I got a GATO!!!

[Ping Panther]

5 January, 1943
/// Latest patrol report from Gunter Kohnen and crew of the U-128 ///

Sunk: USS Albacore – Gato Class
Location: Grid BF21 upon entering the Irish Sea from the south

I was on my patrol approach to AM68, looking forward to a visit to the Isle of Man; my actual family ancestral homeland...
I had to "land" a pesky Sunderland into the Bay of Biscay, took out a Brit. trawler further along with the gun... then, after midnight of the 5th... !
I was figuring that I came across an A.I. u-boat... nope, Fleet sub! :DL
I am running GWX3 and loving it!

Screen shots and a battle report to follow... :arrgh!:

Good Hunting GWX-er's!

[Brag]

Kongratoolashoons! Keep up the good work :salute:

[Jimbuna]

Pity you weren't the first.

http://www.psionguild.org/forums/images/smilies/wolfsmilies/whistle.gif

[Ping Panther]

Thanks for the congrats, Brag. :)
Hi Jimbuna. :shucks:

[Jimbuna]

Thanks for the congrats, Brag. :)
Hi Jimbuna. :shucks:

Hi matey http://www.psionguild.org/forums/images/smilies/wolfsmilies/thumbsup.gif

[Rapt0r56]

Thats the point. When you run gwx, even after endless hours of playing you will see new things and surprises. :rock:

[Ping Panther]

5 January, 1943
/// Latest patrol report from Gunter Kohnen and crew of the U-128 ///

Sunk: USS Albacore – Gato Class
Location: Grid BF-21 upon entering the Irish Sea from the south

Watch crew sighted a faint ship wake; distant, and to the south east of the u-boat. Initial path of patrol waypoint to the north is diverted since sighting it considered to be within range to investigate at surface; flank speed ordered of the diesels, battery charge process is disengaged in order to make good time to the suspect ship.

Upon further advance to the sighting, watch crew declares “Sub spotted, sir!”… hmmm… this must be a fellow u-boat? I must proceed with curious interest of arriving at some common company, the sub now appears by further tracking to be at no particular alert, my sub approaches from his stern, we at flank, it at a modest 8 knots, zig-zagged, surfaced. It’s a dark, clouded night, calm sea, the UZO reveals the minuscule bow wake of this sub cresting along from side to side in my view. It’s a wonder to see another subs sleek profile as I wonder how close I may run on with my own bow presenting a certain V of spray to the stern watchman that stand on guard ahead of me.

All at once, with hardly a previous concern of my own, and having been thoroughly distracted, my expert watch crew screams, “We’re under attack… aircraft sighted!!!” All crew is sent plunging down to orders of crash dive… with a full thrust of flank speed all ready assisting our plummet. I order a turn to starboard, proceed to level at 60 meters. I hope to keep after my own potential prey this night. Machine gun rounds ping all around, as if knocking on our hatches to let them come in. He then lets go. Whamp! Some sort of discarded cylindrical ordinance grazes our stern. My own glance into the night was of a hefty nocturnal hunting bird… a British Halifax bomber! He caught me by my less-attended to right flank, perhaps on his return to a southern U.K. airbase.

We make it under and check for damages, just some “scratches” our back side. A mere flesh-wound… My repair specialist officer and crew patch us up and all is better soon.

What can be done of that pesky Brit. Bomber? Will he send me under all night? Will he call for back up? He must have dropped his last… I skid along submerged to align my course to that sub. I have lost much of my progress, and intend to see this out. I hope for a sound ahead, I dare to surface… faint, hardly a chance. Did he go under, or off and away?

I set up to surface at once; all crew is now standing primed at the hatches. I order blow ballast, straight on. This time, I set my deck gun with my petty officer, expert watch at duty, I must find him. After some time, again, my watch shouts, “Submarine spotted, sir!”, this time I will go along, tubes and guns ready. Now I have a profile… GATO class… ! Now I hope for some of my very brief SH4 recall and often read U.S. Fleet boat novels. Many fleet-class subs had stern-mount naval guns… few others bolted them as bow-mounts, as my own u-boat. The last thing I want to do now; other than losing this foe, is to stir his props up to his flank speed… I must get him first, and fast. I set my electric eels at TDC set to very shallow. I can’t even find the Gato in my GWX3 I.D. book, so I cannot afford to waste these going deep. He’s still zig-zagging. I’m closing in, not too close, but this will be a bugger of a tracking calculation… ? … Surfaced sub, as I am, you gain respect for the lean profile of a sub at sea… he’s zigging again, I am running in from his rear… no patience to run any other approach. Not wanting to risk a very lofty deck gunning from here…. I set for 2 eels… I have to try. Closing in… I let them go at my best guess. Order called to go submerged. Just in case I have to sneak another approach, I want to be covered. They sure run slow from here. Both miss. I stay under now and study the sub ahead through my scope. I log in some time marks of his path. Set for another modest 2 shot attack. I decide to order surface battle stations. I let these go on a straight bow setting into the most suspected middle path of his zigs. I spread the word that if I miss on these, I will initiate my guns for all we can.

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d173/EricWK/SilentHunter-Post/PP-110409-Gato1.jpg

I run to the TDC, zoom way in, and cheat a look at those little cigar-like torpedo dashes as they blip along to the south. He is pulling out of another zig from his port. My eels come chasing down now, I shout for my watch crew to call out constant sighting reports now. That sub is just now gaining speed, reaching 12+ knots… hmm… then as the cigars blip their track off to the sub’s right flank…
I figure to prepare for the worse.

Then… that Gato swings about hard to starboard!!!... They must have tried to come about to engage their bow-mount gun to my approach.
(I just had to look up the Gato in my dusty SH4 DVD case!, this one had a forward gun.)
What luck! I scramble to my scopes… a broadsides hit!
1 of my 2 eels made its mark. :up:

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d173/EricWK/SilentHunter-Post/PP-110409-Gato2.jpg

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d173/EricWK/SilentHunter-Post/PP-110409-Gato3.jpg
GWX3 ... :yeah:

[AVGWarhawk]

Yes, GWX has many surprises. My most memorable was diving for a sonar check and actually getting e-motor noise returns. I had to shut down my e-motors to be sure. There was a sub down there with me! :o I did not know if it was one of mine or theirs. I did not hang out to see.

[Ping Panther]

That must have been a real wild moment to discover there, AVG.

As with many of the times I step away from a GWX moment... I continued to wonder how this would have been an even more intense situation to find my u-boat pinned down by a submerged enemy sub heading my way. If we both approached submerged, we may be trading shots challenging each other with estimates of torpedo depth settings to try to take a lucky chuck out of the other. These situations of sub vs. sub were really rare in real life.

I just hope to now continue on this patrol wtih my load of eels (my order is out to begin loading external reserves at night here, a bit risky, I do have a couple hours till dawn), and then on to make a pilgramage to the Isle of Man in the center of the Irish Sea.
Maybe a quick stop at Blackpool just to the east is in order? :hmmm:

[AVGWarhawk]

To be honest Ping, my arse puckered as soon as I figured out what it was. My next thought was I was being hunted. I quietly did a 180 the other way while in silent running. :yep: I never did find out if it was a U or a fleet boat.

[Ping Panther]

An ironic thing here is, I just got to Chapter 10 of "Submarine!"; Edward L. Beach, Cpt. USN; this is another war novel I am reading through just this morning. In this latest chapter it describes the zigzagging that many subs did to arrive at patrol locations... fearful of attack by enemy subs!

This chapter is about the patrol of the USS Archerfish, Nov. 1944, eventually going after the carrier, Shinano. The captain of the Archerfish had to head down the Atlantic coast to make way through the Panama canal to its eventual Pacific deployment. He was most fearful of an encounter with any German u-boats on his way, so he tended to zigzag. That USS Albacore Gato in my GWX3 was doing a fair amount of zigging as well.
Neat stuff!

[Torplexed]

This chapter is about the patrol of the USS Archerfish, Nov. 1944, eventually going after the carrier, Shinano. The captain of the Archerfish had to head down the Atlantic coast to make way through the Panama canal to its eventual Pacific deployment. He was most fearful of an encounter with any German u-boats on his way, so he tended to zigzag. That USS Albacore Gato in my GWX3 was doing a fair amount of zigging as well.
Neat stuff!

Aha! GWX3 must be the reason the US starting building Gatos on the West Coast and Lake Michigan. ;)

[Kpt. Lehmann]

Aha! GWX3 must be the reason the US starting building Gatos on the West Coast and Lake Michigan. ;)

You are correct, Torplexed. It is a little known historical fact that GWX was used extensively during WWII.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e50APQxDDYw

:arrgh!:

[Ping Panther]

:haha:

Nice video, Kpt. Lehmann!
Yep, a battle-hardened Kaleun can deal with getting the bolts busted out of his u-boat for a while...
Start scratching up his new Fubar's skins... look out! :nope::damn:

[Ping Panther]

"Submarine!"; Edward L. Beach, Cpt. USN

Oh man, what a good read this has been. I mentioned Chapter 10 a while ago. I am almost done with the whole book now.

I just got done with a detailed and super swift-actioned account in these latest chapters about USS Wahoo & USS Trigger. There was even a really intense chapter on the actual USS Albacore; the fleet boat I took on in GWX3 here. Even though it's written of the U.S. fleet, the narratives are super and give some really nice tactical issues for any sub to consider.

Has anyone else come across this book? I got mine in a local used book store. The best book for a couple of bucks I have ever found.

Good hunting... PP