1944 impossible accuracy aircraft

[czwij]

why is it that in 44 aircraft will hit me and damage me to a standstill (red everything and destroyed, sinking and cannot move) i am schnorkelling and have both periscopes up for watch. i still get nailed and max damaged.

how can i reduce that damage from aircraft? ok i understand that they may nail me once in a while so that i am immobile, but everytime i reload? I play DiD, but this is ridiculous. i wouldn't get 30km out of base ever.

don't tell me they were that accurate everytime they spotted a snorkel 5km away

thanks for your support

[Kapitanleutnant]

They don't need to spot you. Radar can pick up a schnorchel head quite easily, and by 1944 the pilots have ample experience at bombing submerged U-boats.

[Dissaray]

With both parascopes and a snorkle up it is little wonder that they can find you in '44 what with radar and good old fashon eyesight. I would try lowering your parascopes and relying on your hydrophones for watching for the majority of the time and keeping your snorkle up only as long as it takes to recharge the bateries. That will keep all trace of you as invisible as possible for as long as possible. If you do catch an bomber in attack run drop every thing down, crash dive and throw he rudder hard to one side. The bomber will more than likely hit your last known posistion and that could save you from much or all of the damage.

[Randomizer]

What TC were you at when you got attacked?

Snorkelling at any TC higher than x32 is dangerous and you will die sooner rather than later. Usually by aircraft and by surprise. Period.

Historically snorkel boats seldom made over 70 nm per day when transiting while submerged. This is because the snorkel was generally used only to charge the batteries and air out the boat, not more than 4-6 hours in 24.

If you have the mast-mounted radar detectors from GWX you may still miss aircraft by visual means only. Use map contacts "ON" and zoom to the 5000 or 2500 metre scale on the nav screen. Ironically snorkelling in periods of good visibility is often safer than in fog, you may get more visual warning.

Never snorkel in the presence of a known enemy.

Snorkels and periscopes are fragile and easily damaged or destroyed and I have not found that having both scopes up is any better than just using one.

[Cheapskate]

They don't need to spot you. Radar can pick up a schnorchel head quite easily, and by 1944 the pilots have ample experience at bombing submerged U-boats.

Not quite so easy as you suggest KL

http://www.uboat.net/allies/technical/uk_radars.htm

Quote from details on ASV Mk XI:-

" ASV Mk.XI had a maximum range of about 60km against ships, and in good conditions and at low altitude (2000 feet) it could detect a surfaced submarine at about 20km. But it could detect a schnorkel only in very calm seas and at distances below 8km. It gave bearings with an accuracy of about 2 degrees.

[czwij]

i use both periscopes as that's how they actually watched out for aircraft (Herbert Werner's book). it works even in game. true, i travel at 246x TC, which sometimes gives me enough visual time to spot aircraft. i could care less about destroyers. they hardly touch me even in 44 (VII 41 - 250m depth). its the aircraft. by the time they get to me i am 30m under and at 7 knots flank yet they get my position exactly and knock out everything with one pass. thats what bugs me. they just dont miss. i think they are overly accurate.

but travelling with schnorkel to charge batteries only is a good idea. i only come to surface late nite for a few hours, then i am under again. that must have been an awful way to travel, 18 hours a day under the surface.

[Randomizer]

One would think that three masts up as opposed to two would increase your visual and radar signature by that much more but I doubt SH3 models that. I recall reading that KL Heinz Marbach, a snorkel pioneer from U-953, the boat that Werner would command, kept one lookout on the sky periscope but changed them frequently due to eye fatigue. That's from U-Boats at War by Harald Buch if I recall correctly, one of the first post-war U-Boat books out of Germany in the fifties. I'll have to dig it out and look see, I don't really trust Werner in all things.

If it works for you, carry on by all means. Captain's perogitive after all but lower the TC when snorting and you will probably die less often.

Good Hunting