Fun with Deck Guns

[smcj]

I find myself constantly watching my deck icon on the left of my screen to see if the weather is good enough to use it. This is for fun, not necessarily for realism, since I beleive that I can be much more interactive with the game than merely depressing a "Fire" button to launch a torpedo, although that is fun also.

If I catch a really small boat (fishing boat, small coastal vessel) I will use my light flak gun to destroy them. Takes a while, but it is big fun. This helps me conserve my deck gun ammo which must be used for Coastal Merchants and larger vessels.

In early 1941, some merchants are armed. They are a real challenge! I have 3 strategies:

1. Position my Uboat at 90 degress to the target with my Uboat speed at zero, and within 200 m range, blow ballast, double click on deck gun quarters, with my 3 experienced Gunner Petty Officers, aim for the gun on the merchant, after destroying the merchant gun(s), shoot at the waterline as the merchant moves across my bow. I may or may not try to kill the merchant machine gunners.

2. For a merchant with a forward gun only I will surface at the aft of the merchant and just try to shoot its a@@ off!

3. Lieberty Cargoes and Victory Cargoes are too heavily armed so as not to be worth the risk, but I have had some success by aproaching from the rear, and within 100 m range kill the rear gun, then shoot the a@@ end of the merchant off!

Would like to hear other strategies!

Best regards,

[Weiss Pinguin]

I think you've pretty much covered most of them...

One thing I like to do is sight in the gun from a few thousand meters and see how many hits I can score before I close the distance. :arrgh!:

[Ping Panther]

smcj, I like that aggressive gunning style you have. :up:

On patrol the other day I was busy taking sound readings submerged and detected something running slow and solo at long range. I ordered flank speed and met my heading to get into its path. I popped my scope up at around 2000 meters. It was one of those yachts.

So I had a good path and speed already started, took my range sighting from my scope view so that my gunnery petty officer would be on deck ready with his range to target. Blew my ballast, popped up, manned the deck gun and took to the sights myself. One pop of the deck gun at no less than 1800 meters, and, BANGO!, as soon as my shell hit I ordered to come about to course and back to periscope depth, the guy didn't know what hit him. He's not going to radio me into to his coast guard!

Up and down all in a minute.

[smcj]

Greetings Ping Panther,

Incidentally great moniker (Ping Panther). Another great moniker that I have seen (although not recently) is "Rommel McDonald"!

Back to deck guns. I'm always looking for a helpful way to use my low life light flak guns. I notice that the light flak guns will destroy cargo boxes and life boats on merchants, but does that really contribute to the sinking of the merchant?

Best regards,

[comet61]

I've taken out Corvettes with flak guns several times. Then a round or two of the deck gun....squared away. :up:

[Gabucino]

Sometimes I do 0 degrees AOB frontal assaults against a destroyer (actually rückmarsch to delay getting too close), manually hitting its command deck with the deck gun. It's pretty tense, especially if it doesn't sink.

[Ping Panther]

One of my most memorable gun duels was in the GWX single mission against the 2 fast troop ships. My torpedo approach (and you get only one try with these guys!, they are bee-lining it at 27 knots +), was filled with duds and misses, so I surfaced up to let them have it with my gun. By then it had become twilight, and they presented a nicely sized target.

Tracers whizzing all over the sea!

I find it helpful to do a range sighting for a moment on the UZO scope before ranging your gun for the first shots. And, I almost always man the deck gun myself.

[Jimbuna]

I tend to surface in front of the heavier naval units and throw rotten tomatos and empty beer bottles at them.

I've never sunk anything with this tactic yet , but it beats lugging the empties back to port :doh: