgh!:

[Farflung Wanderer]

Awful!? :D (yes, they are)
I think they are fantastic from a learning point of view. If you can master the tecnique of correct and efficent Intercept, Approach and Attack in a Typ II then you are more then ready for the bigger ones! :arrgh!:

That's been my point of view. If I can learn the basics as a Typ-II commander, not only will it help when the 1st Flotilla gets Typ-VIIs later in the campaign, but any other campaign I play that starts me off with a meatier U-Boat.

So, once more into the breach...

[Farflung Wanderer]

At Port-Wilhelmshaven, Germany
Orders have been received: U-18 is to patrol AN16, off the coast of England. While we were in port, I have enlisted three new Petty Officers and one more Sailor, filling up the Typ-II's crew compliment. I have also eschewed the installing of a flak gun due to the expected time in port.

Despite the fact that we are being put out to sea, there is no state of war between Germany and any other nation. Any information beyond that is vague at all, but it's clear that we're being positioned to strike at the English should they enter this conflict. Let us hope it does not come to that.


01 September 1939
0100h: U-18 leaves port from Wilhelmshaven, setting course out to AN96 before beginning to maneuver toward our objective, AN16. It's just my luck that AN16 would put us in the vicinity of Scapa Flow, the resting place of the English Home Fleet. If war breaks out, this would put us right in the lion's den. God knows how we'll handle that, but I have confidence in my crew.

Besides the late hour of our leaving port, the waters are somewhat rough, even in port, to my surprise. Hopefully by morning they shall become much less tumultuous.

I will establish a protocol with making patrol reports: 0800h and 2000h, we will radio in. Unless something happens that makes me forget or am too busy to perform this duty, this shall be a ritual to base our schedule.

0149h: I have plotted our course to AN16. Once we reach AN98, U-18 will make a turn to head northwest until we reach the objective grid, then set up a patrol circle. I have decided not to risk the lives of the crew and the safety of the ship by actually making an attempt to enter Scapa Flow. The amount of warships in that grid will be worrying enough, let alone what will be in port. We're a merchant killer, for God's sake, and a coastal hunter at that. The waters in AN16 are deeper than in other places around the English coast, but that won't save us should the entire Home Fleet decide to hunt us down.

No news on what has happened since the alleged Polish attack yesterday, and I doubt we'll get any anytime soon. Let us hope for peace, but if there must be war, let it take long enough for us to be where we need to be to do our duty for Germany.

0800h: Sent in a status report. 5 torpedoes left, same as when we left port, and we are currently in grid AN95. We are a long way from our objective, but at least we are in friendly waters. We've encountered more than a few Schnellboots and even a Typ-34 destroyer. I doubt we shall have such friendly company once we get further out to sea.

Waters are still somewhat rough, visibility is more or less clear.

2000h: Sent in status report. 5 torpedoes left, grid AN66. We are 14 hours away from our final turn toward AN16, AN62, and 57 hours away from our objective itself. Unless our pace changes, that will put us somewhere around the morning of 4 September when we arrive on station. We will have to patrol for 24 hours before we can return to Wilhelmshaven.

Waters have calmed some, beautiful sunset. The moon tonight is a waning gibbous moon, meaning that we might have a new moon sometime during our patrol. That would make visibility tougher for us, but at the same time it would make us harder to detect. We will face that when it comes.


02 September 1939
0800h: Sent in status report. 5 torpedoes left, grid AN62. Little under three hours until we make our final turn, 47 hours until we reach AN16.

Still no news on the Poland situation. Crew's moral is high, but we're all waiting for more information.

Waters are copy, visibility is clear.

[UKönig]

If I played as "dead is dead", then you might hear reports of something that sounded a little like this...

October, 1943

U-73 is the first of a few selected U-boats to receive new equipment in what feels like a very long time. The latest upgrade to the radar detector, or 'fuzz-buster' as my funkmaat likes to call it (I don't know why). Sonar detector, with range finding pulse, now we can ping them right back! BOLD decoy upgrades, supposed to last longer than the last batch. But the best improvement that I can think of is the snorkel system. The Dutch boats have had these in place for a while, but they were only used to air out their boats. Ours are also designed for us to start and use the diesel engines, while we are underwater!
I need not state the obvious advantages, except to say, that in this case, the irony was stronger, and the snorkel, or lack thereof, played no part in what followed...

U-73 in transit across the Bay of Biscay, from St. Nazaire. We are barely 4 hours from harbour when we are harassed by our first air attack. Shot one Short Sunderland down, damaged another. Attackers cease fire and withdraw.

30 minutes later, a fresh batch of 4 B-24 liberators. Nope, not these guys, "Alaaarrmm!!" - oh, uh, hang on a sec, we're still kinda close to shore. How deep is it really here? *ping* Ocean floor is 106m away... (whew). That had potential to be nasty.

Got to enjoy the symphony of charges going off, one after the other, round after round, for 5 minutes straight. They were pretty serious about stopping our patrol. Two hours later, surfaced into bright daylight, calm seas. I dispense with the watch crew, and just man the flak. I have two recently trained and qualified POs to handle the AA duties, and they're brothers! I couldn't ask for a more effective team. Maybe twin brothers, that might work... Anyway, we only had to wait another hour or so, and our radar detector started chirping away. The watch officer was close behind. "Aircraft spotted, incoming, at 150" "Fire at will!" Once the target had been identified, we remained confident in our ability to defend our boat. Our AA crew made short work of this flight of four Sunderlands, and with our morale at a dangerous high, we proceed, brazenly, on the surface.
We only had to wait about 30 more minutes when the next flight of four showed up. One thing about 1943 that I've noticed, is the frequency that aircraft attack. 1941, not so much, '42, a bit more, and then '43, bam! All over the sky...
Our gunners got it down to a fine science, and we had made quick work of 3, when the 4th came around for a bombing run. Port side aft. View from lower AA platform on type VIIb, about 240 degrees. Short Sunderland on approach, lower gunner leads target perfectly. Full magazine right into the cockpit. Pilots never saw it coming. Co-pilot shredded by sheer amount of shrapnel and bullets, lifeless body of pilot now falling over control column, causing the plane to assume a downward dive... Second by second the plane gets larger and larger through the targeting circle, when, it smashes bodily into the hull. The damage is instant and complete. The three crewmembers topside were killed instantly when the plane hit the hull, about the portside diesel room, breaching it seconds. The plane still carried its bombs so those got to go off at close range, further splitting U-73 in half. The crew in the bow compartments were flooded almost immediately, and within 5 minutes, U-73 took all hands to the bottom. There were no survivors...

Is what it would sound like if 'dead is dead'. But since I will only start again with the same name and pretty much the same career, I might as well just start over from before when I made that terrible mistake, and save some time.

[Farflung Wanderer]

Continuing Patrol 1 for U-18, commanded by Lt. Jr. Theodor Lawrenz, attached to U-Flottila Weddigen, based in Wilhelmshaven, Germany.


02 September 1939
2000h: Reported in. 5 torpedoes left, grid AN61. We're still a good 38 hours from AN16, meaning it will be a long, boring night as we draw ever closer to our ordered grid.

I've ordered the crew to get some rest, as we're all getting tired. Hopefully we'll have a refreshed shift ready for the morning.


03 September 1939
0800h: Reported in. 5 torpedoes left, grid AN48. 27 hours to AN16 still, meaning it will be mid-day tomorrow when we finally reach our objective.

Still no news on the situation with Poland, it has been eerily quiet on that front. I hope we don't stumble into something.

Waters are very rough and visibility is decent, but it's making me a touch nervous. A Typ-IIA is not designed to take terribly much punishment.

1737h: I had my RA go on duty to check for any transmissions, and he came back to me not too long later, message in hand. It's from Raeder, and it's addressed to every German naval vessel at sea. The message: "Commence hostilities against Britain forthwith." Germany is at war.

So too, then, is U-18. We are still 17 hours away from AN16, but from here on in we are on war footing. Should we pick up any British vessels, we shall engage and destroy them.

The weathers are too choppy to have my SO on station, meaning it is up to the watch crew to spot the British as we approach AN16. Hopefully by tomorrow the waters will have calmed and we can begin our hunt.

2000h: Sent in status report. 5 torpedoes, grid AN44. 15 hours to our objective, no contact with the British yet. The waters have gotten rougher, the waves often rolling over the deck of the ship and even up to the conning tower. I am worried about being swamped, so I shall order a dive until 2200h.

2108h: Ordered a test dive at 2103 to 68m in order to test ship's ability to perform at depth. She performed admirably, and I ordered her back up to 30m and ordered the SO to man his station to see if we couldn't pick up anything despite the rough seas.

2200h: Ordered to surface to recharge batteries and refill air. Waters are still very rough, but at least we are not getting swamped. I am proud of my crew and how well they are performing in these adverse conditions.


04 September 1939
0830h: After a longer than usual breakfast this morning to mark the first full day of the war, reported in. 5 torpedoes left, grid AN44. It is a mere 4 hours until we arrive at AN16, and the crew is getting excited. This marks our chance to do our part for Germany.

The waters are still very rough, frustratingly. It will make hunting the enemy much more difficult, but not impossible. At least visibility is good.

1049h: At 1010h, we were passed over by a British plane. I ordered a crash dive, and we escaped with no attack being made on us. We will now surface and continue on our way to AN16.

1157h: At about 11:47h, we were passed over by another British plane. Again, a crash dive, again, no attack by the hostile aircraft. Our luck can't last forever, but I am thankful that the water is deep enough for us to be able to crash dive.

Two and a half hours until AN16.

1243h: Another crash dive, this time to avoid two British craft. They are getting much more aggressive, and I'm sure that they're ranging in on our destination and our course. Regardless, we are ever so close to AN16. I hope we make it soon so we can start our duties.

1419h: We have finally arrived in AN16. Our 24 hour patrol now begins. Let us hope that the British do not throw the book at us and instead send some nice soft targets our way.

1628h: Ship spotted, merchant of some form right off our bow. Diving to periscope depth, let us begin the hunt.

1631h: Target is a C2 merchant heading southeast, almost 7km away. We shall begin hunting her, and when the opportunity arises, strike.

1739h: We've been chasing for some time, but batteries are running low. I am going to run decks awash and try to get in closer using the diesel engines. We're only 3000m away, I think we can do this.

1846h: After a grueling hour chase, success! It took two torpedoes to sink her, but that is one C2 going into the deep. Our crew is celebrating, and we still have three torpedoes to hunt with. Now to return to AN16 and continue our patrol.

2000h: Reported in. 3 torpedoes left, grid AN18. One cargo ship sunk, for a grand total of 6446 tons. There will be partying tonight!

2015h: Another air attack, I'm sure in response to our sinking of the cargo ship. We've crashed dived away, and shall be safe from their bombs. Aside from this distraction, we are well on our way back to AN16 and shall be back on station by around 2100h.

2054h: We have surfaced and are almost to AN16. We received an uplifting response to our last report, which has been shared amongst a happy crew. It has been a good day for U-18.


05 September 1939
0420h: The SO awoke me to report a merchant vessel not too far from us. I have ordered the U-18 to turn to engage. We still have three torpedoes left, perhaps we can bag another victim before dawn...

0425h: Target has been identified as a coastal merchant. They ought to be faster than the C2s, and not worth as much tonnage, but they'll be easier to sink. It's heading northwest, meaning that we will need to catch it before it enters the protected waters of the Home Fleet. I think we can do it, though.

[UKönig]

Looks like 'ole U-73 may be in over its head...

Attacking a heavily guarded convoy. 2 of 8 escorts destroyed, two tankers (large) and cargo ships (small) have been sunk.
HK units are many and working with extreme cooperation and skill. Damage is slowly starting to mount. Doesn't look like we will get away this time...

[UKönig]

:yeah:

I was on the edge of my seat -really- for almost 2 hours, real time.

Tally on merchants was 2 small for 2300 tons each, and two T2 tankers, for 11000 tons each. 3 escorts destroyed. Taking out the third one sealed the deal. If I had been unable to sink at least one more of my attackers, then I would not have made it out.
They destroyed my watch tower and everything on it. They destroyed the officer's post in the stern torpedo compartment. They destroyed my AA cannons and badly damaged the foreship and deck gun.
But the snorkel survived, and I owe my escape and longevity on it.
U-73, returns to St. Nazaire.

[Gunnarr]

I tried going through the Irish sea, from south to north.

I will never do it again.

Destroyer after destroyer found me, depth charged me. For the first time, I saw a town class destroyer (They look really nice actually)

It took many hours of real life time to get through all that... having to wait for them to run out of charges, constantly dodging.

and when I think im home free, at northern ireland, 3 destroyers in a group find me...

..

never again

[Farflung Wanderer]

Sorry for the delay, but here's the continuing adventures of Lt. Jr. Theodor Lawrenz, commander of U-18. Still on our first patrol...

05 September 1939
0500h: Still continuing our stalk of the merchant. Waters remain very choppy, and visibility is very low. Despite the fog, the moon is still out and visible for all to see.

We're closing rather rapidly to the enemy craft, but we must be careful. Being detected could bring the entire Royal Navy on our heads.

0552h: Gave up on pursuit as merchant began to gain speed after we dived to approach.

I have decided that we shall begin our return to Wilhelmshaven no matter what on 7 September. We can't stay out here forever, after all, and we need new orders. Besides, I'm not keen on staying out at AN16 forever.

1446h: Encountered a C2 approaching our position. Diving to periscope depth, going to lie in wait.

1550h: After putting our last three torpedoes into the C2, it finally slipped beneath the waves. U-18 has done well. We shall finish our patrol, report into the fleet, then get out of here as fast as our Typ-IIA will let us.

1725h: We were attacked by British planes 10 minutes ago. I assume that we have become quite infamous. Crash-dive performed successfully, and we're continuing on our merry way.

1755h: Another crash dive to respond to another air attack. I assume that the British will be attacking us every time we attempt to surface, so I shall endeavor to keep the U-18 underwater until night, when we can safely surface, recharge batteries, and report home.

2000h: Reported to fleet. Position AN16, no torpedoes left. Two cargo ships sunk, with a total tonnage of 12893 tons sunk.


06 September 1939
0800h: Reported back home. Grid AN41 is our current position, and we're a good 90 hours until we're back at Wilhelmshaven. It'll be a long trip back, but at least we do not need to fear English air attacks any longer.

Weather is pleasant, and waves are still choppy.

1100h: A British plane came out of nowhere, and we dove away. No damage, no problem. I'm just surprised of its direction of attack: The plane came from the south, which is just open sea all the way down to Hartlepool and the English island, but we're miles away.

1429h: Another attack. I wonder how long we'll need to manage this until we are in the clear.

1520h: Another attack.

2000h: Sent in patrol report. AN42 is our grid. 75 hours to Wilhelmshaven.


07 September 1939
0800h: Sent in our patrol report. AN45 is our position. It's going to be a long boring run. Even if we encounter anything hostile, we can't do anything other than just dive away. Our lack of torpedoes is a sign of a job well done, but I'll be damned if it doesn't make the run home a tiresome one.

[Farflung Wanderer]

Continuing the adventures of Lt. Jr. Theodor Lawrenz and U-18, on course for home from a long patrol.

07 September 1939
1009h: We picked up some enemy vessel not too far away, and on a course that will put us on intercept. We have no torpedoes, no deck gun, and we certainly don't have the capability to board anything, so I'm going to put the U-18 under until we're in the clear.

1111h: Made visual contact on the vessel. It's a small merchant, such a tempting target, but it's too far away and we have no way of fighting it. Since I do not want to risk the RAF being called in, we shall remain underwater for perhaps another hour.

2000h: Reported back home to flotilla. Grid AN49 is our current position, and we're a good 46 hours away from Wilhelmshaven still. I hope that the next two days go quickly.


08 September 1939
0800h: Report sent in. We're at grid AN62, and still 35 hours out.

2000h: Another day, another report. Grid AN66, 23 hours out.


09 September 1939
0800h: Hopefully our last report for this patrol. Grid AN95, back in German controlled waters finally. The crew is relaxed and happy.

1812h: Wilhelmshaven is clearly in sight, and the lighthouses are here to guide us home. Will report time of docking in the sub pens here before getting finally out of this tin can that has been my home for this past week and back into my office for some time.

1847h: Docked at Wilhelmshaven.


10 September 1939
Well, time to put things in order.

First and foremost, it is as I suspected. Germany went to war with Poland, and both England and France joined the party immediately afterwards. We managed to score some of the earliest victories for the U-Boat fleet, and our tonnage of 12.893 puts us a good thousand above Wilhelm Rollmann, who has 11.357 tons. I'm going to tell the officers today about our position as top U-Boat ace, see how the crew reacts. There will be champagne tonight, more so than there was the last. My head is still spinning from our party.

Business as usual, though. I've updated my patrol log and submitted it, to the satisfaction of the higher-ups. In turn, I have been given some medals to hand out, as well as some duties to perform. Warrant Officer Wolf Degen has been given some enhanced training and is now a qualified Machinist. Warrant Officers Axel Thurmann, Wolf Degen, Karl Creutz, Adolf Conrad, Jorg Zander, Sub-Lieutenants Udo Hartenstein, Otto Totenhagen, Fritz Frederichs, and Adolf Carlewitz have all been awarded the U-Boat War Badge. I still have two remaining to pass out, but I shall award them after the following patrol.

I have ordered that U-18 be upgraded with a 2cm FK C/30 flak cannon for use in air defense. While our past patrol took us into deeper waters, the Typ-IIA is a coastal merchant raider, which means shallow waters will be our norm. Having something to engage air targets when a crash dive could be a tragic mistake will save our skins, especially given the sheer volume of air attacks we were subjected to in the last few days of our first patrol. I have also asked that an emblem be marked on the side of U-18 to commemorate her survival of her first patrol. This is our ship now, and I shall not abandon it. To mark our travels, and the hope of always coming home again, U-18 shall now and forever have a Kompaßstern affixed to her conning tower.


29 September 1939
Tomorrow night, at around midnight, U-18 is to head out on patrol again. Our orders take us this time to AN81, a point in-between England and the neutral Netherlands. I don't imagine too many hostile contacts in this area, but we will do our duty none-the-less.

The crew is set and ready to head out again, and we are confident that we can make our mark for Germany.


30 September 1939
0119h: U-18 embarks from Wilhelmshaven to head out on patrol. Waters are rolling, but not all-together rough. Will establish a new reporting procedure for this and future patrols. One report, daily, at 2000h, should be suffice.

The course we are setting will put us moving mainly off the coast of the Netherlands until AN82, in which case we'll push out to our grid and begin a search-pattern. This way, I hope to minimize air attacks from the RAF.

2000h: Reported back to Wilhelmshaven. We're currently in Grid AN69, and are only 19 hours away from AN81. I'm particularly happy about this, I despised the long trip there and away from AN16, and I prefer to have our hunting grounds close to home given the nature of how the Typ-IIA hunts and performs.


01 October 1939
1424h: We have arrived in Grid AN81 and are beginning our patrol. Let us see what the coming days throw at us...

[Rambler241]

9th patrol, returning from an (almost) fruitless tour of grid AL29, which my convoy route maps show should be bang across the northern convoy routes. They must have heard we were coming.... Still, heard & intercepted a C3 before leaving the grid after a boring 5 days. Returned along the convoy routes to N.Ireland, just enough targets there & down the W coast to keep the crew happy. S of Ireland, a very strange noise in the 'phones turned out to be two C2s in tandem. With only 3 fish left, I was loath to use 2 (or even three) eels when we had a locker well stuffed with gun ammo, so I decided to take out the first (both armed on the stern) with a T1, and use my well tried disarming technique on the second.

This involves approaching very close submerged, surfacing about 50m away and parallel, and potting the pop-gun on the poop, before perforating the plates with a few (a lot for a C2!) shots. If you're close enough, the gun shield is a fairly easy target - the gun can't be depressed enough to hit the boat, though the crew might fire a few shots overhead. A single AP usually suffices (2 in this case - choppy sea, and the shield is a small target). While submerged and waiting for our deadly tryst, my usually taciturn sonar man announced a Merchant at around 20k to the north, going the wrong way (SW), but thankfully slooow.

Having chased & dispatched the C3 ( gun on the bow, and so high up and difficult to hit first shot), I thought a trek up the Western Approaches might provide a couple of suitable targets for my last two torps before returning to Brest. After another sonar contact, and a frustrating and tricky intercept of what turned out to be a US T3 tanker (blast the yanks!) we returned to a more direct route homeward, pausing as usual for regular sonar dips. My sonar man was, as usual, unable to identify the roar of a nearby convoy - a big 'un. A bonus on the way home perhaps?

Tricky, this one - the haze meant that trying to keep the flank escort in sight was not an option - we'd be in radar range. However, the large convoy icon with directional arrow allowed a track to be plotted, and an out-of sight approach to get in front to a close attack position.

So far so good - keeping out of the lead escort's sonar cone enabled a close attack on the lead T3 tanker in the centre left row, with a T2 conveniently one ship behind in the adjacent row. Both were hit square on at the appropriate depth, both stopped dead in the water - and stayed afloat. Drat and double drat! With escorts converging from all 4 points of the compass, and 90 metres depth at that point, and discretion being the better part of valour, we hid under the T2 tanker. I've discovered a new and less obvious use for the observation 'scope - with the prism tilted almost straight up, the bottom of the T2 could be seen clearly, 80 or so metres above..

Three DDs and a deadly little Flower circled, pinging away like mad. After about about 15 minutes, one left at speed - the lead V&W escort, I guessed. Then the other two must have stopped to listen, pinging occasionally while the Flower showed off by circling and uselessly dropping DCs (at a safe distance from the crippled T2, and so a safe distance from U-47 and yours truly). After another half hour with no movement from the two DDs, and no more pings, we crept away at 2 knots from the last known position of the DDs, heading back to the surface. They were still there, 2km away, one either side of the bow of the T2 - then they started up and returned to the convoy at speed - now a further wait until they were out of sight, and far enough away to allow me (chief gunner - got the badge, wear the T-shirt) to finish off the two tankers. Job done, we set off to investigate another sonar contact to the north, only to have a shell whistle overhead from the Clemson hard on our tail at 35knots, and 4k behind. I know just who'll spend their leave peeling potatoes in the officer's mess kitchen back at Brest.

After a nervous half-hour at max depth evading the persistent Clemson we followed a straight course back to base, sinking a C2, a Tug Boat, and a couple of annoying Elco TBs on the way. Three or four star shells on the water line gets 'em every time, with a 2cm magazine to finish 'em off if necessary.

A good patrol, if rather boring on patrol S of Iceland in crap weather. Finished strongly though, if i say so myself (no one else will).

[Fubar2Niner]

Unfortunately my current campaign has come to a complete standstill. Recently upgraded from a 580GTX SLI system to a 980GTX SLI and can't get SH3 to looks as nice anymore :/\\!!:/\\!!:/\\!! Spent two weeks so far trying different NI profiles but nothing will get me even close :wah:

Best regards.

Fubar2Niner

[Kip Chiakopf]

After two highly successfull cruises in a Type IXB (more than 100,000 tons sunk including two aux. cruisers and the HMS Renown), I got cocky. I torpedoed and crippled a large freighter. I surfaced to finish it off with my deckgun. Suddenly, a tiny British electro boat arrives on the scene shooting. "Poo," sez I, "A seasoned ace such as myself can easily swat this bug!" So, I manned my 20mm and engaged the little pest while my deckgun concentrated on the freighter. Well, the little bugger sunk me with all hands!:dead:

[banryu79]

Ahahah, another lesson learned, the hard way of course :-)

[Rambler241]

Kip said:
I surfaced to finish it off with my deckgun
- not a bad idea to check sonar first, methinks.

It's also not a bad idea to put some distance between your boat and the sunk target, but in which direction? You may be heading straight for a DD, whose gun crews are just waiting to show off their well-practised skills to their commander. Not to mention the DC crews, with depth-setting keys burning a hole in their pockets. I usually dip down for a sonar check, unless I've done a full sweep before the attack.

[Zosimus]

January 1943. Launched U-211 from Bergen. Assigned to AN64.

January 24, 1943 picked up radar detection from airplanes. Dived to 20 meters -- about as deep as I could go. AN64 is quite shallow. Came up for air an hour later and as I got another radar detection, my 1WO reminded me that our boat, which is equipped with the best anti-air guns available, had been ordered to stay on the surface and fight it out.

So we did. We turned tail and kicked it up to full speed. That's when I realized that I had no one skilled at flak guns. So I did what I could. We took some damage from a near-miss on a bomb, but we shot a Halifax down. :up: It took me about half an hour to stop the leaks and we went back to scope depth and north out of AN64. The exact extent of the damage is hard to assess.

I then took a long route around to northern Ireland. I got notifications of various convoys, but they were all headed into Liverpool and in shallow waters. No way I was going to make it there.

February 2. It was raining heavily so I went back to scope depth and headed west. After a few hours I got notification of a cargo ship closing. I marked its approximate location on the map and we watched it carefully for 6½ minutes. Approximate speed: 6 knots. Heading... eastish. Then I checked the gauges and saw that my CO2 was over 2.0. We surfaced to vent and that's when I realized that another cargo ship was following behind me. It immediately started to zigzag and opened fire.

I just kept my stern on him till I had vented completely, dove to 25m, and turned to 5º to intercept my primary target. At 1500m I went to scope depth and got a visual on both targets. The primary target was much larger, so I continued the attack. At about 1200m I fired a two-torpedo salvo (T3s), scoring two hits and sinking it immediately. We estimate it at 6780 tons.

We loaded two more submerged, surfaced, and are continuing our patrol. I am relieved to say that the wind is about 15 m/s (sea 6) and so we are not manning the flak guns. I hope no more aircraft show up.

[Kip Chiakopf]

I just kept my stern on him till I had vented completely, dove to 25m, and turned to 5º to intercept my primary target. At 1500m I went to scope depth and got a visual on both targets. The primary target was much larger, so I continued the attack. At about 1200m I fired a two-torpedo salvo (T3s), scoring two hits and sinking it immediately. We estimate it at 6780 tons.


Were you using magnetic or contact fuses? What was the weather like?

[Zosimus]

Contact, 4 meter depth, 3º spread.

Wind was 11 m/s.

Weather 2
Sea 5

[sublynx]

↯ from U 353 to FdU Italy:

= Operation 26 completed. CH8450. NE 9, sea 7, 10/10, medium visibility. Requesting orders. Wähling=

[Farflung Wanderer]

Patrol 2 for Lt. Jr. Theodor Lawrenz, commander of the U-18. Attached to U-Flotilla Weddigen, based in Wilhelmshaven, Germany.


01 October 1939
2000h: Reported in to fleet. Grid AN81, full load of torpedoes. While some ships are to be moving into our grid, we haven't seen them yet. Should they come across us, we will do our best to engage them.


02 October 1939
1338h: Reported to fleet that our 24 hour patrol has finished uneventfully. Hopefully we shall receive new patrol orders shortly.

1526h: I just finished a meeting with the senior staff. The higher-ups want us to "be more aggressive", so that we shall do. The port of Southend is rather nearby, at grid AN79. I will take U-18 to prowl around that area and engage any shipping that attempts to leave. Given how dangerous this will be, we shall remain underwater for most of our time there. Once we use up all of our torpedoes or sink three ships, we shall return to port.

2000h: Reported back to fleet, let them know of our plans. We are currently in grid AN84, and will be at AN79 in about seven hours. It might still be dark out by the time we get there; all the better for us.

2205h: Ship spotted heading NE. U-18 turning to engage. Night is clear and waters are still. This is not great hunting weather, but if it is the conditions we must deal with, so be it.


03 October 1939
0019h: I can only assume that the British ship snuck past us during the night, for we have seen nothing of it. I am returning us back on course. By the time we get there, it will be much lighter out, which is frustrating, but there is nothing that can be done. Hopefully we shall have better hunting today.

[sublynx]

21.11.1942

Korvettenkapitän Heinz Wähling relinquishes the command of U 353 and is transferred to Kiel, to command the 5th Training Flotilla.

[Rambler241]

Your far-too-frequent (and to my mind unnecessary) reports will be your undoing, Farflung Wanderer. The Tommies had primitive HF/DF ("Huff-duff") direction finding in place at the outbreak of war, and improved it in leaps and bounds as the "Uboat War" progressed. At best this resulted in fewer target intercepts, and so fewer sinkings than would otherwise be the case, as convoys were re-routed to avoid estimated Uboat (and later Wolf-pack) positions. At worst it resulted in Uboat losses as allied aircraft, convoy escorts, and later, Uboat hunting-groups, were directed to the estimated Uboat locations. Destruction of Uboats was the aim, "keeping 'em down", and so at much slower speed, an acceptable second-best.

Also, available frequencies for Uboat communication were limited, and "chatter" was frowned upon by the KM. The longer the message transmitted, the greater the risk of transmitter location. By 1942, 20 seconds of transmission was enough for a fairly accurate location estimate. Careless talk costs lives, as the Tommies said, and it applied (and still applies) to the armed services of all nations.

However, good luck, and happy hunting, and don't forget the need for frequent sonar sweeps.

[bstanko6]

U-96 commanded by Ruprecht Schmidt. Literally playing like Das Boot. Nothing is going on at all! No ship, no convoy, nothing as Lt. Werner would say!

[chebonaparte]

hello all

ive had sh2,3,4,5 and now find myself back in sh3 got JSGME to work 1st time i tried it

its the little things-

A. has anybody got file/mod to-

have a binocular cancel or press b again to deselect binoculars?

B. is there way to decrease the repetitive "be more aggressive" radio messages? or have alternative random info lol



its tedious to change out just to drop binoculars

looking for more gui small size mods to make gameplay more fluid


SH3Cmdr to help start new career stories i had 6 kills in 3patrols after 2 ctds before a third destroyer rammed me from behind

sunk from flooding! :) :arrgh!:

why cant i download today?

[Karl Hungus]

01.22.1940

Was cruising AM99 on the surface in bad weather, and dropped to PD for a listen- warships all over the starboard, at maybe 2000m heading SE. Visibility was around 500m, if that. Went back the surface and ran at flank for about 10 minutes before dropping back to PD for the ambush.

It's a huge battle group- I can see a tribal ahead and astern of me, and then, out of the fog and rain comes HMS Hood. I don't have a shot- she's going too fast and too close. But just behind her is HMS Resolution, a Revenge battleship. I fire a spread of 4 eels from about 350m, with three slamming into her port side.

I lost sight of her quickly, due to the conditions. After a few minutes, though, I hear "she's going down" and start looking via the external cam. By the time I find her, she's almost below the waves.

Here she is going down, from the event cam, and then just before the forward turrets and bow disappear.

http://i.imgur.com/UrXXhLN.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/F6zAO2D.png

[Farflung Wanderer]

Should note that I still have been continuing my career as Lt. Jr. Theodor Lawrenz, but I am getting a new computer soon which will effectively spell the end of this career.

Given the low difficulty level of the one I am on, I have decided not to update my adventures. However, once I have SH3 running on the new PC, I will keep you guys informed on my mishaps.

[Kip336]

After almost two years without Silent Hunter, I decided it was time to bring the box out again.
Being fond of a healthy dose of doing things the "real way", that includes GWX and finding my notebook on all sorts of U boat related maths. Sadly I could only find my how-to-plot-an-intercept-course note.
it was quickly decided I would need a XO, which so happens to be my kid.

Patrol 0, 2-8-1939.

Kaleun Kipischovic boards the U-336, a VIIB boat from the second flottila based in Willemshaven. With all the pleasantries done, Wänsi****** Fahrt foraus is ordered by the XO. The band music on the dock is terrible.
Hours later we open our orders. Patrol grid BE69 for 24 hours and do a shakedown.

During the course of the patrol, we go through the standard rituals. Diving, crashdiving, flak gun shooting and deck gunnery courses.

We learned a few things from our boat this day:
1) Seagull does not taste good after a 20mm.
2) Our crew does not know how to properly aim the deck gun, we often find them mounting the aiming binoculars a good 30 degrees off center. The XO proces to be exceptionally good at Shooting from the hip.

After some stalking and attack practice on a British Destroyer near when we come aroubd the British Island to Scapa Flow (Nice guys those Brits). It's time to head back.

END OF PATROL 0.
Ships sunk 0
Airplanes Shot: 0
Other: 3 Seagulls.
-30 renown.



PATROL 2, 30-8-1939

My brother Yashin joins the crew as 1WO. Not sure if this is good. But with his experience, we're sure to see some more seriousness aboard the boat. Things are stirring above my paygrade. BdU is uneasy.

As we prepare to leave willemshaven, the XO orders periscope depth. As the crew scrambles inside, I question my XO. We haven't even left the dock.
"We must be stealthy, they are not allowed to see us leave. And the music is bad"
No more questions.

We find ourselves back enroute to Scapa Flow to do further training with our friends from the British V&W class we saw last month. Experiencing their tactics (they seem to go full speed reverse if you get close on their side) will provide valuable information for later.

A message from BDU. War with Poland is close! All units are ordered to patrol out on sea.
No special mention of our results we sent back to BDU.
We continue our course down the southcoast of England. A few boats from different nations are spotted as we press on.

Sept 2, 1700.
Schiff gesichted Kaleun! We spot a small British merchant, perfect Stalking practice.

0800
After some hours at periscope depth, we order the boat to surface. A quick check only shows the Merchant at about 700 meters on port side.
message received! British, French and some other countries too far way to worry about have declared war on Germany! We are to attack all ships following the London Protocol and Price regulations.

The Merchant must've gotten the same message as its now frantically zigzagging.
With a small nod to the XO, he jumps into action. He gets his crew together and mans the 88.
Shells start splashing around the freighter, and we soon see some cargo on the aft deck exploding. With a big grin on his face, XO reports that shooting the explosive cargo must be Highly effective, more shots follow, more explosions.
With some frantic arm flailing, I point him to the Waterline. 10 shots later she goes down.

Now that we can call ourselves a real U boat crew, we speed off towards the English channel in hopes of finding bigger pray.
We soon find another merchant and start our run. unfortunately he spots us and starts zigzagging to.
At full speed we overtake him and dive to periscope depth. Positioning ourselves 500m from his expected track we await. Suddenly warships closing on two sides. Multiple on the east, one on the west
No more attack. We turn around and leave at 3 knots heading south.

From the periscope we see a smokestack to our east, which turns out to be a Destroyer heading straight our previous location.
20 minutes later, we spot the other ship closing from the west, an ASW trawler headed straight for us. That would prove to be bothersome.
On the east side

From the periscope we see a smokestack to our east, which turns out to be a Destroyer heading straight our previous location.
20 minutes later, we spot the other ship closing from the west, an ASW trawler headed straight for us. That would prove to be bothersome. It's just a few hundred meters out by the time we actually spot it.

Continuing at 3 knots, we order the boat as deep as we can go, about 40 meters. The thrumming sound of screws gets louder and louder. The entire boat listens in silence as the trawler passes over us, just mere meters from the bridge.

A sigh of relief as it passes. "Wasserbombe!" Heads bow down in dissappointment. A sailor or two even have a slightly panicked look.

The depthcharges explode harmlessly of our port bow, just rattling some of the cutlery in the cupboards. They probably don't even know we're here, just trying to scare us out of the water.

Hydrophone reports the trawler turning around, but then passing behind us. The destroyer is keeping station around the area where we dived earlier. Deciding that following a task force isn't the best idea, we turned west and prepared to head north when we cleared the ships searching for us sufficiently.

The next hour the trawler and destoyer continued circling behind us, sometimes passing in front of us as they expanded their search area, luckily without ever detecting us.
With the ships 2km behind us, we increased to 5 knots and headed north.

We continued up north along the english coast, encountering another small merchant. This time the weather was too rough to use the deck gun. The merchant was already rolling quite violently in the waves, so a single torpedo to the middle helped knocking it over. It promptly capsized and went down. The crew didn't even radio in.

As we reached the entrance to Scapa Flow, the amount of warship contacts on the Hydrophone increased.

Hours later, a lone V&W Destroyer loitered past us at a respectable 10 knots, just a mere 600 meter. With us being in a perfect firing position, we couldn't let him go.

A two spread torpedo attack with the 'fast' setting ended the career of this Destroyer real fast. We couldn't help but wonder if it was the Destroyer we ...practiced... with just months ago.


Rounding the tip of the British islands, we found a large merchant struggling in the waves at around 04:00 on Sept 5th. We got up to 600 meters before starting our attack run. We tried to manually aim the torpedos, which including duds ended up in us using 5 torpedos, including our stern tube to sink her. A very expensive boat.

With out supply of torpedos expended, and not much improvement in weather for 2 days, we headed back to base.

((PATROL RESULTS WILL FOLLOW, once I'm home!)

[Aktungbby]

Kip336! :salute: after a two year silent run!

[Kaptlt.Endrass]

Back in the saddle (or on the deck?) after a long time, started a new career, and here's what I got so far.

First off, patrolling grid AN16 off of Scapa Flow in early 1940. I just received my new U-boat, a Type VIIC that, for some unknown reason, retains the title of U-1, my Type IIA.

Anyhow, we finish our mission, having only sunk a Coastal Merchant and a C3 cargo. I decide to go take a stab at the harbor defenses. As we approach on the surface (it's about 0000 hours), we spot a V&W class coming up on our port side. We dive, he passes, and we eventually resurface. Later, we run by a C&D destroyer, who just so happens to pass into our stern firing arc.

Well, I think every destroyer captain in Scapa was having none of that. But I never was pinged once. I took out all of the destroyers as they began to leave only minutes after arriving on scene, then snuck into Scapa, unsure of more defenders, only to find it completely empty.


More recently, I had a monster patrol. Now based out of St. Nazaire as part of the 7th Flotilla, we were given orders for AM14, north of the Rockall Banks. It is mid-'41, right there in the Happy Time.

Boy was I happy. Ran into 5 large lone merchants, all of whom were put under with either surface action or torpedoes. Then, as we moved our reserves in as we passed the southern tip of Ireland, we ran into a convoy, no warning.

Having no torpedoes in the tubes and only 89 rounds of 8.8cm HE left really could not be more inconvenient. This convoy was MASSIVE, easily 10 ships by 6 rows, only guarded by an ASW trawler, which we sank with gunfire (risky, but worth it).

Promptly picking the largest targets we could find (a T3 and an intermediate tanker), we matched our speed with the convoy, reported it, and opened fire as every hand we could spare reloaded the tubes. The gramophone was playing Westerwaldlied (one of my favorites) and we finally managed to sink our targets and damage a couple others with the Flakzwilling.

Came out of that one with over 53000 tons of shipping sunk, 2 Iron Cross Second Classes, one First Class, 10 U-boat Front Clasps, 2 U-boat War Badges, a promotion, and for me, a promotion to Lt. Sr.

And my love was rekindled.

[Zosimus]

:up:

That's what BdU meant when it said, "Be more aggressive."

[UKönig]

December, 1944
The rickety old U-73, the Bull of Scapa flow emblems on the conning tower, with us since 1940, are now fading away because of the length of time we are forced to spend submerged, reliant on the snorkel, has been finally kicked out of its berth at Saint Nazaire. Our changing military fortunes and a certain dockside reputation, that, in many societies would be considered "negative" (looking at you, 2 Watch Officer!), got us "reassigned" a new port of call. Henceforth, we are to operate with the 11th Fleet out of Bergen, Norway, and we'll let the French take their stinky port back. We left them a little going away present anyway...

So now we operate from Norway. I love Norway. I've always wanted to go, but as a civilian, I never had time for it. Now we pretty much live here. The locals are ...tolerant, but, they have a slightly different regard for us than the French ever did.

Our patrol was to take us into the convoy lanes just south of Iceland. The NORTH North Atlantic. Never really did like that area. Too cold. I never envied the Captains that operated on convoys through spitzbergen island, either, *shudders*. Anyway, we had a spate of good weather, and being the pirate that I am, stayed on the surface. With all the radar/electronics our lagging industry could provide, going full choke. The only things we lacked were flashing lights or siren sounds, although there was the typhon horn...

The First Watch Officer was on duty that day, I was on the bridge with him, leaning against the bulwark, looking aft at my AA crew (we won't make *that* mistake again!), casually having a smoke (because I could) when my reverie was shattered by the radar operator calling out a contact. Seems our little fuzz-buster started chirping, and it got him all a flutter. Had to share it. Radar warning huh, I thought, and passed the order to fire on all targets. The 1WO, instantly searching the skies. I checked the time, 05:30. Pretty nice sun rise all else aside. Nothing? No, still nothing. Does anybody hear anything? "What?, asks the Exec, "over the sound of the diesels?"
"Nevermind"
Down below, a shift change was in progress. I have arranged aboard my boat, that the aft quarters is not for the Petty Officers alone, but for the engine room crew, of all ranks. The higher ranks getting, of course, the best lodging first. I want them closer to their duty station, in case of emergency. They also act as the damage control party, because they know best the reason and meaning behind most, if not all of the pipes, handles, valves, and wheels on this tub. And lately, they've been getting many chances to ply their knowledge...
The cook has just finished serving up breakfast to the on going engine room watch, and the stewards are to soon serve the retiring watch, so that there will be less need to fuss between compartments when everyone is ready to eat. Unfortunately, it is also being served in the bow compartment to the retired watch in their respective areas. The Officers and I have already been taken care of, which is why I am on the bridge now, having a smoke. The kid really needs to learn how to cook Navy Eggs (I shudder again).
Five minutes goes by, nothing. Then suddenly, there they are! Four Sunderlands, incoming. Aft. At speeds that long lost lovers suddenly reunited could only dream of. Pfft, I think. Sunderlands. We've dealt with them before. Very well, I might add. I send the Watch Officer below and direct the gunners myself. The first one gets into range and the AA team earns their pay. Scratch one. A hail of incoming fire makes me change my mind a moment later and I yell out "Alarm!!!"
Bells...Bells for breakfast. Not a good combination. I turn and head for the hatch when a massive explosion rocks the boat.
The blast forces the boat down at an even steeper angle, spilling all the coffee, tea, plates, crew, into one big pile. Yeah, breakfast time really isn't the best one for the alarm bell.
When I awoke, I found I was lying on the deckplates in the control room. Oh, nobody get the Captain a pillow or blanket or anything...jerks.
I also found we are down at 70 meters...barely. The explosion that forced me bodily into the hull had also killed my AA team, and destroyed everything on the tower, and our 88!
It was right around then that I called a meeting of the crew and told them that I was never actually trained as a U-boat captain. That I got my commission because of a few favors owed to my father, from members of the government, whom shall remain nameless -you know who you are!
The only way I was able to prevent a mutiny was to remind the crew of what their uniforms looked like back at the base. You know, the ones the ladies can't seem to keep their hands off of? You guys never did thank me for that. What's a mistake or two? I see the crew nodding their heads in agreement, looking at each other, with smiles on their bearded faces, as they picture themselves in full kit, with women pawing at them - yes, these women got paid still, but, who cares, anyway. It worked. A round or two from the "secret stash" helped heal some bruised egos as well.
I ask for a damage and then an inventory report. The damage is serious. There is a pretty big leak in the galley. The cook has to empty a bucket of water into the diesel bilge once an hour as part of his regular duties now. And the leak is under some pressure, so it doesn't always spray out in a stream, and frequently splashes him in the face. I smile with justice when I think of it and his "cooking" even now.
The radio is totally destroyed as well, which is good, because it saves me the trouble.
"How many torpedoes do we have on board?"
The answer is swift. "All of them, Sir"
"What?"
"All of them..? Sir? ..."All the torpedoes are still on board"
"Ok. Look. Here's what we're gonna do. I'm just gonna 'forget' this little incident, and I will edit the war log to reflect something a little more noble." I order the weapons officer to fire off a few torpedoes, as evidence backing the story I am concocting, and retire to my bunk to come up with something half ways believable. When I am happy with my drafts, and accepting inputs from the crew so to ensure their complicity with the plot, (the captain may go down with the ship, but I won't go alone!), I end our patrol and return us to base. Oh well, we will be back for Christmas now, a lot of the crew were griping about that. It's pretty important to Germans, although I never held much interest. But, like a lot of other things, traditions last, last even longer than ships. In any case I'm telling the crew that we will get a better boat as a present for the new year. For surely they would just junk this thing. Why repair it? Right?

[sublynx]

the 24th of December, 1942. 1110 hours.

Radio message from U 413: = Convoy BE2958 230°T 10 knots =

[neural]

U-123
Patrol 8
August 14, 1941

Following new orders from BdU I decide to engage the single escort in a small convoy directly. Due to bad weather we can get very close. We fire 3 torpedoes, 3 hits. The destroyer sink within minutes in the storm. No survivors.

We are now shadowing the convoy. Seems like there's at least one large merchant among them....

[Zosimus]

U-123
Patrol 8
August 14, 1941

Following new orders from BdU I decide to engage the single escort in a small convoy directly. Due to bad weather we can get very close. We fire 3 torpedoes, 3 hits. The destroyer sink within minutes in the storm. No survivors.

We are now shadowing the convoy. Seems like there's at least one large merchant among them....

Be more aggressive.

[Kip336]

BD75, large convoy, WSW 6knots. Two escorts
high seas, moderate visibility
Intend on attacking escorts, then wait for weather.
U-336

[UKönig]

Got tired of ole U-73 and decided to put her away. The war was over (pretty much) anyway so I have no regrets.

The end came around March 1st 1945. U-73 was patrolling the North Sea. On a whim (as is usual with that guy) the Kapitän decided to raid the British city of Hartlepool. U-73 found 4 tankers (3 large and 1 small) and sank one large and the one small because they were better placed for side on shots. The other 2 ships were well protected by the pier walls and would require a trick shot from the pattern runners, of which I am none too fond.
U-73 sank a V&W class destroyer on patrol outside the anchorage. I had raised the scope for a quick view of the situation, when a flight of bombers spotted the mast. That in turn called the attention of the destroyer, and he made right for our estimated position. We sent a torpedo his way, and after a runtime of 1'35" a loud explosion. Up scope in time to see a fireball bursting out of the forward magazine, and the ship assume an immediate nose down attitude. Crew falling off the decks or being flung into the waters, a few managed to begin lowering life boats, others tossing rafts over the side, a bloody mess.
It was when U-73 was on its way out from Hartlepool that our end came. A Short Sunderland in a flight of four got a lucky hit on the stern which disrupted the trim and forced the stern out of the water. We had only made it about 2-3 km from the harbour proper so it was still pretty shallow. Once the stern came up, and the location fixed, the other planes began to attack. Damage quickly began to mount so the only thing left for us was to abandon ship. Blow ballast!! Emergency Surface!! The uncomfortable irony was that the survivors of U-73 (the whole crew less the 1WO) were picked up by the same trawler fleet that rescued survivors of the destroyer we sank. That made for a rather awkward ride back to Hartlepool, where we were later sent off to a British PoW camp...

[shotbywolf]

me and my type 9b u-16 have just hit the mother load while on our way to st john canada to steal some maple syrup around aj 70 early into night we got a convoy north bound going 8 knots in storming seas while scanning the convoy the first ship to enter my sights was a single flower class closely followed by a large merchant followed by HMS ****ING RODNEY i immediately saved and i am now trying to get into position to sink escorts ill try to keep you all updated by it seems our we have bug sabotage to our ability to reload and repair the ship (it keeps saying i am but it never actually reloads or repairs the damage )

[Zosimus]

November 16, 1942. 8:16 A.M.

Fired a two-torpedo salvo at HMT Aquitania, which was traveling in convoy. Both torpedoes hit. Less than a minute later we heard a secondary explosion and heard the order to abandon ship. We dived to 208 m and were not detected by ASDIC.

Continuing to follow the convoy, which is inbound.

[Zosimus]

February 9, 1943
Five ships sunk
52,193 tons
Patrol terminated early.
Shelled.
DC
Damaged.

[20000 Leagues]

Just finished a career from August 1939 to May 24, 1945. Not overly realistic, but I wanted to see if I could pull it off in GWX. Started off in Wilhelmshaven in the 2nd, commanding a VIIB. Then I went to Lorient and commanded an IXB and then an IXD2. I had many excellent patrols and many close calls. This career was the first time I ever brought a boat home under 30% hull integrity. A good portion of that damage happened while duking it out with planes in the Bay of Biscay, literally just outside of Lorient. I didn't know the hull was in that shape until I reached port. (100% realism). Some of my tactics are a little aggressive for a sub skipper and I lost many good men. One patrol in particular saw one officer, two petty officers and five sailors dead. There were a few patrols where I was just plain lucky to make it back.

In 1942, I transferred to the 10th and was eventually attached to Operation Monsun in Penang. I found that I missed the action of the North Atlantic and in 1944, transferred to the 11th in Bergen, where I thought I'd finish out the war. I also took command of an XXI for the first time (My favourite is IXD2). After two patrols I found convoys scarce and airplanes a plenty and transferred back to the 10th. When I transferred, I was assigned to Lorient. One patrol later my base was changed to Penang. So, I set out for Penang in my XXI. I know. You're thinking "Gott Himmel!!". But I did make it without the presence of milchkuhe. As it turned out, the XXI has an impressive submerged range. I was easily able to stretch my diesel.

Once I reached Penang, I was immediately sent to Jakarta, where I cruised around Australia and attacked a few convoys. On March 7, 1945, we set sail from Jakarta and found a convoy about 800 clicks south of Port Moresby. We sunk all of the escorts and eight ships. Knowing I wouldn't make it to Jakarta and back out to sea before the war's end, I ported in Rabaul. I didn't need fuel, but I had no eels. I also knew that my boat would be stocked with nothing but TI gas torpedoes.

We set sail from Rabaul April 26, 1945, and on May 6, stumbled into a convoy just off of the southeast coast of Australia in the Tasman Sea. I was almost certain that we wouldn't survive an attack on the convoy using TI's this late in the war. I stalked the convoy, took out the escorts and scored five hits. I was hoping for more hits, but most of my eels were used fighting the escorts. As I floated just under the surface watching a large tanker and a large merchant burn, I received the news that we had surrendered and the war was over.

Once the tanker sunk, I set a course to travel all the way around Australia and up to Jakarta. Although it was a long war, I wasn't quite ready to give up command of my U-Boat. By the time we hit Jakarta it was May two-four (the Canucks will get that) and the war was well over. I was immediately retired at Jakarta and then assigned to the 5th in a training capacity.

On to the next battle,

Herr 20,000 Leagues

[UKönig]

U-802 is on its 4th patrol, and is currently off the coast of Cuba (en route to Key West). This old IXC has been getting the long range treatment lately. The first 2 patrols took us off Capetown, SA, and the 3rd was to the Caribbean. The 4th was back to SA, grid GR99. Once that was over, we headed back to Aruba and to the oil ports of Curacao.

So far, U-802 is turning out to be the death ship. On every patrol since the first one, we have lost at least 2 crew, killed by enemy action. Usually while trying to satisfy my lust of shooting down aircraft. (the log book tells a different tale).

But it's also allowing massive tonnage hauls. At this moment, we have 4 tubes loaded forward, and both aft, and one more reload for tubes 5 and 6 to boot. We are running low on AA and DG shells, so that could be a problem. But to our credit, have also shot down a nice selection of aircraft, from P38s to TBFs to PBYs. And we discovered that the 20mms are useful against PT boats. We were being harassed by PT 98 off the coast of Curacao. He started closing on bearing 195, so we started slowing down to let him get in range. That's good to know because I hate trying to hit PT boats with the 88mm. Usually the shots go over the target because it's so low in the water. U-802 will continue its patrol into Key West, and we will take it from there...

[Rambler241]

PT & British MT boats succumb to starshell also (the only use for them IMHO). Between 4 and 6 hits on the waterline does it nicely, though I have once sunk one with just 2 shells (I do the deck gunnery myself). I prefer to keep 20mm ammo for aircraft, if possible, and one of my flack gunners is allowed to do his stuff (much better than I can). I'm running 2 campaigns, one started in 1939 at Wilhelmhaven (now transferred to Brest), and these small fast boats are no great problem, apart from the difficulty hitting a fast-moving target. In the second campaign, starting 1943, it seems they've been upgunned, and can cause hull and (repairable) superstructure damage, if you're unlucky. In that campaign, I only attack if they're a serious inconvenience, or possible danger. If the boats actually launched any torpedoes, as they would in RL, that would make them an entirely different kettle of fish to cope with.....

[UKönig]

U-802 spent 2 months on patrol and returned to base in Nov. of 1942. Half the boat was in shambles and some of the crew had been killed, one man badly injured, would later recover. 59,000 tons in the locker. One torpedo in tube 6 left. Our incursion to Key West resulted in 2 destroyers (clemson class) and one small tanker (4260 tons) on the bottom. One DD was patrolling and one was at anchor. The one on patrol took two eels before sinking. Just as well, because by this point, it was the last week of September and we had pretty much just about as much as we wanted from the tropics. I wanted to shoot off as much as I could so I could return to Lorient, feeling like something was accomplished. U-802 will spend 30 days in dry dock, being refitted and repaired (damage was significant). The Captain was promoted to Oberleutnant z. S. and the Leitender Ing. was awarded the 'knight's cross of the iron cross'. for his valorous duties while on patrol -too numerous to mention, the man really deserves that medal.
U-802 is standing by for patrol orders, probably for the start of December.

[shotbywolf]

in my most recent carrier my crew have done great to patrols with over 20k gross tons this last patrol was really bad thought we managed to sink not one not two but three allied ships after a patrol of of spain's coast we did manage to get into gibraltar where the big beast nelson was sleeping only to find we had wasted all but one of our torps on friendly ship most being duds :nope: :/\\!! ( im going to beat the crap out of whoever made those torps twenty hits and only maybe ten detonations ) however that last shot hit nealson just under her number two turret almost directly on her keel she had a thirty degree list last i saw and no escorts were any where near me so in an attempt to come back for nelson i hauled rear towards thalia and found a large merchant on the open sea alone so we closed in under cover of darkness and storm shot her facing gun off and sank her after our rearmament and repair at thalia we are now on course for gibraltar for a battleship we MUST SINK this is u-123 we will see you kaulens in the depths. :salute:

[shotbywolf]

i am now convinced someone back in port gave me training torps because at a range of exactly 175 meters i launched two TWO full salvos of torpedoes into nelson who for whatever reason was still in the exact same place and every last torpedo didn't go of some even kinda half assedly went off after hitting the bottom which didn't do any damage nor did it even wake the crew from their bunks so i made a very ballsy move we waited till late into the night where we could barely see our own ship and surfaced partially only to be met with every gun aboard nelson firing at us after we hit bottom we repaired what we could we lost the hydrophone the conning tower (yeah the whole thing as well as both scopes ) thank fully we did live but the small depot ship behind us well it became two ships than a sunken fortress then i had a stroke of brilliance we slowly maneuver behind the wreck and surfaced for a full ten minutes nelson whaled on that poor wreck we managed to get one torp back before we became a space craft so i intend to be a scum bag add some new mods in than restart from the last base we where in we will get that battleship period u- 123 out :/\\!!:/\\!!:/\\!!:/\\!!:/\\!!

[Zosimus]

I believe that torpedoes should not be fired at ranges less than 300 meters. They have a minimum arming distance.

[shotbywolf]

oh my god i im going to go head butt a wall i just wasted so many torpedos

[Rambler241]

Zosimus opined:
I believe that torpedoes should not be fired at ranges less than 300 meters. They have a minimum arming distance.
Indeed - the "safe arming" distance. It was possible for a torpedo to malfunction and "return home", or even for the fuse to detonate prematurely. Premature detonation happens sometimes in SH3, particularly for magnetic settings in rough weather, though generally at a safe distance from the tube. The practice at the time was to fit an arming device - a threaded screw attached to a locking pin. A small propeller on the nose was geared to wind the screw to slowly withdraw the locking pin and so arm the fuse.
http://www.uboataces.com/weapon-torpedo.shtml

However, bear in mind that the 300 metres is the distance the torpedo has to travel before the fuse is armed, not the range to target when it's fired. A torpedo fired at rather less than 300m at a fast retreating target might arm itself in time, whereas one fired at say 350 metres at a DD rushing straight towards your boat at speed may well not.

[Zosimus]

AK3389. Convoy sighted. Outbound. 9 knots. Course... 230ish? I am directly in the convoy's path.

Cannot reload external torpedoes. Gale force winds. Heading 220 speed... 8 knots or so. One eel in the back. Hoping for the weather to change.

[Zosimus]

April 4, 1943. Leaving Lorient for DO98. Patrol expected to take at least a month. We are equipped with the finest anti-air weapons available, skilled anti-aircraft officers, and a watch officer who is skilled in anti-air tactics.

I have also managed to get T3 pattern running torpedoes. I have two. I don't know how well they work, so this will be my chance to try them out.

May 1943 is right around the corner.

[Zosimus]

Patrol aborted early. One was plane shot down. However, four men were killed. After two hours on the bottom in 110-meter water, we stopped the leaks, blew ballast, and returned to Lorient. Total patrol time... about 5 hours.

U-66 is kaput.
I am now commanding U-851 a new IXD2.

[Rambler241]

One of my two current careers was started at the latest possible date in 1943, so I could get command of an IXC with a (relatively) experienced crew. On the last patrol out of Brest, we were attacked by so many large aircraft, in very unrealistic numbers, before reaching deep water on the way to the Caribbean, that I almost aborted the mission and gave up totally. Especially watching Sunderland FBs dive-bombing us, some climbing vertically after dropping bombs or DCs. A vertical Sunderland is an ex-Sunderland, whichever way the nose is pointing when it's flying vertically. The fuel and bomb loaded weight of a Sunderland was around 29 tonnes. I guess there's just one "flying model" in SH3, simply modified for aircraft speed.

After my gunners had accounted for a total of 50 large aircraft, in the first 250-odd km, probably more than Coastal Command had at any one time in the entire SW Approaches, I aborted and restarted from my standard "Outbound" save, where I've plotted the route to the target grid, avoiding aircraft hotspots like the Azores, and passing across likely convoy routes. Result - no aircraft attacks at all, though a few Sunderlands and Wellingtons were spotted some distance off, turning and flying away.

Wellington crews seem to be as blind as my sonar man is deaf and dumb - one even flew right over us in the early dusk - no reaction at all, despite it sprouting radar aerials like a hedgehog.

[Kip336]

August 1940, U-22 (IX-B)

Departed Willemshaven on Early june, with a refuel in Spain. Tried going for Cape Town (South Africa) but due a fuel leak, BDU has ordered us to patrol around Lagos (*The port east of Takoradi, forgot its name, already closed SH3)

We saw a large merchant anchored about a kilometer out of the harbor, promptly sunk it.
Used 2x TII

BDU ordered us to Freetown next. Sighted a small merchant, about 50km west of Freetown. shot off one T1, hit about 1/3 from the bow causing the bow to lay deeper in the water. She remained afloat however. Due to bad weather, couldnt use the deck gun, but wasn't worth a torpedo. We gave chase for 7 hours before the weather calmed down enough for the deckgun. 9 shots below the waterline sunk her. The cargo remained afloat, used our AA to sink it.
Used; 1x T1, 9x 105mm, about 30 30mm and 80 20mm.

Remained submerged for about 5 hours, listening for any ships coming to aid, nothing. Headed towards Freetown on surface with 7 knots.

Kplt Malifozik, U-122

[Fahnenbohn]

Wellington crews seem to be as blind as my sonar man is deaf and dumb - one even flew right over us in the early dusk - no reaction at all, despite it sprouting radar aerials like a hedgehog.

If an aircraft doesn't carry any bombs, it simply won't attack you. But if it is a fighter, it will dive and open fire on you with its mg guns ! Epic moments !!

[VONHARRIS]

October 1939 , AM 52
Wind 15 m/sec , sea state : harsh
Traced and intercepted British small merchant
Fired 6 TIs against her
2 premature explosions spotted
2 explosions on target seen
2 unaccounted for.
Target sunk.

A total waste of expensive torpedoes for such a small target.

Update
Just fired my last 2 TIs at a medium merchant (6000 grt) under the same weather conditions. Both premature explosions. No internal torpedoes left. She will move on.

[KingOfNothing22]

01/09/1940
19:35 - Departed Lorient at 18:30, Escort ship has just left us. Current orders are to make way to grid BC62. Weather satisfactory - partial cloud cover with light fog. Sea 2. Light breeze, direction N.

04/09/1940
09:19 - Grid BF4812. We have sunk our first ship! A coastal freighter for 1869GRT. Had to use 3 torpedoes. First one fired from 800m missed after it passed under the target due to sea swell. Second and third torpedoes fired at a depth of 2m from 400m away. Lifeboat observed drifting E. Decided to continue on course without engaging with survivors.

05/09/1940
21:05 - BE6819. Received report of a large enemy convoy in BE6765 travelling in our direction. Moving to intercept despite poor conditions (sea 8 and strong gales).

06/09/1940
01:42 - Grid BE68. Sighted enemy convoy at around 22:30. Relayed information to BdU. Presumed spotted by enemy frigate at around 22:45 after it veered away from the convoy and moved towards us. Made several attack runs with depth charges, all astern of us. Moved under the convoy, escorts broke off attack. Let the convoy pass by and turned 180° after 30 minutes at silent speed. Surfaced and caught up with ships at the tail of the convoy before conducting 2 attacks from around 1,500m firing a total of 8 torpedoes. Of the first 4 fired, 3 exploded prematurely and the remaining torpedo missed. In the second attack 2 exploded prematurely, 1 missed and 1 hit a tramp steamer which quickly sank for 1958GRT. Escorts turned and began searching for us, we broke off immediately at 01:25. Lost visual contact at around 01:35. 11 torpedoes remaining, continuing on course to patrol grid.

[Kip336]

[FONT="Courier New"]01/09/1940
19:35 - Departed Lorient at 18:30


That puts us in the same flotilla, roughly at the same time (I'm at JAN 1st 1941, just left on another patrol on DEC23

[KingOfNothing22]

That puts us in the same flotilla, roughly at the same time (I'm at JAN 1st 1941, just left on another patrol on DEC23

Good luck :Kaleun_Salute: I hope you have more luck with your eels than I've been having with mine!

[Kip336]

Good luck :Kaleun_Salute: I hope you have more luck with your eels than I've been having with mine!

((Que https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLguQtArm8A ))
No luck with torpedos. 3 duds, 1 ran deep and 1 hit for 4000grt merchant. finished her with deck gun action

[KingOfNothing22]

((Que https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLguQtArm8A ))
No luck with torpedos. 3 duds, 1 ran deep and 1 hit for 4000grt merchant. finished her with deck gun action

Uneasy times, eh? I'm hoping my next encounter with a merchant goes more to plan than the last two! Not had much luck with this lousy weather, either...

[Rambler241]

KingOfNothing22 wrote:
Of the first 4 fired, 3 exploded prematurely and the remaining torpedo missed. In the second attack 2 exploded prematurely

Type I fish fired at fast speed will often detonate prematurely if using magnetic setting. At 1500m I'd use medium speed with magnetic.

[KingOfNothing22]

Type I fish fired at fast speed will often detonate prematurely if using magnetic setting. At 1500m I'd use medium speed with magnetic.

Thanks for the heads up Rambler I'll be sure to keep that in mind!

I didn't write down what speed I fired them at but if I remember correctly all but two of the torpedoes fired at the convoy were fired at medium speed (four of which detonated prematurely, with the other two missing) and the others were at slow speed, 1 of which also detonated very quickly after firing.

I don't tend to set them to fast as I like to attempt to get some distance between myself and a target in case of escorts (in the case of convoys), so I can't say whether I've had any premature detonations using them at fast speed.

[Zosimus]

In 1939 and 1940 I used all T1s, and all impact. I never had any problems. I set for slow and 3 meters of depth.

Of course, it all depends on the mods you're using. I just use GWX without H.Sie or Stiebler. Some mods require special depth settings on torpedoes to prevent them from prematuring.

Now I just use slow everything, and 4 meters.

[Kapt Z]

07MAY41

U558, type VIIC, 1st Flot. Kiel

Grid AL35

Large convoy heading-ESE, speed-7 knots

Torpedoed and sunk two tankers from convoy.

23,192 tons

Giebel, Herrman, Oblt.

[KingOfNothing22]

07/09/1940
21:03 - Weather has deteriorated further. Strong gales, heavy rain, sea 8. Visibility is nil. Made the decision to dive to save fuel.

08/09/1940
07:14 - Surfaced at 07:00. No change in weather. Will continue diving at night until weather improves to preserve fuel load.

11/09/1940
08:32 - Sighted destroyer sailing SSW - suspecting convoy in vicinity. Shadowing at long range. Weather is partially cloudy, sea 8, gales direction W. Heading 250°, speed 14kn.

08:45 - Determined destroyer is acting as an escort for a convoy. Attempting to move in closer to determine size and course.

09:04 - Currently have sight of 15 merchants and 1 escort, a C&D destroyer, sailing WSW at 7kn. Attempting to leapfrog the convoy and attack from directly in front of it.

12:14 - Have successfully leapfrogged the convoy. Commencing attack in spite of poor sea state.

15:53 - Conducted attack on convoy. Fired 4 torpedoes. 2 misses and 2 hits on a small merchant, sunk for 2396GRT. Escorts carried out sporadic depth charge attacks around us. Stopped after around 45 minutes without success. Continued moving W, lost sound contact at 15:00. Surfaced at 15:45 and continued to BC62, course 276°.

14/09/1940
16:25 - Grid BC6233. Patrol grid reached. Beginning ladder search pattern ending in BC6277. Orders are to remain in area for 72hrs. Weather has improved after 9 days. Partially cloudy, light fog. Light easterly winds.

16/09/1940
21:02 - BC6277. New orders received to proceed to CC56. Course 226°, speed 11kn. Weather is clear, light breeze. Sea 1.

20/09/1940
03:49 - Arrived at grid CC5633. Adopting a search pattern to cover patrol area. Weather is poor - heavy rain, poor visibility. Sea 4.

23/09/1940
01:33 - Grid CC6412. Received new orders for CF95. Weather unchanged.

02/10/1940
03:30 - Grid CF8597. Sighted 2 merchants travelling W - A coastal freighter and large merchant. Attempted to attack both head on from 1,000m with remaining 3 fore torpedoes. All missed. Dived to periscope depth and turned 90° to attack the large merchant with stern torpedoes. Scored 2 hits at 380m, sinking it for 10660GRT. Forced to let coastal freighter continue heading W. 2 stern torpedoes remaining. Currently unable to use deck gun due to poor sea state. Fuel now below 50%. Taken the decision to start return passage to Lorient.

08/10/1940
02:09 - BF61. Awaiting escort vessel outside Lorient.

06:20 - Docked at Lorient. Patrol officially ended:

4 ships sunk for 16,883GRT.
38 days spent at sea.
Received promotion to Oberleutnant zur See.

[Karl-Heinz]

**I will be providing better accounts in the future - being a rookie, I didn't keep track of all my actions.**

11 SEP 1939 2015
Patrol Report
U-16 (Type IIA)
2nd Flotilla, Wilhelmshaven
Walter Frönlich, Oberleutnant z.S.

First war patrol commenced 25 AUG 1939, departing Wilhelmshaven at 1341
Ordered to grid AM18 for 24-hour patrol
Received BdU radio message to get to grid AM18 by 01 SEP 1939, while maintaining radio silence and avoiding any other ship contact.
Conducted diving, surface attack, submerged attack, defensive and damage control exercises during North Sea transit towards Orkney-Shetlands gap.
Crew responded well to constant drilling; teamwork became the theme for this patrol.

Received BdU radio message that British convoy would reach grid AM18 by about noon 03 SEP 1939. Made best speed to grid objective.
U-16 never reached grid AM18, as boat was west of the Hebrides when war with Great Britain was advised by BdU radio message.

03 SEP 1939 time unknown (daylight)
Intercepted merchant convoy consisting of five ships **types unknown - read, I forgot**
Enemy plane forced boat to submerge, costing time and interception quality
Launched three Type-I torpedoes at a range of about 4500m at chemical goods freighter - two torpedoes prematurely detonated, and one missed.
Continued interception of convoy, and fearing ridicule and court-martial back home, continued submerged to reload last two Type-I torpedoes.
At periscope depth, found distance to chemical goods freighter to be about 2500m - launched last two Type-I torpedoes, with one premature detonation and one striking target just aft of amidships.
Verified chemical freighter sunk.

03 SEP 1939 time unknown
Out of torpedoes, I was ordered to return to base by BdU. After continual enemy aerial and naval threats, reached dock at Wilhelmshaven on 11 SEP 1939 1800.

Patrol Results

Crew losses: 0
U-Boat damage: None
Torpedoes expended: Five Type-I torpedoes (three premature detonations, one miss, one hit)
Deck gun ammunition expended: None
Enemy ships sunk: One
Total tonnage: 1890 GRT
(1) "Maiden Creek" 1890 GRT (chemical goods freighter) Grid AM35 - 20 crew, 18 lost (mail/packages)


Promotions/Awards/Qualifications

Oberleutnant z.S. Frönlich awarded Iron Cross 2nd Class and U-Boat Front Clasp **which I realize is inaccurate.**
Bootsman (Torpedoman) Jörg Zander awarded U-Boat War Badge.
Bootsman (Watchman) Otto Grau earned Watchman qualification.

[Aks]

Oberleutnant z.S. Frönlich awarded Iron Cross 2nd Class and U-Boat Front Clasp **which I realize is inaccurate.**


Iron Cross 2nd Class? For 1 merchant 1890 GRT? Generous Doenitz.

[Karl-Heinz]

Iron Cross 2nd Class? For 1 merchant 1890 GRT? Generous Doenitz.

I completed my second war patrol (details to follow), and no further awards for the Kaleun. It must have been my family ties that got me that Iron Cross 2 after my first patrol!

[Karl-Heinz]

**Pretty boring patrol, but fun nonetheless - the air attack by the British when I was departing was an interesting experience. I enjoy the challenge of the IIA boat, but obviously the torpedo performance and quantity is a pain in the ass.**
**Also, all status reports are presumed to be done at 24-hour intervals after leaving dock (i.e., at 0500) unless of special note.**
**Finally, I hope you enjoy this as much as I do - what a great gaming experience!**

10 OCT 1939 1900
Patrol Report
U-16 (Type IIA)
2nd Flotilla, Wilhelmshaven
Walter Frönlich, Oberleutnant z.S.

Second war patrol commenced 08 OCT 1939, departing Wilhelmshaven at 0500
Initial Armament
Torpedoes: (5) Type-I torpedoes
AA gun: 4000 rounds 20mm AP

Immediately while leaving dock, a raid by British bombers (type Blenheim) attacked the base. U-16 manned its flak gun but did not expend any rounds. No official word on any friendly or enemy casualties, but it appeared that at least two enemy bombers were shot down. Things quieted down by 0505. No damage to U-16.

Cleared north lock (east channel) at 0551. Proceeded north to Helgoland Hafen point to open orders. Opened orders at 0800 - proceed to grid AN36 and patrol there for 24 hours.

09 OCT 1939 0806
Proceeding north to AN36 at 9 kts.

09 OCT 1939 1110
Reached AN36

09 OCT 1939 1150
B-dienst radio msg: enemy small convoy AN36 heading ENE speed 7 kts **how convenient - thank you intel peeps**
Adjusted heading to possibly intercept enemy

09 OCT 1939 1258
Ships sighted! AN36 Four enemy ships (type (2x) catapult ship; (1) coal bulker; (1) East India-type freighter)
**what is a catapult ship? I couldn't tell what tonnage each ship was, even after doing some online searches**
Submerged to 25m and set heading to intercept (weather perfect) - ordered submerged attack battle stations at 1315

09 OCT 1939 1335
Launched one torpedo each at coal bulker, freighter and trailing catapult ship (other catapult was leading convoy) (range of about 800m-1000m)
Coal bulker set on fire after hit.
Trailing catapult ship listing after hit.
Torpedo aimed at freighter detonated early.
Submerged to 25m to reload, following convoy.

09 OCT 1939 1346
Launched torpedo at trailing catapult ship, with a hit recorded. Enemy ship stops. Other three ships continue on, including coal bulker which is still on fire.

09 OCT 1939 1405
Launched last (fifth) torpedo at catapult ship, breaking its keel. Confirmed kill. No other enemy activity in the area, other than three enemy who continue away, and so U-16 surfaces, reports to BdU, and ordered to RTB at 1617.

10 OCT 1939 1516
Reached north lock Wilhelmshaven; cleared lock at 1524

10 OCT 1939 1610
Docked at Wilhelmshaven

Patrol Results

Crew losses: 0
U-Boat damage: None
Torpedoes expended: Five Type-I torpedoes (one premature detonation, four hits)
Deck gun ammunition expended: None
Enemy ships sunk: One
Total tonnage: 4269 GRT
(1) "Har Zion" - British flag - 4269 GRT (catapult ship) Grid AN36 - 49 crew, 11 lost (iron ore)


Promotions/Awards/Qualifications

Oberfähnrich z.S. (Watchman) Adolf Karlewitz awarded U-Boat War Badge
Bootsman (Torpedoman) Hasso Balke earned Torpedoman qualification.

[Karl-Heinz]

**XXXXXXXXXX**

28 OCT 1939 1005
Patrol Report
U-16 (Type IIA)
2nd Flotilla, Wilhelmshaven
Walter Frönlich, Oberleutnant z.S.

Third war patrol commenced 25 OCT 1939, departing Wilhelmshaven at 2130
Initial Armament
Torpedoes: (5) Type-I (G7a) torpedoes (Three loaded, two reserve)
AA gun: 4000 rounds 20mm AP

Immediately while leaving dock, a raid by British bombers (type Blenheim) attacked the base. U-16 manned its flak gun but did not expend any rounds. No official word on any friendly or enemy casualties, but it appeared that at least three enemy bombers were shot down. Things quieted down by 2136. No damage to U-16.

Reached north lock 2205; cleared north lock (east channel; west channel still being constructed/dredged) at 2211. Proceeded north towards Helgoland Hafen point to open orders. Opened orders at 0030 - proceed to grid AN35 and patrol there for 24 hours.

26 OCT 1939 0030
Proceeding north to AN35 at 9 kts.

27 OCT 1939 0319
B-dienst radio msg: enemy small convoy AN38 heading ENE speed 7 kts
Adjusted heading to possibly intercept enemy. Estimate my current position 25km northeast of reported convoy (AN38).

27 OCT 1939 0429
Ship sighted! AN38 One enemy ship (collier)
Set heading to intercept (weather perfect) and submerged to periscope depth - ordered submerged attack battle stations at 0435
0436 - sonar picks up three more ships near collier **funny what happens when I ordered my radioman-qualified PO to the sonar station - I need to micromanage this more**
0455 - all four ships identified - in a line heading ENE: collier, coal bulker, East India-type freighter, small merchant "Varna"
0506 - fired two torpedoes at collier from distance of about 1500m
0507 - both torpedoes hit collier and detonate; she appears to be losing speed
0509 - collier begins sinking and then explodes - verified kill British collier 5933 GRT
0509 - fired torpedo at freighter - dud!! Torpedo room working as fast as possible to reload for more shots.
0518 - tube one ready; fired torpedo at freighter range 360m
0518 - torpedo hits freighter and detonates; manuevering while reloading last torpedo in tube two
0519 - freighter dead in water and riding very low
0522 - went to 40m depth after merchant spotted my periscope and charged; urging torpedomen to load faster
0530 - tube two ready; manuevering to attack
0541 - fired torpedo at merchant range 1200m
0543 - miss! Heading back to sinking freighter to use 20mm on it to ensure destruction (is sitting very low in water) - out of torpedoes. Coal bulker and small merchant live to see another day, continuing northeast.
0610 - engaging freighter with 20mm AP rounds range 700m
0641 - after expending 2500 (!) 20mm AP rounds, freighter was still floating; radioed its position to BdU for someone else to finish off; heading back to Wilhelmshaven **embarrassed and lesson learned...keep a torpedo to ensure target sinks**

27 OCT 1939 0711
BdU orders me to RTB

28 OCT 1939 0531
Reached north lock Wilhelmshaven; cleared lock at 0539

28 OCT 1939 0616
Docked at Wilhelmshaven

Patrol Results

Crew losses: 0
U-Boat damage: None
Torpedoes expended: Five Type-I torpedoes (one dud, one miss, three hits)
Deck gun ammunition expended: 2500 20mm AP
Enemy ships sunk: One
Total tonnage: 5933 GRT
(1) "Executor" - British flag - 5933 GRT (collier) Grid AN38 - 65 crew, 42 lost (iron ore)


Promotions/Awards/Qualifications

No promotions after this patrol.

Oberleutnant z.S. Walter Frönlich awarded Iron Cross First Class and German Cross.
Oberfähnrich z.S. Otto Todenhagen awarded U-Boat War Badge.
Oberfähnrich z.S. Fritz Friedrichs awarded U-Boat War Badge.
Oberfähnrich z.S. Udo Hartenstein awarded U-Boat War Badge.

Bootsmann (Machinist) Wolf Degen awarded U-Boat War Badge.
Bootsmann (Machinist) Viktor Beck awarded U-Boat War Badge.
Bootsmann (Flak Gunner) Herbert Andersen awarded U-Boat War Badge.
Bootsmann (Machinist) Viktor Beck awarded U-Boat War Badge.
Bootsmann (Radioman) Karl Kreutz awarded U-Boat War Badge.
Bootsmann (Torpedoman) Hasso Balke awarded U-Boat War Badge.
Bootsmann (Watchman) Adolf Conrad awarded U-Boat War Badge.
Bootsmann (Medic) Konrad Schmitt awarded U-Boat War Badge.
Bootsmann (Watchman) Otto Grau awarded U-Boat War Badge.

Matrosenobergefreiter Carl Zahn awarded U-Boat War Badge.
Matrosenobergefreiter Egon Bahn awarded U-Boat War Badge.
Matrosengefreiter Ebe Fischer awarded U-Boat War Badge.
Matrosengefreiter Kurt Goldbeck awarded U-Boat War Badge.
Matrosengefreiter Adalbert Vowe awarded U-Boat War Badge.
Matrosengefreiter Bruno Kals awarded U-Boat War Badge.
Matrosengefreiter Friedrich Wissmann awarded U-Boat War Badge.
Matrosengefreiter Frits Hauber awarded U-Boat War Badge.
Matrosengefreiter Klaus Wolfbauer awarded U-Boat War Badge.
Matrosengefreiter Adolf Thurmann awarded U-Boat War Badge.
Matrosengefreiter Dieter Kimmelmann awarded U-Boat War Badge.
Matrosengefreiter Axel Bauer awarded U-Boat War Badge.
Matrosengefreiter Gustav Thomsen awarded U-Boat War Badge.
Matrosengefreiter Wolfgang Mahn awarded U-Boat War Badge.

Bootsmann (Medic) Konrad Schmitt earned Medic qualification.

[Karl-Heinz]

**Upgraded batteries to AFA 44 MAL 570 string**

25 NOV 1939 1810
Patrol Report
U-16 (Type IIA)
2nd Flotilla, Wilhelmshaven
Walter Frönlich, Oberleutnant z.S.

Fourth war patrol commenced 20 NOV 1939, departing Wilhelmshaven dock at 0243
Initial Armament
Torpedoes: (5) Type-I (G7a) torpedoes (Three loaded, two reserve)
AA gun: 4000 rounds 20mm AP


20 NOV 1939 0317
Reached north lock Wilmelmshaven; cleared north lock (east channel; west channel still being constructed/dredged) at 0324.
Proceeded north towards Helgoland Hafen point to open orders.

20 NOV 1939 0543
Opened orders - proceed to grid AN37 and patrol there for 24 hours.
Proceeding northwest to AN37 at 9 kts.

21 NOV 1939 0000
AN66 Submerged to 25m and slow ahead to listen for shipping activity.

21 NOV 1939 0600
AN63 Surfaced after conducting six-hour hydrophone run

21 NOV 1939 1551
Reached AN37 - beginning search pattern at 25m depth

21 NOV 1939 2200
AN37 Surfaced after conducting six-hour hydrophone run

22 NOV 1939 1200
AN37 Submerged to 25m and slow ahead to listen for shipping activity.

22 NOV 1939 1815
AN37 Surfaced after conducting six-hour hydrophone run

22 NOV 1939 2150
AN37 Received report of enemy ship AN62 heading NNE medium speed - adjusting course to intercept.

23 NOV 1939 0423
Ship sighted! AN49 War Melody-type merchant heading NNW speed 7kts - moving to intercept on surface (ahead flank parallel to target to set up submerged attack most likely during daylight)

23 NOV 1939 0526
AN49 Found merchant again after losing her in end-around flank - setting up submerged attack; ordered submerged battle stations
0546 - fired two torpedoes at War Melody merchant range 600m
0546 - first torpedo a dud; second torpedo impacts and detonates; merchant stopping; readying tube three for firing while torpedomen reload tubes one and two
0549 - fired one torpedo
0550 - torpedo impacts and detonates; fire breaks out and merchant begins sinking - verified kill British War Melody merchant 5902 GRT
Running NE while torpedoes reloaded

**Random traipsing around AN quadrants**

23 NOV 1939 1430
AN46 Received report of enemy ship AN61 heading N medium speed - adjusting course to south to intercept.

23 NOV 1939 2140
AN49 Received report of enemy ship AN49 heading N medium speed - continuing on course south to intercept.

23 NOV 1939 2207
Ship sighted! AN49 Old reefer ship heading N 8kts right at me - setting up submerged attack; ordered submerged battle stations
2234 - fired two torpedoes at reefer range 1800 meters
2236 - both torpedoes impact and detonate, ship slows to 4kts
2245 - no sign of any flooding or fire **WTF? How can a ship of this size survive two torpedo impacts?**; turning to head home

23 NOV 1939 2258
BdU orders me to RTB

25 NOV 1939 1351
Reached north lock Wilhelmshaven; cleared lock at 1401

25 NOV 1939 1440
Docked at Wilhelmshaven

Patrol Results

Crew losses: 0
U-Boat damage: None
Torpedoes expended: Five Type-I torpedoes (one dud, four hits) **Still a mystery how two torps hit that old reefer and didn't sink her**
Deck gun ammunition expended: None
Enemy ships sunk: One
Total tonnage: 5902 GRT
(1) "Polzella" - British flag - 5902 GRT (War Melody merchant) Grid AN49 - 58 crew, 9 lost (general cargo)


Promotions/Awards/Qualifications

Matrosengefreiter Dieter Kimmelmann promoted to Matrosenobergefreiter.

No Awards

Oberfähnrich z.S. Udo Hartenstein earned Machinist qualification.

[cultist]

October 1939
Was ordered to patrol grid AN13.
On the way there sunk 2 ships off the NE coast of England, 1 medium cargo ship and one Steamer, lost 2 torpedoes because of the high winds and not knowing of the 4*windspeed/10 rule.
The strange thing happened after i finished patrolling AN13, went a bit south of it and on the way encountered another medium cargo ship. To my surprise the submarine did not want to dive and could not exceed speed of 3 knots. Sunk the ship with the guns nonetheless and returned home. I think it was a submarine net else i can't explain it.

[VONHARRIS]

Grid AD6871
4 March 1940
U-123 IXB
In desperate need to find the SS Belchen in the storm to resupply.
I have attacked the port of St Johns in Canada. Resistance was minimal to none. Note it is only 1940 and a Uboot was not expected to show up there.

[UKönig]

U 802 is poised to break into Loch Ewe, where about 50,000 tons of warship lie at anchor, ready to receive my torpedoes.
So far, in attendance, we have 1 illustrious class fleet carrier, 1 bogue class escort carrier, 1 fiji class light cruiser, a whole mess of destroyers, plus one T3 heavy tanker. It's going to be glorious...:arrgh!:

[Rambler241]

UKönig exulted:
It's going to be glorious...
It's also going to be very shallow....

[Sailor Steve]

It's also going to be very unrealistic. :O:

[UKönig]

Trust me, I know it's unrealistic, but then, so is the idea of me being a U-boat captain in the first place. :har:

I like to do these kinds of things and 'game the game' so to speak. And it helps me live out the 'what if...' scenario.

Besides, at this moment, we are only just slipping past the outer defenses, and we are at 65% battery, so, things are already at the white knuckle stage. And bad news for me, I have only the G7as loaded forward. If I fire at the ships on patrol (I saw 2) then they will see the wakes in the water. Ideally, I'd have to wait another hour for the sun to set, but I'm already committing the boat and crew to whatever follows.

Aufwiedersehen from Valhalla...

[UKönig]

Grid AD6871
4 March 1940
U-123 IXB
In desperate need to find the SS Belchen in the storm to resupply.
I have attacked the port of St Johns in Canada. Resistance was minimal to none. Note it is only 1940 and a Uboot was not expected to show up there.

Actually, at this point in time, Newfoundland is it's own country. Newfoundland was not incorporated into Canadian Confederation until 1949.

So, you attacked a neutral...

(I'm not sure if the Newfie gov't declared war against Germany specifically or not)

[VONHARRIS]

Actually, at this point in time, Newfoundland is it's own country. Newfoundland was not incorporated into Canadian Confederation until 1949.

So, you attacked a neutral...

(I'm not sure if the Newfie gov't declared war against Germany specifically or not)

In the game map it is red so an enemy.
All targets were legit as they were flying British and Canadian colors.

[Torplexed]

Actually, at this point in time, Newfoundland is it's own country. Newfoundland was not incorporated into Canadian Confederation until 1949.

So, you attacked a neutral...

(I'm not sure if the Newfie gov't declared war against Germany specifically or not)

Didn't Newfoundland (and Labrador) find itself back in British dominion status by 1934 due to economic difficulties? If I recall the government during WW2 was made up of a British-appointed Governor and six commissioners appointed by the Crown. I would think that would make it part of the British Commonwealth for most diplomatic purposes.

[UKönig]

I know, I'm only pointing out that inaccuracy. Historically, Newfoundland was not part of Canada until 1949.
If it helps, just think of them as allied to England and the colonies, so, yes, they are enemies and therefore, legitimate targets.

[VONHARRIS]

I know, I'm only pointing out that inaccuracy. Historically, Newfoundland was not part of Canada until 1949.
If it helps, just think of them as allied to England and the colonies, so, yes, they are enemies and therefore, legitimate targets.

I didn't know that history fact. Thank you for the information.

[UKönig]

We made them (the Newfies) an offer that they could not refuse. There was a close call when it looked like they may not join, but in the end, those "economic difficulties", which had been going on for 400 years, proved to be the tipping point. Unfortunately, things have not improved a great deal for them since 1949. The grand banks are not so grand anymore. They went in for a deal in hydroelectric power with the province of Quebec, and promptly got screwed by the french. It's a bone of contention with them still today. And they pay some of the highest taxes in the country. But they are a good solid people. Friendly, dependable, but with a taste for 'the drink' that makes them resemble the average scotch-irish immigrants that made up a lot of the first wave of new settlers.

[VONHARRIS]

April 1940
Sailing on the surface in grid AM3529.
Bad weather with heavy rain but medium winds.
Listening the theme from "Das Boot" on the gramophone.

[Karl-Heinz]

**Bootsmann Viktor Beck (Machinist) transferred out to different U-boat; Bootsmann Hellmut Rüggeberg transferred in - first post-training deployment**
**Transferred to Erprobungsstelle to acquire U-51, a type-VIIB boat**
**The following officer joined the crew (one total): Leutnant z.S. Ulrich Zapf**
**The following petty officers joined the crew (seven total): Stabsoberbootsmann Manfred Reckhoff; Stabsbootsmann Gottfried Goldbeck; Stabsbootsmann Hans Blaudow; Bootsmann Gotz Eckerman; Bootsmann Arend Zinke; Bootsmann Oskar Wittenberg; Bootsmann Burckhart Kettner**
**The following enlisted personnel joined the crew (11 total): Matrosenobergefreiter Albrecht Bahn; Matrosenobergefreiter Hermann Dobbert; Matrosenobergefreiter Ulrich Clausen; Matrosenobergefreiter Gotz Reichmann; Matrosengefreiter Helmuth Falke; Matrosengefreiter Reiner Abel; Matrosengefreiter Rolf Hauber; Matrosengefreiter Heino Rausch; Matrosengefreiter Johannes Kaufmann; Matrosengefreiter Carl Albrecht; Matrosengefreiter Philipp Ebert

19 DEC 1939 1525
Patrol Report
U-51 (Type VIIB)
Erprobungsstelle, Kaseburg
Walter Frönlich, Oberleutnant z.S.

Qualification patrol commenced 16 DEC 1738, departing Kaseburg dock at 1738 **heh - not apparently the smoothest departure, as I "may" have hammered the boat next to me with my stern - no damage to U-51**
Initial Armament
Torpedoes: (14) Type-I (G7a) torpedoes (Five loaded, nine reserve)
Deck gun: 40 rounds 88mm AP; 160 rounds 88mm HE; 40 rounds 88mm SS
AA gun: 4000 rounds 20mm AP

16 DEC 1939 1830
Cleared channel at Swinemünde lighthouse; headed northeast to target grid AO91 for 24-hour shakedown/patrol

18 DEC 1939 1732
AO84 After uneventful shakedown in AO91, returning to base, picked up warship on hyrdrophones. Went to periscope depth and set course to intercept. Identified as Soviet Malyutka-class submarine. Returned to course to RTB.

18 DEC 1939 2110
AO84 Received report of enemy ship in AO84, heading WSW, medium speed. Manuevering to intercept. Could not locate; returned to course to RTB.

19 DEC 1939 1030
Reached Swinemünde lighthouse; entering channel to dock at Kaseburg

19 DEC 1939 1155
Tied up at Kaseburg

Patrol Results

Crew losses: 0
U-Boat damage: None *despite my antics when leaving base**
Torpedoes expended: None
Deck gun ammunition expended: None
AA gun ammunition expended: None
Enemy ships sunk: None

Promotions/Awards/Qualifications

Matrosengefreiter Wolfgang Mahn promoted to Matrosenobergefreiter.

Oberleutnant z.S. Walter Frönlich awarded Knight's Cross. **WTF?**

Stabsbootsmann (Machinist) Hans Blaudow earned Machinist qualification.

**Requested and was granted transfer to 2nd Flotilla, Wilhelmshaven**

[Karl-Heinz]

**Matrosenobergefreiter Wolfgang Mahn transferred out to different U-boat; Matrosenobergefreiter Otto Fuchs transferred in from another U-boat**
**Refitted hydrophones to type KDB**

12 JAN 1940 1200
Patrol Report
U-51 (Type VIIB)
2nd Flotilla, Wilhelmshaven
Walter Frönlich, Oberleutnant z.S.

Fifth war patrol commenced 03 JAN 1940, departing Wilhelmshaven dock at 1908
Initial Armament
Torpedoes: (12) Type-I (G7a) torpedoes (five loaded, seven reserve) (2) Type-II (G7e) torpedoes (two reserve)
Deck gun: 40 rounds 88mm AP; 160 rounds 88mm HE; 40 rounds 88mm SS
AA gun: 4000 rounds 20mm AP

03 JAN 1940 1943
Reached north lock Wilmelmshaven; cleared north lock (east channel; west channel still being constructed/dredged) at 1948.
Proceeded north towards Helgoland Hafen point to open orders.

03 JAN 1940 2208
Opened orders - proceed to BE53 and patrol for 24 hours.

05 JAN 1940 1600
AN43 Received report of enemy ship in AN43, heading NE, medium speed. maneuvering to intercept.
1703 - AN43 Ship sighted bearing 320, range 8000m - ordered periscope depth and submerged battle stations. Identified as British small merchant "Varna".
1726 - fired two torpedoes (Type-I) at merchant range 1500m
1727 - first torpedo a dud; second torpedo impacts and detonates; ships sinks - verified kill British small merchant "Varna" 2279 GRT; reloading torpedoes and bringing in one external torpedo.

05 JAN 1940 1800
AN28 Received report of enemy ship in AN28, heading SW, medium speed. maneuvering to intercept.
Failed to locate; returning to course to round north of British Isles

06 JAN 1940 1600
AF78 Submerged to 25m and slow ahead to listen for shipping activity.

06 JAN 1940 1845
AF78 Surfaced after conducting hydrophone run

06 JAN 1940 1950
AF78 Received report of enemy ship in AN12 heading ENE, slow speed. maneuvering to intercept.

07 JAN 1940 0116
AF78 Ship sighted bearing 315, range 8200m - ordered periscope depth and submerged battle stations. Identified as British merchant type L02.
0145 - fired two torpedoes (Type-I) at merchant range 900m
0146 - both torpedoes impact and detonate; merchant breaks in two and sinks -- verified kill British merchant type L02 6959 GRT; reloading torpedoes.

07 JAN 1940 0430
AF77 Received report of enemy ship in AN12 heading ENE, slow speed. maneuvering to intercept.

07 JAN 1940 0448
AF77 Two ships sighted bearing 354, range 8500m - ordered periscope depth and submerged battle stations. Identified as (2) British Great Lakes steamers.
0524 - Fired one Type-I torpedo at each steamer.
0525 - Both torpedoes hit their targets and detonate; both steamers stopping. Observing to see if more help is needed to sink them.
0527 - First steamer explodes and sinks - verified kill British Great Lakes steamer 1820 GRT. Second steamer riding very low, on verge of going under.
0531 - Second steamer explodes and sinks - verified kill British Great Lakes steamer 1821 GRT. Returning to course for target grid (eight torpedoes left)

07 JAN 1940 0817
AN12 - enemy warship popped up out of nowhere - crash dive and silent run while determining if attack possible. No attack possible - warship moved away; surfaced at 1530.

07 JAN 1940 1840
AN11 Received report of enemy ship in AN13 heading NE, slow speed. maneuvering to intercept.

07 JAN 1940 2350
AN11 Received report of enemy SAR merchant 6.5 miles SE of my position in AN11 heading NE, slow speed. maneuvering to intercept. Ordered surface battle stations.

08 JAN 1940 0010
AN11 Fired two Type-I torpedoes at merchant, range 500m - both torpedoes impact and detonate, exploding merchant - verified kill British SAR merchant 2613 GRT (six torpedoes left - three bow, three stern)

08 JAN 1940 0340
AN13 Received report of enemy ship in AN13 heading NE, slow speed. maneuvering to intercept.

08 JAN 1940 0600
AN13 Ship sighted! Bearing 015, range 6500m. maneuvering for a stern shot. Identified as British Old Tramp Steamer.
0630 - Fired one Type-I torpedo at steamer (stern shot). Torpedo impacted and detonated. Steamer exploded - verified kill British Old Tramp Steamer 3829 GRT (five torpedoes left - three bow, two stern)

08 JAN 1940 0920
AN13 Received report of enemy ship in AN13 19 miles SW of my position heading ENE, slow speed. maneuvering to intercept.
0949 AN13 Ship sighted Bearing 010, range 5600m. Diving to periscope depth and maneuvering to attack. Identified as British old reefer ship.
1002 - Fired two Type-II torpedoes at reefer range 650m; both impact and detonate.
1011 - Fired one Type-I torpedo (stern) at reefer range 500m; torpedo impacts and detonates; reefer explodes - verified kill British old reefer ship 4342 GRT (two torpedoes left - one bow, one stern)

08 JAN 1940 1015
AN13 Heading for home with two torpedoes left (one bow, one stern)

08 JAN 1940 1050
AN13 Plane spotted - crash dive. Remaining submerged until dark.

08 JAN 1940 1515
AN13 Sound contact - merchant bearing 354 long range, closing. Will attempt to attack.
1550 AN13 Two sound contacts - maneuvering for attack.
1554 AN13 Spotted two ships with periscope bearing 020. One identified as Red Cross ship. Continuing to maneuver to identify second ship.
1556 AN13 Identified second ship as Red Cross ship. Too dangerous to board and search in this area. Continuing journey home around British Isles.

09 JAN 1940 0231
AN12 Received B-dienst report small enemy convoy AN12 approximately 18 miles north of my position heading WSW slow - maneuvering to intercept
0341 Submerging to 25m to listen for convoy (directly in its path, I believe)
0342 Three sound contacts to northeast; continuing to maneuver
0357 Periscope identification: three British ore carriers; continuing to intercept for bow shot (and I hope a stern shot too)
0412 Fired bow torpedo (Type-I) at leading ore carrier range 500m; maneuvering to get stern shot set up
0413 Torpedo impacts and detonates on leading ore carrier
0415 Fire stern torpedo **last one** at leading ore carrier range 450m; torpedo impacts and detonates, splitting ore carrier in two - verified kill British ore carrier 4936 GRT; time to go home, out of torpedoes; seas too dangerous for deck gun attack

09 JAN 1940 0713
AN12 Warship sound contact dead ahead, long range; maneuvering to avoid
AN12 0950 Surfacing after losing warship contact

**Managed to get around the Shetlands, through the North Sea back to Wilhelmshaven with no trouble!**

12 JAN 1940 0739
Reached north lock Wilhelmshaven; cleared lock at 0747

12 JAN 1940 0830
Docked at Wilhelmshaven

Patrol Results

Crew losses: 0
U-Boat damage: None
Torpedoes expended: 14 (one dud, 13 hits)
Deck gun ammunition expended: None
AA gun ammunition expended: None
Aircraft destroyed: None
Enemy ships sunk: Eight
Total tonnage: 28599 total GRT
(1) "Sea Angler" - British flag - 2279 GRT (small merchant "Varna") Grid AN43 60 crew; 9 lost (grain)
(2) "Rad" - British flag - 6959 GRT (merchant type L02) Grid AF78 59 crew; 44 lost (grain)
(3) "Santa Monica" - British flag - 1820 GRT (Great Lakes steamer) Grid AF77 Crew 28; 24 lost (textiles)
(4) "Orpheus" - British flag - 1821 GRT (Great Lakes steamer) Grid AF77 Crew 25; 17 lost (tobacco)
(5) "Prince William" - British flag - 2613 GRT (SAR merchant) Grid AN11 Crew 39; 31 lost (sugar)
(6) "Sea Centaur" - British flag - 3829 GRT (old tramp steamer) Grid AN13 Crew 56; 31 lost (explosives)
(7) "Svenör" - British flag - 4342 GRT (old reefer ship) Grid AN13 Crew 84; 56 lost (textiles)
(8) "Sea Swallow" - British flag - 4936 GRT (ore carrier) Grid AN12 Crew 90; 81 lost (copper ore)

Promotions/Awards/Qualifications

Matrosengefreiter Axel Bauer promoted to Matrosenobergefreiter.

Oberleutnant z.S. Walter Frönlich awarded Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and U-Boat Badge.
Leutnant z.S. Ulrich Zapf awarded U-Boat War Badge.
Oberfähnrich z.S. Udo Hartenstein awarded Iron Cross 2nd Class.

Stabsoberbootsmann Manfred Reckhoff awarded U-Boat War Badge.
Stabsbootsmann Hans Blaudow awarded U-Boat War Badge.
Stabsbootsmann Gottfried Goldbeck awarded U-Boat War Badge.
Bootsmann Gotz Eckermann awarded U-Boat War Badge.
Bootsmann Arend Zinke awarded U-Boat War Badge.
Bootsmann Hellmut Rüggeberg awarded U-Boat War Badge.
Bootsmann Burckhart Kettner awarded U-Boat War Badge.
Bootsmann Oskar Wittenberg awarded U-Boat War Badge.

Matrosenobergefreiter Hermann Dobbert awarded U-Boat War Badge.
Matrosenobergefreiter Albrecht Bahn awarded U-Boat War Badge.
Matrosenobergefreiter Gotz Reichmann awarded U-Boat War Badge.
Matrosenobergefreiter Ulrich Clausen awarded U-Boat War Badge.
Matrosengefreiter Philipp Ebert awarded U-Boat War Badge.
Matrosengefreiter Helmuth Falke awarded U-Boat War Badge.
Matrosengefreiter Johannes Kaufmann awarded U-Boat War Badge.
Matrosengefreiter Carl Albrecht awarded U-Boat War Badge.
Matrosengefreiter Reiner Abel awarded U-Boat War Badge.
Matrosengefreiter Rolf Hauber awarded U-Boat War Badge.
Matrosengefreiter Heino Rausch awarded U-Boat War Badge.

Oberfähnrich z.S. Otto Todenhagen earned Helmsman qualification.

[Eichhörnchen]

U 802 is poised to break into Loch Ewe, where about 50,000 tons of warship lie at anchor, ready to receive my torpedoes.:arrgh!:

So what happened? :D

[Karl-Heinz]

A couple of questions:

In the book I read about the sinking of the Lusitania, the author said that the U-boats always headed back to base when they were down to two torpedoes left - did this rule apply in WWII?

Was the route around the British Isles always to go north around the Shetlands, or did the passage between the Orkneys and Shetlands get utilized frequently?

In the Suhrer memoirs, he stated that they always attacked on the surface at night. Were periscopes useless at night, or did they have light-gathering technology?

[VONHARRIS]

U-123 returned to Wilhelmshaven after 37 days at sea and 75400 tons of Allied shipping sunk

1. Alongside a German tugboat

http://i62.tinypic.com/24o6es8.jpg

2. That small merchant was blocking the entrance in the port. What an arrogant ship master! It was the first time I saw that happened.

http://i60.tinypic.com/2mqkzg4.jpg


http://i58.tinypic.com/epgfag.jpg


3. Flying the colors and victory pennants and being overflown by a sea gull.

http://i61.tinypic.com/2upbhwj.jpg

4. The patrol log (not edited , just the names added by SH3C)

http://i61.tinypic.com/1zwm6pc.jpg


and page 2.

http://i59.tinypic.com/15xk74l.jpg

Now that I am back , I hope to have a more detailed KTB in my next war patrol.

[UKönig]

So what happened? :D

So far we have sunk 2 destroyers on patrol, I am planning the best ways to strike the ships at anchor. Unfortunately for me, one of the armed trawlers is on it's way back to the anchorage to investigate the explosions...

[Eichhörnchen]

I have to admit that, like you, I like to 'game the game': I especially enjoy luring destroyers until they run aground at the edge of such shallow waters, then pick them off or leave them safely out of the way while torpedoes are used for more important things...

[UKönig]

I want to play something fun. If I deem attacking a major British harbour, 'fun', then that is what I will do. I too used to wander around the oceans looking for ships or convoys, but, one day I got tired of that and decided to hunt the harbours themselves. It worked. So I kept at it. I discovered submarine nets, I discovered mine fields (fortunately none the hard way, but just imagine sitting at the scope spotting those little grey globes bobbing spitefully on their anchor chains -and not telling the crew about them!), I have found sometimes it was a big mistake taking on more than I could chew, and I fail, and that is also a risk. But risking it all to the point of success or disaster is what gives me the excitement of the challenge of the game.

[UKönig]

U 802 has emerged victoriously from its incursion to Loch Ewe.
3 "Hunt" class destroyers remain at anchor. The Illustrious class carrier "name unknown", the Bogue class carrier "name unknown" and the Fiji class cruiser "name unknown" took two torpedoes each and were all destroyed. The large tanker also escaped unharmed. We had two fish left on board but too bad for us they were both loaded aft and still outside in the ext. lockers. Surfacing to extract them would have been an act of suicide. In all, 53,000 tons of warship and 34,000 tons of cargo had been sent to the bottom by the time U-802 broke off the patrol and returned to Lorient. The crew were decorated with 1 Knight's cross -awarded to the 3rd WO-, 2 'hitler's fried eggs', 2 iron cross 1st class and 4 iron cross 2nd class, as well as 4 promotions. The boat remained undamaged and will be quickly resupplied for an immediate departure to patrol grid AM26...

[UKönig]

U 802 has come across a moderately guarded small convoy.
Purely by chance really, U 802 made the daily trim dive when the soundman started registering contacts. The convoy was heading due South as we were heading due North on our way to grid AM26. This would be approximately grid reference AM7921. Then the convoy tacked to the south-west, opening up their flanks for a better gyro-angle, how nice!
When we were finished, and crept out of the area at dead slow and 142m, we netted 1 troop ship, 1 medium tanker, 1 medium cargo ship, 2 small merchants and 3 of the 4 destroyers as well as damaged 1 heavy cargo ship, which we later finished, for a grand total of just over 50,000 tons. It was almost the entire convoy destroyed, before we made it to our operational area.
The hunt continues...

[VONHARRIS]

A very successful patrol ended in a very bad way. Running aground at 18 kts after some 70 days at sea and more than 80000 grt sunk doesn't look good.
What happened? U-123 was on her way back to Lorient doing 18 kts with 0 m/s winds. I had TC at 128 and forgot it. When I came back U-123 was badly damaged with 15 dead crewmembers.
Anyway , she survived and will be back in action.

Page 1
http://i62.tinypic.com/16702w.jpg

Page 2

http://i58.tinypic.com/14uz4u1.jpg

Page 3

http://i62.tinypic.com/33jk18o.jpg

Page 4

http://i59.tinypic.com/1zgsufa.jpg

Page 5

http://i60.tinypic.com/4v0jti.jpg

[Karl-Heinz]

A very successful patrol ended in a very bad way. Running aground at 18 kts after some 70 days at sea and more than 80000 grt sunk doesn't look good.
What happened? U-123 was on her way back to Lorient doing 18 kts with 0 m/s winds. I had TC at 128 and forgot it. When I came back U-123 was badly damaged with 15 dead crewmembers.
Anyway , she survived and will be back in action.



What mod are you using to get your log in that format?

[VONHARRIS]

What mod are you using to get your log in that format?

SH3 Commander for the ship names and manual editing for all the rest. I take notes during the patrol and then I edit the log-*.cfg file with notepad.

[Karl-Heinz]

SH3 Commander for the ship names and manual editing for all the rest. I take notes during the patrol and then I edit the log-*.cfg file with notepad.

Thank you!

[UKönig]

U 802 returned to Lorient with 64,000 tons, 2 warships and 1 patrol craft sunk in addition to about half the small convoy that we stumbled across. Rather than plot a course to somewhere specific, we just reversed track and sailed back to port and whatever we came across is what would finish our payload. We found and sank two medium merchants along the way, and with the weather so bad and seas so strong, it took all of our remaining 6 torpedoes to do the job. Again we escaped being the death ship and our departure will not be delayed by lengthy repairs. Patrol #9 begins in earnest...

[KingOfNothing22]

01/11/1940
13:00 - Departed from Lorient at 11:52, escort vessel has just broken off. Orders are to proceed to grid ET45 and remain in the area for a minimum of 48h. Current heading 201°, speed 8kn. Clear skies with light fog. Light breeze, direction N. Sea 2.

03/11/1940
07:03 - Grid BF4971. No incidents to report. Course 254°, speed 8kn. Partially coudly. Light northerly breeze. Sea 3.

05/11/1940
08:33 - Grid CG1674. Still no incidents. Course 186°, speed 8kn. Clear skies. Moderate northerly breeze. Sea 3.

08/11/1940
08:16 - Grid DH3915. No incidents to report. Course 188°, speed 7kn. Overcast with heavy rain. Poor visibility. Strong south-westerly winds. Sea 7.

12/11/1940
09:38 - Grid DH7967. No encounters or incidents. Course 194°, speed 7kn. Heavy rain. Moderate winds, direction NNW. Sea 4.

16/11/1940
08:42 - Grid EJ3234. No incidents to report. Weather unchanged. Course 174°, speed 7kn.

17/11/1940
00:24 - Grid EJ3836. Received report of a vessel in EJ6632 heading N at slow speed. Attempting to intercept.

10:43 - Grid EJ63. Have been unable to locate reported ship. It's possible that we have sailed right past them and missed them due to the poor visibility. No sound contacts heard. Received another report of a different vessel in EK45 heading S, will attempt to intercept.

18/11/1940
09:46 - Grid EK48. Unable to locate vessel. Intercepted and followed it's course at speed before doubling back to no avail. Returning to course. Heading 182°, speed 8kn. Strong northerly winds. Sea 6.

20/11/1940
08:30 - Grid ET45. Patrol area reached, adapting a search pattern. Weather has worsened. Gales direction NW, heavy rain and fog - visibility is nil. Sea 8.

22/11/1940
17:29 - Grid ET4532. Patrol grid searched for specified time, have been loitering in grid until receiving new orders. Weather has made possibility of successful attacks very slim. Overcast with strong gales. Sea 9. New orders are to proceed to ET6212 and begin laying a screen off Freetown.

24/11/1940
08:00 - Grid ET6212. Reached assigned position - commencing screen route off Freetown. Weather still poor. Clear skies with strong south-westerly gales. Sea 8.

22:59 - Grid ET3819. Torpedoed and sunk a small merchant for 2,084GRT. Fired two torpedoes from 2,200m with both hitting their target. Massive explosions immediately after initial impacts. Lifeboats observed in water.

25/11/1940
22:54 - Grid ET6273. Spotted enemy ASW trawler - initially moving towards us but has since turned towards the African coast. Continuing with screen off Freetown, about to turn 180° and head NW. Weather is clear with light north-westerly breeze. Sea 2.

26/11/1940
12:08 - Grid ET2698. New orders received - head to the Strait of Gibraltar and patrol on the Atlantic side. Current heading 324°, speed 11kn. Fuel level approximately 60-65%. 20 torpedoes remaining. Weather is unchanged.

27/11/1940
15:17 - Grid EK7896. Attacked by enemy aircraft, dived to evade. Strafed but no damage taken. Submerged to 60m and changed course to 270°. Plan to surface at nightfall.

18:44 - Grid EK7883. Surfaced at 18:00. No signs of enemy in vicinity. Returning to course. Heading 336°. Speed 8kn.

30/11/1940
03:43 - Grid DU7711. Spotted two enemy freighters, moving in to position to conduct attack.

04:41 - Both ships sunk - coastal freighter hit by two torpedoes for 1,871GRT and a small merchant hit by one of two torpedoes and attacked with deck gun for 2,216GRT. Torpedoes fired from 1,900m. Deck gun 1,000m. Lifeboats launched and survivors observed in the water. Continuing on course.

03/12/1940
10:53 - Fuel down to 50%. Continuing towards the Strait of Gibraltar. Heading 060°, speed 11kn. Weather partially cloudy. Slight westerly breeze. Sea 2.

05/12/1940
18:52 - Grid CG9774. Received report of ship in DJ2451, moving NE at medium speed. Moving into intercept.

06/12/1940
04:18 - DJ2515. Failed to make contact. Ran to within 30km of Casablanca in case vessel changed heading. Returning to course.

19:45 - Grid CG9579. Arrived off the Strait of Gibraltar, commencing patrol. Partially cloudy with light fog. Marginal westerly breeze. Sea 2.

07/12/1940

00:06 - Grid CG9557. Sighted enemy vessel. Identified it as a passenger/cargo type ship and attacked with deck gun at 800m. Broke apart and begun to sink after 3 hits for 1,995GRT. Sporadic and large subsequent explosions. Deck and superstructure entirely ablaze. No lifeboats spotted. Turning away and returning to course at speed in case of nearby patrol craft.

05:24 - Grid CG9583. Spotted outward bound neutral passenger liner, believed to be Spanish. Dived to periscope depth to avoid and observe.

09:32 - Grid CG9559. Attacked coastal freighter. Fired 2 torpedoes which were sighted and avoided. Pursued and sunk with deck gun for 1,872GRT. Lifeboat launched, drifting E. Returning to course.

08/12/1940
01:21 - Grid CG9567. Sighted by enemy destroyer at around 23:30. Fired surface weapons and starshells as we dived to evade. Stayed at around 130m as the destroyer made between 6-10 attack runs with depth charges, all well aft of us. Lost destroyer contact at around 00:50 as it moved E at high speed. While submerged we detected and tracked a merchant contact. Came up to periscope depth and sighted merchant at around 01:05. Identified as a small merchant. Surfaced and moved into position to attack. Attacked at 01:10 firing two torpedoes, one hit. Finished attacking with deck gun and sunk for 1,956GRT. Sank very quickly with no sign of lifeboats or survivors. Running SW in case the destroyer encountered earlier returns.

06:24 - Grid CG9581. Spotted an outward bound large merchant. Conducted submerged attack from 1,600m firing 2 torpedoes. Both hit and she began to sink rapidly for 8,273GRT. Sighted 4 lifeboats in the water. Continuing on mission. Torpedoes remaining - 3 fore, 7 aft.

10:47 - Grid CG9557. Spotted a burning ship. Upon closer inspection it has been identified as the previously attacked passenger/cargo type vessel which has drifted slightly WNW. No sign of any survivors. Wreck still well ablaze. Using stern torpedoes to attempt to sink the remaining wreckage.

11:19 - Wreck has sunk. Continuing on patrol, heading 101°, speed 11kn.

20:52 - Grid CG9591. Sighted inbound small merchant. Conducted submerged attack from 600m firing two torpedoes. One hit. Finished her off with the deck gun, sunk for 2,095GRT. Torpedoes remaining - 1 fore, 5 aft.

09/12/1940
15:04 - Grid CG9547. Attacked by aircraft. Sustained minor damage from explosions. Submerged to 60m, heading 156°. Remaining submerged until dusk.

10/12/1940
07:45 - Grid CG9571. Attacked a passenger/cargo type vessel. Fired 2 stern torpedoes, both failed to explode. Forced to surface and engage with deck gun. Attempted attack with last remaining fore torpedo. Failed to explode on impact. Eventually sunk for 1,973GRT. No sign of survivors. Torpedoes remaining - 3 aft. Less than 40% fuel remaining. Beginning return course to Lorient.

12/12/1940
08:16 - Grid CG2722. No incidents to report. Course 001°, speed 9kn. Weather cloudy. Strong southerly winds. Sea 7.

15/12/1940
08:49 - Grid BF5564. No incidents. Course 065°, speed 9kn. Weather clear. Moderate winds, direction WSW. Sea 5.

19:29 - Grid BF61. Have linked up with escort. Now following into Lorient.

19:27 - Docked at Lorient. Patrol ended:

9 ships sunk for 24,335GRT.
42 days spent at sea.
Awarded Iron Cross Second Class.

[UKönig]

U 802 has begun patrol #9 and has come across 2 convoys so far. 1 large and 1 small. We sunk a liberty class merchant with a long range shot with a T1, and sank one escort (lucky hit).
We are taking on the smaller convoy right now and have sunk a C2 cargo ship, again, from 10 km away. Totally caught him by surprise.
The hunt continues...

[Andrakis]

Hello all - I'm rather new, so this is... I think my first post?

U-45 has just completed its second patrol in late 1939. Deciding that fortune favored the brave, Herr Kaleun decided the boat would brave the English channel for the high traffic and easy pickings.

The initial sightings were light and a fishing boat and small tanker were sunk via sustained 20mm cannon fire. Days passed with only military ships breaking up the monotony. These were avoided with discretion.

Finally, a small merchant wandered into view in the night. She was alone and running no lights. U-45 fired a T1 into her side, the crew celebrating as the ship shuddered. However, with their bloodlust sated, the crew realized their error. They had fired on an Irish ship! U-45 quickly dove and left the area, hoping that they had not yet been identified and the ship would remain afloat. (:/\\!!)

Seeking to make up for this travesty, the kaleun ordered a large patrol grid, finding a large lone merchant escorted by an armed trawler. A salvo for tubes 1 and 4 was prepared with minimal spread at a 4.5 km range. The fish were let loose and U-45 slunk away at a slow pace. Two(:D) impacts were heard and soon thereafter, the shearing of bulkheads as the ship sank to the bottom in the early moments of first light. The trawler gave search, but came no where close to the sneaking uboat. After a half hour, the trawler gave up and returned to port. U-45 surfaced approximately an hour later, with the trawler still in view! :down:

Crash dive orders were given and the u-boat inched closer to the bottom of the channel (46ish meters). Charges were heard, but fortunately none were accurate. After a few more hours, the trawler left and the brown trousers were exchanged for new pairs.

A few more small cargo ships were sunk in the following week, wearing out the stock of torpedoes remaining. With that, U-45 returned home.

Days at sea: 13
Tonnage sunk: 22,000 (2,000 of which was neutral!)

Well, live and learn. The U-45 has had a stern talking to about proper target identification prior to engagement. :rotfl2:

[Jimbuna]

Good post Andrakis.....Welcome :sunny:

[Karl-Heinz]

I'm not having any luck finding out why I am having this problem: I received a BdU message in April, 1940 (a couple of patrols ago) that Type VIIC boats were now available. So, after my tenth war patrol, which ended in late June, 1940, I transferred to Erprobungsstelle in order to pick up a VIIC (currently in a VIIB). However, my only boat options to switch to are II's and IX's. Does anyone know why the VIIC is not listed?

Edit: never mind, after I screwed things up with SH3C (lost track of personnel transfers), VIIC (and others) were available for me!

[Shipcap]

Hola everyone, so well, like ships to a greater extent (not like submarines, but also treat to subs with great respect - they have played a major role in World War II).
really liked the game, along with modes such as the GWX and WS

06.09.1939 I have started my patrol with type-1936 class des.

6th of September we went into coastal german waters to protect and safeguard our maritime routes
http://s7.postimg.org/u5s8bg6t3/sh3_2015_08_29_20_04_07_333.jpg (http://postimg.org/image/u5s8bg6t3/)http://s18.postimg.org/4fxk91r39/sh3_2015_08_29_20_03_53_573.jpg (http://postimg.org/image/4fxk91r39/)

... 4 days of patrol and nothing - clear horizon...
10th of September -
the weather has not changed / no precipitation - 10:27
AN69 / nearly Netherlands
Trawler has been seen by the watchman - 10:49
http://s30.postimg.org/wzwug4lh9/sh3_2015_08_29_20_07_17_436.jpg (http://postimg.org/image/wzwug4lh9/)http://s13.postimg.org/5ax0ratsj/sh3_2015_08_29_20_07_45_080.jpg (http://postimg.org/image/5ax0ratsj/)
--- engines are off - 16:11
changing watch - 17:42
--- ahead one third - 17:44
the sun goes down and the ship is in high alert///everything is as usual
7 hours later - weather is improwing - 18:13
On the horizon is visible silhouette of a large ship / AN69
14 kilometers away from the previous place of the trawler
http://s3.postimg.org/4k343y13j/sh3_2015_08_29_20_47_44_206.jpg (http://postimg.org/image/4k343y13j/)http://s1.postimg.org/tfd9bh5rf/sh3_2015_08_29_20_48_06_332.jpg (http://postimg.org/image/tfd9bh5rf/)
will hope that the Greeks knew its course :)
Our destroyer change heading to north, will try to go closly AN66
/ - / Report sent

[Aktungbby]

Andrakis & Shipcap!:Kaleun_Salute:

[UKönig]

U 802 took out 8 of 12 ships in a small convoy. 3 of the escorts were destroyed leaving only one protector zipping up and down the lanes and in a tiny way it was like "night of the long knives" all over again. Our final kill was a medium (T2) tanker, which we got on the surface with the gun. The escort came back and forced us to dive, dropped a few charges on us, scratched the paint, and after a short while, zipped back to the head of the (greatly reduced) pack. In all, we bagged about 59,000 tons before returning to base
Patrol #10 begins very soon...

[Jimbuna]

Welcome to SubSim Shipcap :sunny:

[Shipcap]

... to continue to patrol ///


13 SEPTEMBER 1939
AN65
2:04 - speed : 0 kts, weather : good, engines are off, course - N
http://s22.postimg.org/3ubz3pt81/sh3_2015_08_30_00_56_21_627.jpg (http://postimage.org/)

2:08 - radio intercept.
::: Operation carried out at position BF1828. No fuel problems. 6 torpedoes. BF2573 / From : U-26
2:36 - radio intercept.
::: Have stopped to take on survivors from the S.S. Blairlo gie. - S.S. American Shipper / From : Open Freq
4:57 - radio intercept.
::: SSS... Being fired at by German submarine 49/20N, 14/20W S.S.Neptunia / From : Open Freq
8:08 - weather doesn't change, the ship is monitoring coastal waters... speed - 0 kts
8:26 - norwegian merchant ship sailed past / course - SW
http://s9.postimg.org/j6629gb5b/sh3_2015_08_30_01_03_08_116.jpg (http://postimage.org/)

20:58 - one more norwegian is going misses des. / course - S
http://s16.postimg.org/v4nkiwewl/sh3_2015_08_30_01_07_10_979.jpg (http://postimage.org/)http://s21.postimg.org/xwpe8fo9z/sh3_2015_08_30_01_07_16_994.jpg (http://postimage.org/)
22:03 - the ship started moving, speed - 17 kts, course - west

14 SEPTEMBER 1939
AN64
03:12 - radio intercept.
::: SSS... 56/34N, 15/21W - S.S. Fanad Head / From : Open Freq
03:19 - radio intercept.
::: Attacked by aircraft and enemy submarine. Aborting channel route. BF3336 / From : U-35
05:16 - radio intercept.
::: Attacked by 3 destroyers. Severe damage. Forced to surface. Sinking. Abandoning boat. / From : U-39
14:19 - weather is clear, speed - 18 kts, course - S
15:51 - horizon is clear, no contacts

15 SEPTEMBER 1939
AN81
00:32 - radio intercept.
::: Have picked up 37 men in the water from S.S. Cheyenne 50/20N, 13/30W S.S. Ida Bakke / From : Open Freq
05:22 - speed 17 kts, course - E, entering the square AN82 of patrol
AN82
08:41 - radio intercept.
::: SSS... S.S. City of Paris / From : Open Freq

In the period of such reports, a team of the ship there is opinion and rumors among the sailors and officers, that you submariners - ministering is not really something to the devil of the deep sea? From all of these interceptions begins a wild vasoconstriction in the head, fear and shaking, to be in the Atlantic, sunk by German submarine - it looks like a punishment from hell. Ohhgg, ohh chills go through the body...

On the sea - calm, sailors talk about their fate, close fly gull. Sunsets and sunrises, the sound of waves, is already a little more than a week. How long will we afloat ... time will tell.

12:11 - speed 18 kts, course - S, on the radar two glow / course - WS,
12:12 - speed 28 kts, course - WS,
http://s4.postimg.org/iokprh2st/sh3_2015_08_30_01_34_52_458.jpg (http://postimage.org/)http://s11.postimg.org/5ga58nphv/sh3_2015_08_30_01_34_49_658.jpg (http://postimage.org/)
12:14 - a group of two british destroyers at the exit of the Strait of the English Channel - opened fire
http://s21.postimg.org/rnxoj5i1z/sh3_2015_08_30_01_34_08_592.jpg (http://postimage.org/)
12:15 - sending report to the command of the fleet : to join the battle with the destroyers a few miles from the coast of Norway
12:16 - full alert / alarm
12:17 - the beginning of a rapprochement with enemy ships, evasive action to the right
http://s2.postimg.org/qijevixpl/sh3_2015_08_30_01_37_09_355.jpg (http://postimage.org/)http://s14.postimg.org/gl4j4vxg1/sh3_2015_08_30_01_38_52_844.jpg (http://postimage.org/)
12:19 - the first of the ships received critical damage below the waterline armor-piercing shells
12:18 - avoidance maneuver to the left
12:19 - heavy shelling from the second destroyer, two penetration in the citadel, died 9 people
12:19 - one of the enemy ships sinking, visual trim on the nose
12:19 - silhouette of an enemy ship ship goes down
12:20 - on our ship fire in the aft
12:20 - HE-shells hit the engine room, a small fuel leak
12:20 - the whole repair crew died
12:21 - 3 people killed by the shot to 4th turret
12:22 - failure of the right engine
12:22 - radar is damaged, the integrity of the citadel of 62%, multiple penetration in the hull, 12 people had died in a shootout at close range
http://s2.postimg.org/6xrk6w9wp/sh3_2015_08_30_01_43_07_013.jpg (http://postimage.org/)http://s7.postimg.org/4zbw9j857/sh3_2015_08_30_01_43_48_294.jpg (http://postimage.org/)http://s12.postimg.org/swoghgrcd/sh3_2015_08_30_01_45_13_840.jpg (http://postimage.org/)http://s12.postimg.org/nmjhq673h/sh3_2015_08_30_01_46_33_166.jpg (http://postimage.org/)
12:25 - rudders are destroyed, ship can't maneuver, fire extinguished
12:26 - we immobilized
12:28 - report sent :
2 destroyers sunk
the whole repair crew died
suffered serious damage
small fuel leak
rudders destroyed
the right engine is broken
3rd and 4th guns have serious damage / damaged

---

ship in a stationary position
damaged citadel / 6 Cellar ammunition vulnerable
send help ...
forward to help ...
AN82

http://s21.postimg.org/fs41sd9k7/sh3_2015_08_30_01_53_48_616.jpg (http://postimage.org/)

AN82
12:29 - speed 0 kts, course - W :lost:
/ - / Report sent

[Karl-Heinz]

Update on Kapitänleutnant Walter Frönlich, now commanding a type VIIC out of Lorient, 2nd Flotilla. Leading ace of aces as of August, 1940 with 215,495 GRT sunk (49 merchants and one destroyer) after 11 war patrols. Holder of the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds. I still have yet to have any casualties to men or boat, but things have gotten dicey recently.

The biggest ship I have sunk is a British T3 tanker 19024 GRT.

The lads are enjoying their leave in France, as this patrol was when we transferred from Wilhelmshaven to Lorient. I trust the French women will treat them gently, as they are very tired from our last patrol :()1:

[Andrakis]

U-45 has had moderate success since her last update. Two more patrols have occurred.

The first patrol sent U-45 of the West of Gibraltar, quite a trek to reach the area. In the interest of brevity, fuel range, and sheer boredom, I braved the Channel again. The weather was good and I waited until nightfall to push through the Strait of Dover at flank. Ships were spotted at long range and the boat was put at periscope depth a few times. Nothing else came of it. Once in the channel, U-45 surfaced once again, making quick pace to reach the open Atlantic. U-45 came across a large merchant on its own during her channel run and quickly put her out of action with the deck gun. The deck gunners were incredibly accurate, triggering what I suspect were munitions being shipped to various enemies of Germany. The merchant sank quickly. The other occurrence of note in the Channel was the siting of a friendly VII patrolling the channel on her own. Pleasantries were exchanged via radio and U-45 was on her way.

Once we pushed out of the channel, open ocean laid in front of us. Quickly, however, an enemy convoy was spotted and U-45 was in a favorable position to set up an attack. It seems as though it is easier to find enemy boats when I'm not trying! U-45 set up for an attack and waited - I decided I would be a bit brazen and set up inside the convoys path. We waited, and waited. The hydrophone contacts were all about us and the attack scope was raised. I prioritized targets and made my selections. An S-Class enemy submarine plodded alongside the convoy and at a nearly perfect bearing, a Southhampton class cruiser! I had to make these fish count. Two torpedos were ranged for the cruiser, one for the S-Class, and another for the largest merchant I could see. The rear tube found a small merchant as a target as well. All tubes were fired and crash dive orders were immediately given, the boat being turned to align parallel with the convoys path. My intent was that during the dive and chaos, hunting my submarine would be much harder with all the civilians panicking up above.

4 torpedo impacts were heard. Apparently, the rear torpedo had failed to detonate on its target as there was no explosion at the specified time. We hid at 140m, engines off, silent running and we waited. Charges were heard splashing in the water, but the explosions sounded like far off thunder, rather than Odin hammering on the hull. The charges soon faded and, after two hours, we began to slowly slink away, changing our bearing to the opposite of the convoy's heading.

We surfaced a short while later, noting an abandoned and slowly sinking merchant ship bobbing nearby. With some deck gun encouragement, she sank as well. We could only assume, at that point, the other two ships that we heard sinking were the S-Class and the Southhampton cruiser.

This convoy attack netted U-45 approximately 22,000 tons, with 12,000 being warships. This is, to date, my largest warship kill. I'd love to snag something bigger soon though! :arrgh!:

U-45 continued to the area around Gibraltar and patrolled here, with minimal sinkings. She then met up with the Thalia and refitted, and set back out for another patrol...

[Aktungbby]

Andrakis! after six years:salute:

[Andrakis]

Andrakis! after six years:salute:

It's funny how after years, this game can just pull me back in. Quite a remarkable game in that respect.

[UKönig]

June, 1943.
Patrol #10
U 802 has been at sea for about two, just edging into three weeks. So far, not a single contact has been sighted. Bad weather has been following us around almost ever since we left port. Our patrol zone, AM11, puts us back into the upper reaches of the North Atlantic. This is the work that the type VII is cut out for, not the IX. Somebody slipped up. Again. I want to go back to the tropics, maybe even South Afrika. Enough of this "Pferdenscheiße".
Oh well at least we have the RAF to keep us company. They hound us so often that I can barely squeeze more than 75% power in the batteries before I am forced to dive. And I discovered how much I hate the dive time on the type IX. It's like driving a bus. Seriously I am almost ready to trade my boat in for the VII if they keep sticking us in the NA. We had a few close calls with depth charges and it's easy to see why so many IXs' got destroyed by aircraft.
We made it to our patrol zone, still didn't find anything that floats on water, and left the area to go exploring. Advised BdU of our (not) findings and asked permission to go "free-hunting". "Permission granted U-802, steer into the southern reaches of Iceland, but DO NOT approach Reykjavik."
Did as instructed and still did not find any ships near enough to intercept. The bad weather and constant air attack continues to hound U-802 and we are making progress only painfully slowly. U-802 has passed through the AD grid on its way south towards the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. Maybe we will run into a convoy bound for Iceland and then England, and finally get a chance to "let slip some dogs of war" as we are still fully loaded.
The hunt continues...

[Shipcap]

... to continue to patrol ///

Аfter battle with squadron, we were waiting for luck, drifted at ran of our fate. Those who were to survive on the destroyer - wondered if they could see tomorrow... what would be an hour or a day ?
We were carried over from the speed of 1-1.5 kts to the east, the morale of the team falls under the pressure of fear. On the third day in the sky showed two black points, ship-crew froze in fear, thinking that they see their friends and the ship on which they stand - the last time in his life.
Planes circled at high altitude, but the battle with the ship did not start. They hid behind the clouds and flew to the Netherlands. 18 hours later, 19th September 1939 on the horizon, we saw the silhouette of 4 ships - coming from the northeast. They approached slowly, at a rate of about 7-8 kts. So, when they came to us for a sufficient distance for the scrutiny of the flags, we realized that this is ours / german ships.
When the first ship (the largest) closed in to the left side, the sailors began negotiations that finds ships like ours - only asks too many questions. What brings you here?
The conversation started up the theme that BDU ordered to nearest air base - raise reconnaissance aircrafts and start looking in these areas, and transmit the coordinates of any findings on the south-west of the Norwegian coast. By appointment for your repair and assistance we got from the port "Den Helder".

http://s21.postimg.org/6tiavt1d3/sh3_2015_08_30_17_37_26_819.jpg (http://postimage.org/)http://s24.postimg.org/ukg8y5t1h/sh3_2015_08_30_17_37_22_782.jpg (http://postimage.org/)http://s9.postimg.org/o5i0i1ekf/sh3_2015_08_30_17_36_12_426.jpg (http://postimage.org/)http://s28.postimg.org/m1uggdpd9/sh3_2015_08_30_17_35_45_119.jpg (http://postimage.org/)http://s8.postimg.org/yc965l15h/sh3_2015_08_30_17_36_46_887.jpg (http://postimage.org/)


Entrenched on both sides of the ship, repairers prepared to fix parts of the destroyer.
To the ship was transferred new repair-team... sweat and blood, 11 hours later (all night) - with divers help, cranes and winches, in the morning we finished our repair task.

http://s2.postimg.org/une5cas8p/sh3_2015_08_30_17_43_30_500.jpg (http://postimage.org/)http://s24.postimg.org/gsosz8l6t/sh3_2015_08_30_17_43_47_866.jpg (http://postimage.org/)http://s15.postimg.org/k1t9mfh57/sh3_2015_08_30_17_44_11_032.jpg (http://postimage.org/)http://s12.postimg.org/am1wmrqel/sh3_2015_08_30_17_44_22_865.jpg (http://postimage.org/)http://s22.postimg.org/h303aocxd/sh3_2015_08_30_17_44_44_911.jpg (http://postimage.org/)http://s1.postimg.org/nefqj3pdr/sh3_2015_08_30_17_45_56_135.jpg (http://postimage.org/)http://s11.postimg.org/nqy2jhb6r/sh3_2015_08_30_17_46_04_733.jpg (http://postimage.org/)http://s11.postimg.org/y4zcw3cv7/sh3_2015_08_30_17_46_47_600.jpg (http://postimage.org/)

After all this, crews of all ships drank a little schnapps, was given the command to test all the systems and engines started.

20 SEPTEMBER 1939

AN82

06:51
Destroyer continue patrol, course - N, weather - exellent.

AN56

19:22
Changing course - SE, weather - overcast
19:24
Radio intercept.
::: Immediately return to Wilhelmshaven, submarines: U-34, U-31, U-57, U-45., and destroyer "Grim" for the receipt of new orders and redevelopment activities.
According to leave the areas of patrol and return to port. / From : BDU

19:28
We have change our course to base.

22 SEPTEMBER 1939
00:13
Docked at Wilhelmshaven. Patrol is over.

[CozzaAu]

getting my first hit using manual data input and no weapons officer.

such a thrill. getting the speed, working out its track then setting the torpedo's dials to all that and then setting a path for me to get a 90 degree shot on it at 500 meters distance, i don't know a good distance. i head between 400m to 1 kilometers, But who cares, I hit just behind the C2 smoke stack and it was dead in the water. so easy to maneuver the boat and get a second shot to finish it.
get the type 1 torpedo ready, the c2 has no movement, so screw it if I make bubbles, his not going anywhere. Fire!

Must of been a dud, didn't explode. fire the second type 1. Hit, pretty much in the same place my 1st torpedo hit.

All in all, that was about 30 minutes of excitement. I was so caught up i didnt even notice i was still on TC1 during the maneuver to get my second shot.

[Karl-Heinz]

getting my first hit using manual data input and no weapons officer.

such a thrill. getting the speed, working out its track then setting the torpedo's dials to all that and then setting a path for me to get a 90 degree shot on it at 500 meters distance, i don't know a good distance. i head between 400m to 1 kilometers, ....

All in all, that was about 30 minutes of excitement. I was so caught up i didnt even notice i was still on TC1 during the maneuver to get my second shot.

After my career is over, I am going to train up on manual torpedo firing. I had the same experience as far as TC when I was attacking a large convoy - played for a few hours at TC1 (until I was getting safely away)

30 SEP 1940 1225
AM19 B-dienst report: large enemy convoy in AM19 about 16km east of me heading E 7kts; continuing course W to intercept
1228 AM19 Submerged to 25m; picked up numerous contacts on hydrophones to west heading east (3) warships; (16) merchants; ordered battle stations **American ships in this convoy**
1331 Fired two bow torpedoes at C2 cargo range 750m; fired two bow torpedoes at C2 cargo range 1200m; first torpedo impacts and detonates on 750m C2; second torpedo either missed or was dud
1333 Both torpedoes impact and detonate C2 1200m; ship explodes and sinks - verified kill British C2 cargo ship 6545 GRT
1344 Fired bow torpedo at medium freighter range 1000m
1345 Torpedo impacts and detonates, splitting freighter in half - verified kill British medium freighter 4791 GRT
1352 Fired last bow torpedo at large tramp steamer 1700m
1354 Torpedo impacts and detonates on large tramp steamer; maneuvering away from convoy for now deep and silent depth 60m (three stern torpedoes left, including one external)
1358 ASDIC pinging!!; warship off to port moving closer!!
1401 warship moving away; continuing to slink off to west (opposite direction from convoy)
1402 ASDIC again; warship closing on me from port - all stop!!!
1404 warship moving away again; ahead slow
1407 warship closing; all stop
1409 warship moving away; ahead slow
1410 warship bearing off to my stern, moving fast - may have given up hunt
1414 nearest warship well off to stern moving fast and away...phew
1600 Secured from silent running; periscope depth after losing sound contacts; surfacing

[Karl-Heinz]

***SECRET***

From: Vizeadmiral Karl Dönitz
To: Führer Adolf Hitler, Großadmiral Erich Raeder
Date: 07 NOV 1940
Subject: Loss of U-51 (Walter Frönlich, Kapitänleutnant)

Herren:

With great sorrow and regret, I must report to you that U-51 and all hands, including Knights Cross (with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds) holder Kapitänleutnant Walter Frönlich, is missing and presumed lost.

U-51's last transmission to BdU was a normal status report at 1631 on 31 OCT 1940 in the Atlantic between the Azores and Portugal. Shortly thereafter, B-dienst reported a large convoy in the vicinity of U-51, which we assume U-51 intercepted and attacked. A B-dienst intercept recorded at around 1900 31 OCT 1940 stated that two merchant ships in this convoy were reported sunk. We must believe that those two ships were sunk by U-51, as no other U-Boots were in the area. Later, another intercept indicated that the Royal Navy was highly confident they had sunk a U-Boot.

With your permission, we will notify the officers' and crew's next-of-kin, but for now, we recommend that this news be kept secret from the public and the Kriegsmarine due to the impact of losing the greatest U-Boot captain we have had in this campaign so far.

Including the two ships reported sunk in the B-dienst intercept, and two more reported by U-51 during this patrol prior to its loss, Frönlich was responsible for the sinking of approximately 288K tons of enemy shipping during 13 war patrols. This is a staggering measure of his success, as the next most successful captain, Otto Kretschmer, has sunk 194K tons. As you can see, this is a loss of monumental proportions to the Bootwaffe, the Kriegsmarine and to the Reich.

We will await your response as to notifying the families of the lost.

/s/ Dönitz

***SECRET***

[UKönig]

The Kapitän and crew of U-802 raise a glass in honor of the loss of U-51.

Your black bordered picture on the wall of the Officer's club has been hung and we see that there is room still for a few more...

That said, U-802 has returned from patrol #10 with 74,000 tons from an SC convoy coming from Halifax. We expended all our ammo sinking mostly tankers, and, too bad about that troop ship that was consumed in a giant fireball, that's going to make someone very angry. Prior to the convoy we ran across, two fast tankers trying to make a dash across to Iceland were picked up as a sound contact. We moved to intercept and fired 4 bow torpedoes, two each. One of each pair failed somehow and we damaged both rather than sinking them outright. Swam past them both and fired tubes five and six, one each. Both hit. Still not sinking. I expected to see a fireball at this point but, nothing. Not carrying fuel this time I guess. Oh well, tankers out of action are tankers not carrying fuel. Loaded five and six, but swung around to use the now loaded forward tubes. One more each and we claim our first 20,000 tons. A day or so later, while charging the batteries, a J-class destroyer picks us up on his radar and moves in to have a look. Dive to periscope depth and raise the scope. Dropped a decoy to pull his attention and fired tube six. Lucky shot, but hit and sunk. One aft torp left.
Stumbled across the SC convoy a few days later and by this time its now July. Almost one month on patrol. Two pattern runners in tubes 1 and 4. Fired them both and scored lucky hits on both. One for the troop ship and one for a T3 tanker. Escorts seem to be mostly American and not used to it yet. I took total advantage of this and destroyed a good portion of the fleet. This was a massive convoy, 7 lines wide and 6 more deep, with a lot of valuable cargo. A few more runs like this and the battle of the Atlantic will be over...
Standing by for patrol #11.

[Karl-Heinz]

I started a new campaign, again in August, 1939, and then went to get qualified on a IXB after a few patrols in the IIA. SH3C kindly alerted me prior to my first war patrol in the IXB that I had been assigned to training duty - LOL. So, I began a campaign in a IXB in August, 1940, from Lorient.

The IXB is a bus compared to the II or VII - but fun so far.

[UKönig]

U 802 is in the middle of patrol #11. 54,000 tons put away so far and we are all out of deck gun ammunition. Still have a reasonable amount of AA shells but we are down to whatever is left in the tubes. 5 and 6 are loaded, 2 and 4 are loaded, and what sucks about it so far is that 4 and 6 have seekers. I haven't found any worthy targets to use them on. :/\\!!

I am continuing to patrol until I find something decent to fire them on. The hard part is, we've taken what can best be described as a 'generous' amount of damage. Our systems are in pretty good shape, but the hull has taken a pounding. I dare not take her too deeply any more, she doesn't like to be squeezed...

[UKönig]

Patrol #11 is complete with 54,000 tons. I found a liberty class merchant trying to make a break for it. Bad weather and heavy fog makes the attack difficult. Got close (1.6km) on the surface and fired my fwd seeking torpedo. Hit, not sunk. Don't feel like chasing him down. Let him get away and returned to base with my tonnage score as it is.

Upgraded the boat to include "turm 3" and the quad cannon on the lower AA deck. And went for the snorkel as well, as I can see already I am going to be using it a lot.

Patrol #12 starts on Sept. 27th 1943, destination, AM52.
Our new AA suite has claimed 3 Sunderlands so far, and we sank a destroyer with our stern loaded seeker. The Tribal class out on patrol started heading away from us after I had fired it, so we surfaced to get picked up on radar. That didn't work as well so we fired a few AP shells at him, and that got his attention. We took some return fire, causing some minor damage and hull integrity loss, and he started running for us. We dove and turned back to him, nose to nose, so that our seeker would have a chance to catch up as it was now chasing the destroyer properly. The Tribal class slowed a little to pick us up in his sonar net, and as he was increasing speed to drop the charges, our seeker came up and nabbed him. Scratch one destroyer. Not happy about the hull damage, but, them's the breaks I guess.
About 2 days later, still not at AM52, we dove for bad weather and caught the sounds of a distant convoy. Am heading southwards now to intercept...
U-802, out.

[Andrakis]

U-45 has had a few more successful patrols under her belt since last reported. While there were not many noteworthy sinkings, a convoy approach yielded a wonderful volley and line of explosions.

U-45 was patrolling a few areas outside of the entrance to the English channel, hoping for some sort of action. It had been a boring few days, with no ships or planes spotted. It was near dusk when the Kaleun gave the order to go to periscope depth for another of the periodic hydrophone listens.

Finally, success! A convoy no less! It was closing as well, what luck. U-45 waited to track the hydrophone contacts further, and began to adjust position. A quick peek from the periscope showed we had pulled into position on the starboard side of the convoy. There were quite a few large vessels as well as an enemy submarine (a prime target!) lining the rear row of the convoy. The boat was positioned facing the convoy so the torpedoes would strike as perpendicular to the hulls as possible. The weapons officer calculated firing solutions and the torpedoes were let loose. Two at a large merchant, one at a medium, and one at the S-class. We hoped that at least two of the ships would be successfully damaged. As the final fish left its tube, we swung the boat around and fired the rear torpedo, hoping for a hit in the chaos that would soon envelope the convoy. I pensively watched through the attack periscope, as if my will would guide the torpedoes to their targets. My watchful eye was soon rewarded as the large merchant, then enemy submarine, and finally, the medium merchant all took hits. The large merchant burst into flames, likely carrying oil or petrol to the UK. The S-class shuddered under the excessive force applied to its hull and began to slip beneath the waves. The most exciting hit, however, was the medium merchant, who was carrying ammunition or some sort of explosives, as she became a huge fireball and began to break apart.

(It was at this point I decided the cheater cam would make a great screenshot, so I went and nabbed one. You can see the large merchant burning brightly the furthest back, a small secondary explosion from where the medium merchant was, and the S-class in the foreground.)

U-45 then decided that it was time to leave. Crash dive orders were given, the boat ran silent, and slowly moved away as the escorts searched in vain. There's a certain security blanket feeling when you know the depth is 1000+ meters and the only thing limiting you is the strength of the hull. :)

Two more patrols and nothing quite so extraordinary. Lone ships were sunk with our deck guns or torpedoes, depending on the proximity to shore and weather.

[UKönig]

U 802 had to be towed back to port...

We had suffered severe damage from patrol #12.
First to go was our brand new AA suite. A lucky DC hit from a destroyer caught us when we were only 20m down, and in one shot, crippled the quad mount and our wing AA guns. Grr...
Good thing I had the snorkel installed...
We sank 4 warships and 4 cargo ships (2 of them tankers) in the convoy we caught up with, including one corvette crewed by newbies. Our decoy confused them as they were going to make an attack run, and for some reason, they stopped dead. I used this interval to increase our range to 500m, and let him have a stern shot at 0 angle. Boom.
We managed to disengage from the convoy action and resume our patrol, but it seemed that from then on, every single encounter caused more damage to add up. By early October, we had completed our assigned patrol and since we had only a few torpedoes left, I decided to simply return to our base in Lorient. On the return trip, even more damage was taken. About 24 hours from base, with the battery running low I raised the snorkel to begin the charging process when a sneaky Sunderland spotted the mast. One good hit from him disabled both diesel engines, Grr...(again).
We got away on only 1 knot forward speed, (to save what little bit of battery power we had left) and had to wait for sunset before surfacing. We sent a distress call and were picked up by some friendly German minesweepers and were towed the rest of the way back to base, where we spent almost 8 weeks undergoing significant repairs to our battered boat.
Patrol #13 begins with me holding a serious grudge against coastal command...

[Andrakis]

Eight weeks! Sounds like a vacation for your crew! :)

[UKönig]

Pretty much.
Every crewman who did not have a trade that was required to assist in repairs would have the time off (in rotation of course), and all those with technical skills would be kept nearby for that purpose. Such is war.

[KingOfNothing22]

28/12/1940
20:31 - Departed Lorient at 19:17. Escorts have just begun return passage. Currently zig-zagging into open waters due to the threat from enemy submarines. Mean course 230°, current heading 169°, speed 10kn. Weather partially cloudy with light fog. Moderate northerly breeze. Sea 3.

29/12/1940
12:00 - BF5528 - No incidents to report. Heading 253°, speed 8kn. Weather unchanged.

30/12/1940
12:06 - BF4626 - No incidents. Heading 281°, speed 8kn. No change in weather.

31/12/1940
12:04 - BF4191 - Nothing to report. Heading 280°, speed 7kn. Still no change in weather.

19:48 - BF4147 - Received report of enemy vessel in BF44 heading NE. Moving to intercept.

01/01/1941
04:24 - No sign of vessel after lengthy search. Returning to original course. Heading 288°, speed 8kn.

02/01/1941
00:23 - BE6347 - Engaged and sunk coastal freighter with deck gun at around 500m for 1,869GRT. Lifeboat observed drifting NE. Continuing on course.

16:04 - BE3797 - Report received of large convoy in BE38 travelling NW, speed 8kn. Moving to intercept.

03/01/1941
03:50 - BE37 - Sighted and attacked convoy. Sank 1 ore carrier for 7,815GRT before submerging and attacking 2 L class AA destroyers sinking both for 1,690GRT each. Dived to evade third escort and was depth charged. Heavy damage sustained. Managed to carry out some repairs but further attacks and damage forced us to surface and surrender.

Patrol results:
U-105 scuttled with 48 men lost.
Remaining crew surrendered.
Ships sunk: 4
Total tonnage: 13,064

Career totals:
Ships sunk: 17
Total tonnage: 54282