Bubblehead1980
12-09-09, 01:12 PM
TMO 1.9 100 realism, 4th patrol USS Billfish(Balao Class)
Departed Pearl Harbor on August 4th, 1944 and headed for Saipan en route to patrol area in Yellow Sea.Moved at 16 knots the entire trip to Saipan, which made it pass fairly quick.Arrived and refueled, departed for patrol area at 12 knots.
Arrived in patrol Area on August 21, 1944 at 0500 and at 1017, radar contact on a convoy, wen to GQ and began closing.The APR-1 RWR was not buzzing, so go in fairly close on surface, had a convoy of 8 ships and 3 escorts heading South South East, which soon zigged.I moved in and due to flat, clear seas and skies, decided for a stern shot using the Mark 18 wakeless torpedos(eight of them in Aft room, 16 Mark 14 steam fish in forward room)
Dove and planned to fire 2,000 yards off track, when came back to periscope depth(max depth in area was 185 feet), ordered up scope and was :damn: to see the convoy had moved away a bit, all but 1 small Taihosan Maru freighter were out of range of the 4,000 yard Mark 18's.Deciding to salvage the situation, set up a firing solution on the small freighter and although it usually takes only one fish to sink this 1200 ton ship, I fired two for good measure, 10 seconds apart.
After a 3,400 yard torpedo run, first fish hit home, decimating the freighter.The second one soon hit and caused a huge secondary explosion, guessing this one had ammo or fuel aboard.
Soon ordered silent running and 150 feet, trying to creep away.After 30 minutes of searching, an escort began to ping me and close.Could hear the roar of a Destroyer overhead, counted six splashes, I went ahead flank for 45 seconds, then left full rudder.Six explosions rocked my boat but seems they were set too shallow and exploded well above me(external view disabled)
After 4 more runs , the last two of which the charges exploded at and below my depth, the escorts lost me.After an hour, a smaller escort(sounded like an aux subchaser) made contact, pinged me and closed, dropping 12 charges in two runs, all of which were close but not close enough.Soon I lost them, when I came up for a looked, was happy to see the sea state had changed from calm to choppy, no doubt aiding in my escape.
I soon surfaced for an end around when I had a radar contact about 6 miles away closing from north, while convoy was off to south.I decided to check it out on a hunch and catch up with convoy later after they resumed normal cruising.
Soon made contact with a 11,000+ ton Large Modern Passenger/Freighter(miner's creation), worth torpedos indeed.Closed this fatboy and prepared to fire 4 Mark 18's from stern tubes at the soow moving 5 knot(not sure why a lone ship capable of making 20 knots was moving so slow) fired all four fish, all hit and the freighter soon sank.I then began a move at flank speed heading to catch up with the convoy(had lost radar contact) securing from GQ and anticipating a night surface attack since it was already 1600 hours.
At 2000 hours I made contact with the convoy again on radar and closed.After countering some zigs, set up for night surface attack and was at firing point by 0300, although this was risky and difficult due to the flank escorts.
At 0311, I fired six Mark 14's from 3,000 yards and began slow turn so could zip away at flank upon torpedo impact.The targets were two large, undentified freighters(dont use the ID button at night, since in RL it was impossible to ID targets at night usually), fired 3 at each target.
Soon all torpedos hit their targets and I ordered ahead flank as I zipped away hoping not to be spotted.Soon had credit for sinking a Hakusika Maru(8,000 tons) and a Ryunn Maru(5,000 tons) The log is unrealistic but oh well.
The convoy was leaving my patrol area and figuring I had done my damage plus two contact reports, turned north and let the crew rest and recharge batteries(at 65 percent from the submerged attacks that day)
After a few days of dodging airplanes and hunter-killer ASW groups(3 of them) made contact on a large convoy of 9 ships and 4 escorts, this time it would be a bit more difficult though, the APR-1 was buzzing from two escorts, both flank escorts had radar, no night surface, which in the shallow seas, if preferred method.As began closing, storms hit, attack would have to wait.
Trailing this convoy through 53 hours of heavy wind and rain, multiple zigs had us in the Southern Yellow Sea at 0400 on August 28, trailed until near dawn, reading for dawn scope attack, but problem was convoy was near Korean Coast, only had 90 feet under keel, decided to move ahead and wait them out, so could attack with more under the keel.
Shortly after dawn, convoy was near and I had nearly 200 feet under keel, so I dive.Prepared to fire bow tubes and planned track had me 1500 yards from middle column and 900 yards from outside column on firing, but on next observation, the convoy had zigged, DAMN! Taking a c hance, I ordered ahead 2/3 and right full rudder, turning with the convoy, would be firing at outside colum from 3,800 yards now but should be okay since it was just after dawn and not exactly bright yet.Set up on a large 10,000 ton Nippon Maru Tanker leading outside column and the medium sized Buzyun Maru tanker right behind it, with four fish for the Nippon set at 18 feet and two for the other set at 3 and 10 feet.
The flank escort was closing, forcing me to fire with with a 68 degree AOB on the Nippon.Fired four at her and two at the other tanker as planned.Raised scope just as torpedos impacted the Nippon Maru, she took hits but didnt blow up in a fireball, so must not have had fuel on board(was en route to japan from Yellow Sea, so most likely on the return voyage) but she appeared mortally wounded.First torpedo hit the mid sized tanker, blowing a nice hole under the bridge, the second impacted but was a dud.
Soon went "deep" to 165 feet and on silent running in calm seas.Escorts searched for an hour before making contact, had three escorts closing, making runs, charges dropped some close, but no damage.Than one made a run and got lucky, although could tell the charge was not at my depth, it exploded above, damaging my compressor, TDC and bulkhead in engine room with minor flooding, crew quickly contained flooding and I went to 180 feet, nearly on bottom.Soon all went quiet, they were listening, so I ordered all stop while bled off speed.
Soon a DD started up and roared overhead, I took advantage of the roaring screws of the DD, which masked my sound signature, and ordered ahead flank for 35 seconds and then right full rudder, then all stop.The momentum carried me away from the escorts, then went to 1 knot and slipped away while the DD's dropped many, many charges at my former location, killing plenty of fish:arrgh!:
Secured from GQ and spent rest of day submerged to avoid patrols.Now day to 50 percent fuel and six torpedos(four forward, two aft) Ventured to the Northern reaches of Yellow Sea and entered the Bohai Gulf, dodging planes but no ship contacts, then turned and headed south for the trip to Saipan once fuel hit 35 percent.Moving a long at 12 knots, avoided 4 different patrols planes and one ASW hunter-killer group.Made it to Philippine Sea and increased speed to 16 knots.Arrived at Saipan and refueled, then headed for Pearl Harbor at 16 knots.
One morning while 500 miles SE of Wake Island, SD contact, chose not to dive but apparently plane had radar, closed in and did not have time to dive, to to flank speed and ordered AA guns manned.Plane turned out to be an H6K "Mavis" seaplane from Wake.Plane came from astern as 40 MM and 20 MM opened up, the plane entered a dive , as it neared I ordered right full rudder, as the plane zoomed overhead at very low altitude and could clearly see bombs and depth charges leave her racks, they landed just to the port where the bow of the Billfish had been , exploding, sending spray on deck and shaking the boat, the last minute turned saved us.crash dived and stayed under until dark, surfaced and continued run to Pearl Harbor at 16 knots.
Arrived at Pearl Harbor on September 24, 1944 at 1100 hours.
Patrol ended with five ships for almost 40,000 tons sank, best patrol in Billfish so far.
This is first patrol in TMO 1.9 I have dealt with effective escorts, other patrols mostly singles, 3rd the seas were very heavy and having a Balao I went to 600 feet after attack, so they had no clue. I have to say I like the AI changes, AI is still tough and effective but in previous TMO's, shallow water was pretty much suicide everytime, believe a fair, realistic balance has been reached on sonar.Now if could only dropp their effective radar range to 5,000 yards or so , so that surface attacks on radar equipped convoys/TF's would be possible.:salute:
Ducimus, great job on 1.9
Departed Pearl Harbor on August 4th, 1944 and headed for Saipan en route to patrol area in Yellow Sea.Moved at 16 knots the entire trip to Saipan, which made it pass fairly quick.Arrived and refueled, departed for patrol area at 12 knots.
Arrived in patrol Area on August 21, 1944 at 0500 and at 1017, radar contact on a convoy, wen to GQ and began closing.The APR-1 RWR was not buzzing, so go in fairly close on surface, had a convoy of 8 ships and 3 escorts heading South South East, which soon zigged.I moved in and due to flat, clear seas and skies, decided for a stern shot using the Mark 18 wakeless torpedos(eight of them in Aft room, 16 Mark 14 steam fish in forward room)
Dove and planned to fire 2,000 yards off track, when came back to periscope depth(max depth in area was 185 feet), ordered up scope and was :damn: to see the convoy had moved away a bit, all but 1 small Taihosan Maru freighter were out of range of the 4,000 yard Mark 18's.Deciding to salvage the situation, set up a firing solution on the small freighter and although it usually takes only one fish to sink this 1200 ton ship, I fired two for good measure, 10 seconds apart.
After a 3,400 yard torpedo run, first fish hit home, decimating the freighter.The second one soon hit and caused a huge secondary explosion, guessing this one had ammo or fuel aboard.
Soon ordered silent running and 150 feet, trying to creep away.After 30 minutes of searching, an escort began to ping me and close.Could hear the roar of a Destroyer overhead, counted six splashes, I went ahead flank for 45 seconds, then left full rudder.Six explosions rocked my boat but seems they were set too shallow and exploded well above me(external view disabled)
After 4 more runs , the last two of which the charges exploded at and below my depth, the escorts lost me.After an hour, a smaller escort(sounded like an aux subchaser) made contact, pinged me and closed, dropping 12 charges in two runs, all of which were close but not close enough.Soon I lost them, when I came up for a looked, was happy to see the sea state had changed from calm to choppy, no doubt aiding in my escape.
I soon surfaced for an end around when I had a radar contact about 6 miles away closing from north, while convoy was off to south.I decided to check it out on a hunch and catch up with convoy later after they resumed normal cruising.
Soon made contact with a 11,000+ ton Large Modern Passenger/Freighter(miner's creation), worth torpedos indeed.Closed this fatboy and prepared to fire 4 Mark 18's from stern tubes at the soow moving 5 knot(not sure why a lone ship capable of making 20 knots was moving so slow) fired all four fish, all hit and the freighter soon sank.I then began a move at flank speed heading to catch up with the convoy(had lost radar contact) securing from GQ and anticipating a night surface attack since it was already 1600 hours.
At 2000 hours I made contact with the convoy again on radar and closed.After countering some zigs, set up for night surface attack and was at firing point by 0300, although this was risky and difficult due to the flank escorts.
At 0311, I fired six Mark 14's from 3,000 yards and began slow turn so could zip away at flank upon torpedo impact.The targets were two large, undentified freighters(dont use the ID button at night, since in RL it was impossible to ID targets at night usually), fired 3 at each target.
Soon all torpedos hit their targets and I ordered ahead flank as I zipped away hoping not to be spotted.Soon had credit for sinking a Hakusika Maru(8,000 tons) and a Ryunn Maru(5,000 tons) The log is unrealistic but oh well.
The convoy was leaving my patrol area and figuring I had done my damage plus two contact reports, turned north and let the crew rest and recharge batteries(at 65 percent from the submerged attacks that day)
After a few days of dodging airplanes and hunter-killer ASW groups(3 of them) made contact on a large convoy of 9 ships and 4 escorts, this time it would be a bit more difficult though, the APR-1 was buzzing from two escorts, both flank escorts had radar, no night surface, which in the shallow seas, if preferred method.As began closing, storms hit, attack would have to wait.
Trailing this convoy through 53 hours of heavy wind and rain, multiple zigs had us in the Southern Yellow Sea at 0400 on August 28, trailed until near dawn, reading for dawn scope attack, but problem was convoy was near Korean Coast, only had 90 feet under keel, decided to move ahead and wait them out, so could attack with more under the keel.
Shortly after dawn, convoy was near and I had nearly 200 feet under keel, so I dive.Prepared to fire bow tubes and planned track had me 1500 yards from middle column and 900 yards from outside column on firing, but on next observation, the convoy had zigged, DAMN! Taking a c hance, I ordered ahead 2/3 and right full rudder, turning with the convoy, would be firing at outside colum from 3,800 yards now but should be okay since it was just after dawn and not exactly bright yet.Set up on a large 10,000 ton Nippon Maru Tanker leading outside column and the medium sized Buzyun Maru tanker right behind it, with four fish for the Nippon set at 18 feet and two for the other set at 3 and 10 feet.
The flank escort was closing, forcing me to fire with with a 68 degree AOB on the Nippon.Fired four at her and two at the other tanker as planned.Raised scope just as torpedos impacted the Nippon Maru, she took hits but didnt blow up in a fireball, so must not have had fuel on board(was en route to japan from Yellow Sea, so most likely on the return voyage) but she appeared mortally wounded.First torpedo hit the mid sized tanker, blowing a nice hole under the bridge, the second impacted but was a dud.
Soon went "deep" to 165 feet and on silent running in calm seas.Escorts searched for an hour before making contact, had three escorts closing, making runs, charges dropped some close, but no damage.Than one made a run and got lucky, although could tell the charge was not at my depth, it exploded above, damaging my compressor, TDC and bulkhead in engine room with minor flooding, crew quickly contained flooding and I went to 180 feet, nearly on bottom.Soon all went quiet, they were listening, so I ordered all stop while bled off speed.
Soon a DD started up and roared overhead, I took advantage of the roaring screws of the DD, which masked my sound signature, and ordered ahead flank for 35 seconds and then right full rudder, then all stop.The momentum carried me away from the escorts, then went to 1 knot and slipped away while the DD's dropped many, many charges at my former location, killing plenty of fish:arrgh!:
Secured from GQ and spent rest of day submerged to avoid patrols.Now day to 50 percent fuel and six torpedos(four forward, two aft) Ventured to the Northern reaches of Yellow Sea and entered the Bohai Gulf, dodging planes but no ship contacts, then turned and headed south for the trip to Saipan once fuel hit 35 percent.Moving a long at 12 knots, avoided 4 different patrols planes and one ASW hunter-killer group.Made it to Philippine Sea and increased speed to 16 knots.Arrived at Saipan and refueled, then headed for Pearl Harbor at 16 knots.
One morning while 500 miles SE of Wake Island, SD contact, chose not to dive but apparently plane had radar, closed in and did not have time to dive, to to flank speed and ordered AA guns manned.Plane turned out to be an H6K "Mavis" seaplane from Wake.Plane came from astern as 40 MM and 20 MM opened up, the plane entered a dive , as it neared I ordered right full rudder, as the plane zoomed overhead at very low altitude and could clearly see bombs and depth charges leave her racks, they landed just to the port where the bow of the Billfish had been , exploding, sending spray on deck and shaking the boat, the last minute turned saved us.crash dived and stayed under until dark, surfaced and continued run to Pearl Harbor at 16 knots.
Arrived at Pearl Harbor on September 24, 1944 at 1100 hours.
Patrol ended with five ships for almost 40,000 tons sank, best patrol in Billfish so far.
This is first patrol in TMO 1.9 I have dealt with effective escorts, other patrols mostly singles, 3rd the seas were very heavy and having a Balao I went to 600 feet after attack, so they had no clue. I have to say I like the AI changes, AI is still tough and effective but in previous TMO's, shallow water was pretty much suicide everytime, believe a fair, realistic balance has been reached on sonar.Now if could only dropp their effective radar range to 5,000 yards or so , so that surface attacks on radar equipped convoys/TF's would be possible.:salute:
Ducimus, great job on 1.9