Heckler
02-18-10, 04:54 PM
Only just returned to SHIII after several years of absence. So far so good... so I thought I'd share a few stories of the last few patrols of U-106.
It's taken me a week or two to get the hang of the game again... many suicidal runs later... things are looking good.
Sept 1941 (patrol 13) - Leave Brest and head S/E to do my patrol (didn't make a note of the grids), happen across a couple of coastal merchants and dispatch them with a single torp each. Finish 24hrs on station and head E towards the straight of Gibraltar. Felt like shooting some fish... After a couple of days searching the approach and dispatching 2 Coastal Merchants and 2 C2's... I see the weather is going to be rough, it's getting dark soon... and I feel like making it through the straight.
I approach slowly along the Spanish coast, as soon as I pick up signs of traffic I dive to 50m and go silent... From then on it's a game of cat and mouse, me skirting the coast doing my best to avoid the bottom (and failing a few times causing 5% damage)... whilst there are about 20 destroyers, corvettes and PT boats above... After several hours in game and about 90 mins in real time. I'm finally through have avoided several close calls and 2 depth charge runs.
I head E once more towards Malta and N Africa, find a few coastal merchants and dispatch them along the way. So far I'm about 11 confirmed kills and about 30k tonnage... But almost out of torps and shells.
I head for Italy to re-arm (technically ending that patrol).
Oct 1941 - Patrol 14 - Leave Italy and head back towards the straight of Gibraltar, run into a small convoy of 4 ships (no escorts) and sink 3, surface to pursue the last and get buzzed by aircraft, and within minutes there's a whole squadron bombing my position. I dive and run for cover at about 150m.
Heading E once more, I sneak up on the patrols and slide under at an average depth of 100m.. 6 times a destroyer passes directly overhead and fails to hear me (thankfully Bernard didn't have beans that day).
As I head out of the channel and back into open waters at about 0100, my sonar goes nuts... Multiple contacts approaching fast. I plot course and speed and figure I've run right into a major convoy of about 15 merchants and half a dozen warships. I adjust course and make my approach at 150m, then rise up slowly and come up almost smack bang in the middle... targets on all sides, what too choose. :)
I target the biggest I could see and let fly with 4 front and 2 rear torps... a few minutes later 2 C3's a T2 are dead and a C2 is crippled... and those 6 warships, turn out to me 8 and all of them bearing down on me. I crash dive to avoid the first Corvette and turn hard to port, his DC's miss by about 300m. I dive to 120m and go silent, then turn to port once more, back towards the straight... The bad weather and night means that those 8 warships can't pinpoint my position precisely enough and after about 45 mins I slip away... and am still in touch with the convoy, which is almost unprotected. I come off silent, reload all tubes and try to sneak up on the tail of the convoy again. I get of 2 shots before being spotted by a destroyer sneaking up from behind and barely have time to crash dive and run for cover before he's on me... Damage from DC's in the rear and flak/deck gun destroyed.. get the repairs under control and hull is down to 62%, and 6 warships are now searching for me above. I dive to 100m and keep changing course every time one goes overhead, doing short bursts at flank when in their baffles.. After a further 60 mins I finally slip away and leave them circling and depth charging the ocean floor.
I limp back to Brest with a massive ego, a tonnage score I've never achieved before and medals and promotions all round.
I notice my renown is almost 7k... and that it's now Nov 1941. I request a transfer to Lorient and take command of a shiny new IXB
Enlist a few new crew members and head straight out.
Patrol 15 Nov 20th 1941... I'm supposed to patrol way down South of the lower West African coast... I ignore my orders and head East across the Atlantic towards Halifax. Along the way I run across 3 coastal merchants and a C2, all of which are sunk, the coastal merchants with the deck gun.
As I approach Novia Scotia I get a report of a large convoy to the North and I quickly try to plot an intercept... which for once actually works. :)
I start picking up contacts and close in... only to find I'm to far South and with a Destroyer in the way. I bug out and head E at full speed, then shoot North to intercept again. I get lucky once more and bypass the destroyer and discover the whole patrol has only 2 escorts. :) I also discover that it's a mix of US and UK ships and the US hasn't yet entered the war... I have to be careful on my targets, all the US ships seem to be on my side blocking most of the UK ships. But I manage to get a bead on two C2's and sink one and damage another before having to run for cover. I evade the destroyers quite easily, the seas are very rough and their speeds are limited. I head East again (transfer external torps to reserves), surface and make another run to intercept further NE. Once more I pick the perfect spot as they approach and my periscope goes up with two T2's at900 and 1300m... both get a full salvo and go down... and I bug out and head East, then NE once more. For the 3rd time, I intercept the convoy and this time I have 4 torps left in the front and the rears. I can't get a bead on the UK ships from the side I've been hitting them, so I go further North before I head back, coming at them from the other side... where all the UK ships were hiding. :)
I go deep and wait for them to approach, and I must have made a mistake as I come up to periscope depth smack bang in the middle... Just enough time to fire everything I have, sinking a C3, a C2 and crippling a Coastal Merchant... In the ensuing confusion, the destroyers simply can't reach me in time before I slip away.
I wasn't able to finish of the crippled ship as another corvette showed up to protect it... So with 1 fore torp and 2 aft left... I decide to head for port.
On the way home I come across a few single ships, 2 coastal and 1 C3. The Coastal were dispatched with the deck gun quite easily... My crew are highly trained by this point. But the C3 spotted me in poor visibility and went on the defensive... So I pulled back, and looped around and dived early to avoid him spotting me again. I picked what must have been the sweet spot... as his zig zag pattern placed him 600m directly in front of me at the precise moment he finished a turn... and my 2 after torps both scored direct hits... and he just wouldn't sink. Sat there crippled, seas to rough to surface and finish him off, so I slowly loop around and finish him with my last fore tube and he goes down.
With that being my last torp, I head for home and a well deserved rest... It's now Dec 10th 1941. 15 Patrols and zero casualties so far... tomorrow, the US enters the war... and then I think I can really have some fun. :)
It's taken me a week or two to get the hang of the game again... many suicidal runs later... things are looking good.
Sept 1941 (patrol 13) - Leave Brest and head S/E to do my patrol (didn't make a note of the grids), happen across a couple of coastal merchants and dispatch them with a single torp each. Finish 24hrs on station and head E towards the straight of Gibraltar. Felt like shooting some fish... After a couple of days searching the approach and dispatching 2 Coastal Merchants and 2 C2's... I see the weather is going to be rough, it's getting dark soon... and I feel like making it through the straight.
I approach slowly along the Spanish coast, as soon as I pick up signs of traffic I dive to 50m and go silent... From then on it's a game of cat and mouse, me skirting the coast doing my best to avoid the bottom (and failing a few times causing 5% damage)... whilst there are about 20 destroyers, corvettes and PT boats above... After several hours in game and about 90 mins in real time. I'm finally through have avoided several close calls and 2 depth charge runs.
I head E once more towards Malta and N Africa, find a few coastal merchants and dispatch them along the way. So far I'm about 11 confirmed kills and about 30k tonnage... But almost out of torps and shells.
I head for Italy to re-arm (technically ending that patrol).
Oct 1941 - Patrol 14 - Leave Italy and head back towards the straight of Gibraltar, run into a small convoy of 4 ships (no escorts) and sink 3, surface to pursue the last and get buzzed by aircraft, and within minutes there's a whole squadron bombing my position. I dive and run for cover at about 150m.
Heading E once more, I sneak up on the patrols and slide under at an average depth of 100m.. 6 times a destroyer passes directly overhead and fails to hear me (thankfully Bernard didn't have beans that day).
As I head out of the channel and back into open waters at about 0100, my sonar goes nuts... Multiple contacts approaching fast. I plot course and speed and figure I've run right into a major convoy of about 15 merchants and half a dozen warships. I adjust course and make my approach at 150m, then rise up slowly and come up almost smack bang in the middle... targets on all sides, what too choose. :)
I target the biggest I could see and let fly with 4 front and 2 rear torps... a few minutes later 2 C3's a T2 are dead and a C2 is crippled... and those 6 warships, turn out to me 8 and all of them bearing down on me. I crash dive to avoid the first Corvette and turn hard to port, his DC's miss by about 300m. I dive to 120m and go silent, then turn to port once more, back towards the straight... The bad weather and night means that those 8 warships can't pinpoint my position precisely enough and after about 45 mins I slip away... and am still in touch with the convoy, which is almost unprotected. I come off silent, reload all tubes and try to sneak up on the tail of the convoy again. I get of 2 shots before being spotted by a destroyer sneaking up from behind and barely have time to crash dive and run for cover before he's on me... Damage from DC's in the rear and flak/deck gun destroyed.. get the repairs under control and hull is down to 62%, and 6 warships are now searching for me above. I dive to 100m and keep changing course every time one goes overhead, doing short bursts at flank when in their baffles.. After a further 60 mins I finally slip away and leave them circling and depth charging the ocean floor.
I limp back to Brest with a massive ego, a tonnage score I've never achieved before and medals and promotions all round.
I notice my renown is almost 7k... and that it's now Nov 1941. I request a transfer to Lorient and take command of a shiny new IXB
Enlist a few new crew members and head straight out.
Patrol 15 Nov 20th 1941... I'm supposed to patrol way down South of the lower West African coast... I ignore my orders and head East across the Atlantic towards Halifax. Along the way I run across 3 coastal merchants and a C2, all of which are sunk, the coastal merchants with the deck gun.
As I approach Novia Scotia I get a report of a large convoy to the North and I quickly try to plot an intercept... which for once actually works. :)
I start picking up contacts and close in... only to find I'm to far South and with a Destroyer in the way. I bug out and head E at full speed, then shoot North to intercept again. I get lucky once more and bypass the destroyer and discover the whole patrol has only 2 escorts. :) I also discover that it's a mix of US and UK ships and the US hasn't yet entered the war... I have to be careful on my targets, all the US ships seem to be on my side blocking most of the UK ships. But I manage to get a bead on two C2's and sink one and damage another before having to run for cover. I evade the destroyers quite easily, the seas are very rough and their speeds are limited. I head East again (transfer external torps to reserves), surface and make another run to intercept further NE. Once more I pick the perfect spot as they approach and my periscope goes up with two T2's at900 and 1300m... both get a full salvo and go down... and I bug out and head East, then NE once more. For the 3rd time, I intercept the convoy and this time I have 4 torps left in the front and the rears. I can't get a bead on the UK ships from the side I've been hitting them, so I go further North before I head back, coming at them from the other side... where all the UK ships were hiding. :)
I go deep and wait for them to approach, and I must have made a mistake as I come up to periscope depth smack bang in the middle... Just enough time to fire everything I have, sinking a C3, a C2 and crippling a Coastal Merchant... In the ensuing confusion, the destroyers simply can't reach me in time before I slip away.
I wasn't able to finish of the crippled ship as another corvette showed up to protect it... So with 1 fore torp and 2 aft left... I decide to head for port.
On the way home I come across a few single ships, 2 coastal and 1 C3. The Coastal were dispatched with the deck gun quite easily... My crew are highly trained by this point. But the C3 spotted me in poor visibility and went on the defensive... So I pulled back, and looped around and dived early to avoid him spotting me again. I picked what must have been the sweet spot... as his zig zag pattern placed him 600m directly in front of me at the precise moment he finished a turn... and my 2 after torps both scored direct hits... and he just wouldn't sink. Sat there crippled, seas to rough to surface and finish him off, so I slowly loop around and finish him with my last fore tube and he goes down.
With that being my last torp, I head for home and a well deserved rest... It's now Dec 10th 1941. 15 Patrols and zero casualties so far... tomorrow, the US enters the war... and then I think I can really have some fun. :)