Tanker's Paradise [Archive] - SUBSIM Radio Room Forums

cawimmer430

12-05-09, 09:29 AM

Wow! Just wow! The year is mid-1942 and I was sent down to Cuba with my IXC. What do I find down there? Great weather and tons of unescorted and mostly unarmed tankers! I sunk 13 large T2 and T3 and a couple of smaller tankers, all with the deck gun. I also encountered only a handful of easy-to-kill Clemson destroyers and annoying Elco Torpedo boats.

There's also hardly any Allied air activity (unless you get close to places like Port of Spain etc.). I now know where U-123 (my boat) will be vacationing in the next upcoming patrols! :yeah:

Jimbuna

12-05-09, 01:43 PM

BE MORE AGGRESSIVE!! http://www.psionguild.org/forums/images/smilies/wolfsmilies/pirate.gif

Sailor Steve

12-05-09, 02:58 PM

Welcome to the 'Second Happy Times'. Of course your thread title is wrong - it may be paradise for you, but hardly for the tankers.:rotfl2:

Weiss Pinguin

12-05-09, 03:03 PM

I sunk 13 large T2 and T3 and a couple of smaller tankers

:o

Do you have [a] grid location[s]?

Oberon

12-05-09, 04:46 PM

I'll need an oil tanker myself to get there in my Type IIA :har:

Good hunting though Kaleun! :yeah:

Lt.Fillipidis

12-05-09, 07:23 PM

I'll need an oil tanker myself to get there in my Type IIA :har:

Good hunting though Kaleun! :yeah:

Laughed my arse off! xD

Yeah, this is Operation Drumbeat you talk about.
Usually just north of Bermuda and south east of New York, there's a convoy of 6-8 tankers with only 1 escort.
And just about 20km offshore, south of New York there's a 12.000toner passing by at a regular rotation.

Dissaray

12-05-09, 08:39 PM

Weiss Pinguin

12-05-09, 09:10 PM

Hang around AM53 for a few days, or go to AM19 and check out the Rockall Bank for a bit. You should get at least 2-3 ships out of both areas. ;) Remember to stop and listen every few hours - drop down to PD and circle round a few times, then keep going.

cawimmer430

12-06-09, 07:58 AM

BE MORE AGGRESSIVE!! http://www.psionguild.org/forums/images/smilies/wolfsmilies/pirate.gif

LOL :salute:

cawimmer430

12-06-09, 08:00 AM

Welcome to the 'Second Happy Times'. Of course your thread title is wrong - it may be paradise for you, but hardly for the tankers.:rotfl2:

Indeed. :D

But it is great to see a lack of armaments on these tankers and no pesky Allied air activity. Right now it's early 1943 in my career and already I am spending more time underwater than on the surface. With no snorkel available I am forced to travel at 1-2 knots underwater during the day and speed on the surface at night - at least when I am still off the coast of the UK / France.

cawimmer430

12-06-09, 08:03 AM

:o

Do you have [a] grid location[s]?

Right here. Look at this map. The red line indicates my entry route and my basic travel route during my stay down there. All along this line, and with some slight course corrections due to hydrophone contacts, I encountered mostly tankers.

The red circles indicate areas where I encountered enemy aircraft. :salute:

http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/7628/56631297.jpg

cawimmer430

12-06-09, 08:05 AM

I'll need an oil tanker myself to get there in my Type IIA :har:

Maybe my IXC U-123 and your IIA can meet up somewhere in friendly waters and your IIA can have a piggyback ride on my IXC to wherever you want to go! There's plenty of space on my back!!! :D

Good hunting though Kaleun! :yeah:

:salute:

cawimmer430

12-06-09, 08:06 AM

Usually just north of Bermuda and south east of New York, there's a convoy of 6-8 tankers with only 1 escort.

And just about 20km offshore, south of New York there's a 12.000toner passing by at a regular rotation.

Thank you for this valuable intelligence information! :rock:

cawimmer430

12-06-09, 08:13 AM

Man, I must have all the luck. I am back in early 40 and can't find a damn thing aside fromt he occational coastal trafic around Ireland. I am geting desperate enuf to make an attack run on Bristol just to see if I can find some targets.

In my experience between 1939 and 1941, you can get some great convoy action in these areas. Getting in and out is the hard part since these areas are naturally crawling with Royal Navy warships, but I would recommend using the cover of night to sail in, go to 30 meters during the day and listen until you pick up a convoy. There are usually a number of them only a few days apart. Once you have made contact how you proceed is up to you. :yeah:

http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/8550/39102708.jpg

cawimmer430

12-06-09, 08:13 AM

Oberon

12-06-09, 09:53 AM

The area between Scapa (Orkney) and Lerwick (Shetland) islands usually provides some good lone merchants, watch out though because Destroyers hang around up there too. Going south of Scapa usually nets you more Destroyers than merchants sadly. Rarely see any convoy movement through there though.

Jimbuna

12-06-09, 04:58 PM

One of my favourite spots is about 250km west of Gibraltar....convoys are frequently entering and leaving the Med http://www.psionguild.org/forums/images/smilies/wolfsmilies/thumbsup.gif

Dissaray

12-06-09, 05:00 PM

I ventured over to that strate, between Ireland and England proper last night. I got gutted by a combo attack from some PT boats and a Empire Class Merchent; I had forgoten that those were armed and took a pounding only to be finished off by what I think was a torpido attack by the two PTs befor I could get under with a crash dive. But I did find the enemy so there is a pluss on that front.

I remember once runing into a masive convoy up by the norther tip of Scotland, just west of the Scapa islands. That was in '42 though. It seems there are a lot more targets in the west by that point int he war.

Snestorm

12-06-09, 07:33 PM

But U123 is a IXB. (The most successful IXB of the war).

Love your charts. They look so cool.

Snestorm

12-06-09, 07:36 PM

Lt.Fillipidis

12-07-09, 05:08 AM

One of my favourite spots is about 250km west of Gibraltar....convoys are frequently entering and leaving the Med http://www.psionguild.org/forums/images/smilies/wolfsmilies/thumbsup.gif

Way too many escort carriers and air coverage in mid-1943 and on.
Mid-to late war i prefer to wander randomly around the ON-ONS-HX convoy routes. Deep waters, usually bad enough weather, no air coverage. But also heavily escorted...

Oh, and another thing.
Abandon all hope, all ye who've been sighted by a K flyer and decided to comfront it. It just can't go down and it can lead to you the whole USN, RN, IJN, KM and the future's Indian fleet that is yet to be completed.

Dissaray

12-07-09, 01:44 PM

Gibralter dose seem to be a good hunting ground. I ran into two targetable convoys there last night; though I can't say they were two seperate convoys beacous I lost contact with the first one. I also found a Frenchie convoy but it was too late for them to get shot up by me.

I also know it is a good hunting ground 'cause I died there, and if I die there it seems to me there must be some thing worth killing there, other than me that is.

One place I found was good first hand is the east coast of the US around '42. There is signifigant air cover but nothing that you can't run from eays enugh. But to make up for it there is vertualy no war ship partols except on the larger convoys and in the ports. Canada is a good enuf target as well.

BasilY

12-07-09, 08:27 PM

Gibraltar is great in 1940. I once got Half a Mil GRT of shipping in February by refueling in Spain. Plus the occasional Cruisers and Fleet Carriers as appetizers, Of cause, that place was filled with planes late in the war. .

Weiss Pinguin

12-07-09, 08:31 PM

I once got caught between 2 convoys while patrolling west of Gibraltar. :smug: Of course, they were both going in opposite directions, so I went with the larger. But more importantly, Vigo is nearby!

Kimmers

12-08-09, 08:10 AM

the carribean sounds beaut, man, but i never get posted there :damn: :wah:

Weiss Pinguin

12-08-09, 10:23 AM

Just finished my first patrol in the Med (1941), any recommended areas?

Dissaray

12-08-09, 03:41 PM

The Irish sea is nice and I hear the strates of Gibralter have some good times to be had.

Panser

01-01-10, 01:15 PM

As shown in the highly artisic map of the British Isles a few posts back, the area to the northwest of Ireland (AM) is a great place to pick up convoys, especially in the early years of the war - four major convoy routes converge in this area and quite a few single ships kick around as well. Obviously it gets tougher later in the war with air cover and escorts, but it's one of my preferred hunting grounds and it has a fairly useful depth of water :D

Jimbuna

01-02-10, 08:34 AM

250km west of Gibraltar....catch em both coming and going http://www.psionguild.org/forums/images/smilies/wolfsmilies/pirate.gif

cawimmer430

01-04-10, 09:04 AM

Yep, Gibraltar is a great place to lie in wait and hunt for convoys. I've begun spending a bit more time down there as well.

On my last patrol I was returning to base and had four torpedoes left. I decided to sneak into Scapa Flow (blessed by extremely bad weather) to see if there's anything worth sinking. What was lying in Scapa Flow? An Illustrious Fleet Carrier! I couldn't believe it! So I set myself up on its starboard side, fired a salvo of my last four torpedoes at it and proceeded to sneak out. All four torps impacted and sunk her! :salute:

The year is mid 1940 in my current career. :yeah:

kasperl

01-04-10, 09:17 AM

Ahhh all these talking about the adventure in the new world makes me think again about my decision of sticking to a VII...

Dissaray

01-04-10, 01:06 PM

The 7s can make it that far. With cairful fule managment you can get to there with only using 1/3 of your deisle and back on the same mesure. This leaves you with a whole 1/3 to patrol on and if you keep the going slow and make good use of the electric your patrol can last a fairly long time.