Mine in deep waters? Career sudden end:(

[Vipper]

I was near british east coast, quiet far from land, depth under keel 102 meters. I ordered sub to go 25 meters and on the way there was loud bang like hitting the bottom. I wondered, wth!, rushed to repair screen and, oh horrors, total devastation of bow, major flooding!. Sub did soon hit the bottom and despite all efforts to pump water out and blow ballast the grave of my crew and my career (6th patrol) is now there...

Problem is, i don't know what happened? Mine?

And if it was mine how do i avoid them? Is there any chart of mined areas?

[BillCar]

I passed through a minefield last night, a couple hundred km off the British east coast. It is possible that you hit a mine. The way to avoid them is to not submerge unless necessary, submerge only in daylight if possible, and use the sun to assist in scanning around your submerged ship with the periscope to see if there are any mines about while you are moving.

[Vipper]

I passed through a minefield last night, a couple hundred km off the British east coast. It is possible that you hit a mine. The way to avoid them is to not submerge unless necessary, submerge only in daylight if possible, and use the sun to assist in scanning around your submerged ship with the periscope to see if there are any mines about while you are moving.

Can't look through periscope that way, i use realistic water transparency - some 3 meters. Only thing that will may help me on my next career is map of mined areas. I must have been extremely unlucky if it was a mine cause it was my main spot of waiting and searching enemy ships (1939-early 1940) and i did never hit something there before. Ahh...i wish there is some replay so i can watch what really happened. Whatever it was it totally destroyed forward torpedo room (turned it red), heavily damaged radio room, almost destroyed conning tower etc. etc.

[FIREWALL]

If your playing GWX... Yes there are minefields.

[Vipper]

Well, yes, that's correct now. East coast is heavily mined. Poor me! :wah:

[melnibonian]

And if it was mine how do i avoid them? Is there any chart of mined areas?

Open up the Campaign Files with the editor and you should be able to see where the minefields are

[Dissaray]

If you are palying for realisum there is no way to have a map where the mines are. There are some maps out there that show the locations of mines back during the war, I hear they are a trick to get ahold of though. But back in the day it was almost imposible to know where the enemy were puting their mines. They did know the general areas that were likely to be mined simply by using common sense and by the bad experiances by captins like you who struk a mine and got back to port or lived long enuf to call it in.

If you are not so concerned with realisum then you can look them up on the map editor for the game.

[BillCar]

Can't look through periscope that way, i use realistic water transparency - some 3 meters. Only thing that will may help me on my next career is map of mined areas. I must have been extremely unlucky if it was a mine cause it was my main spot of waiting and searching enemy ships (1939-early 1940) and i did never hit something there before. Ahh...i wish there is some replay so i can watch what really happened. Whatever it was it totally destroyed forward torpedo room (turned it red), heavily damaged radio room, almost destroyed conning tower etc. etc.

Yes, you hit a mine, then. No, there are no ways to avoid them. If the sun is out, and you're only at periscope depth, you should be able to see to the end of your ship. It's not much warning, but it's better than nothing.

[Vipper]

i do avoid british coast then and will go to hunt convoys. Eh, at least i can SEE and hear destroyers and dodge depth charges that will give me some chanches while a mines have no mercy.

[Threesixtyci]

The manual has a map that shows where the mines are generally at on page B-14. (the very last pages of the manual)

[FIREWALL]

The manual has a map that shows where the mines are generally at on page B-14. (the very last pages of the manual)


Aren't those the minefields around OUR ports only ?

[Paul Riley]

Are the mines close to the coast and near choke points,like the entrance to Scapa? I am currently submerged at 20m exactly 90km east of the Orkneys in an area known for some decent traffic.I suspect the British will lay mines in important areas like entrances to ports and military bases like Scapa,and not out to sea so much.Hope I am right :o ,i've never hit or even seen a mine before,and yes,I use GWX3.

EDIT - I have checked the mine and net map that came with GWX3 and am already forewarned of mine layouts around certain ports,however Scapa is not included.I hope this map includes ALL the minefields to be found in the game.I am already a bit jumpy lately and bumping into a mine wouldnt do me or my crew much good hehe

[Jimbuna]

As a precaution you should always have your best lookouts on watch...

http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/1309/seagullmine.jpg

[Threesixtyci]

The manual only shows general area (via a red line/shade) of the Eastern side of Britain. And I suppose the North side of Australia, on page 229 (although, don't know if that's in the manual for historical reason, or if it's in the game. I mean the manual talks about mine sweeping in that section and the picture has a legend that says, old mines. I've never played any region other than the default one of the North Atlantic.)

As for seeing a mine, at the port you start at, go to the Nav map. On the upper right of the screen there are tabs. When you pull them out you'll pull out sheets of paper. One of them has all the ports, and shows shaded lines where mine placements are at. Hit F12, then hit Shift along with the arrow keys, and navigate your way to the area shown in the map, and take a look under water. You should be able to find some mines, easy enough, and see what they look like. (huge ball with spikes, held down by a chain....)

As for the map on B-14, I doubt that's all the mines in the region, the map specifically shows the Eastern Barrage. Probably, just to give you an idea of how far out it goes.

[Paul Riley]

Are there known mine positions in open sea though,such as east of the Orkneys for example,or were they primarily set up to protect port entrances etc?

Cheers.

[Jimbuna]

Post a picture of an area Paul and I'll show you what is there...if you like.

[Paul Riley]

I'll try and do that tomorrow Jim,all I can say for now is that I was lurking approx 90 km ESE of the Orkneys at a depth of 20m.
:yep:

[Vipper]

I did hit mine (if it was one) in AN51, little west side of this square.

[Paul Riley]

Just wondering,I am heading to my new patrol just SE of Ireland (mid Sept 1939) and have opted to try a run through the English Channel in order to save time and fuel in my IIA.I will be sailing close to the French coastline until my break out into open sea.I expect the channel to be heavily mined especially near the Dover Strait and the mouth to the Bristol Channel,is this true?
I am thinking of running surfaced at night and decks awash during the day,just in case.From the stories I have read here I dont fancy my IIA running into one of those can openers :o

PS - Can anyone tell me the approx depth from the surface the mine heads come to?

[YukonJack_AK]

I've usually only seen them at or near periscope depth but the shallower the water the more random the placement gets. Staying close to the French side of the channel you should be alright (Early war - You wouldn't catch me dead anywhere NEAR the channel after 42 :dead:). In the channel I've usually only seen mines in/around harbors but be careful of the east coast of England. Was tracking a pair of merchies there once and next thing I know I'm in a belt of mines thats quite thick and running north-south as far as the horizon. Shocked the hell outta me! :o

[YukonJack_AK]

I expect the channel to be heavily mined especially near the Dover Strait and the mouth to the Bristol Channel,is this true?

I've actually never seen mines at either of the ends of the Channel, but don't quote me on that. Could be I've just gotten damn lucky the few times I've chanced a channel run... ;)

[Paul Riley]

Will give it a go,thanks for the intel...but as you said,I won't quote you on that ;)

[Paul Riley]

http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_mine

Check the latter part of this article,involving the French coastline :o

[YukonJack_AK]

Well so much for the "sympathetic" Frenchies! Sheesh - you'd think they'd go and clear some of those out for us but noooooooo :nope: No more Channel runs for me... better safe than sunk :smug:

[Paul Riley]

I'll let you know what happens,could be an interesting run,but the chances of seeing a mine submerged are going to be difficult,due to GWX creating even darker underwater conditions and coupled with the fact that I have underwater visibility set at 10 in Commander :o
It will be a case of "sir,I THINK we hit something,and it wasnt the seabed!"

[Snestorm]

Historicaly (Don't know about SH3 Stock or GWX - See Mr. Jimbuna for that.), the passage between The Orkneys & The Shetlands was HEAVILY MINED by England fairly early.

[melnibonian]

Historicaly (Don't know about SH3 Stock or GWX - See Mr. Jimbuna for that.), the passage between The Orkneys & The Shetlands was HEAVILY MINED by England fairly early.

In GWX as well :03:

[Ancient Mariner]

Watch out around Helgoland,sail far to the east of the place,struck 2 mines en route to my usual hunting grounds,managed to get back to port minus 7 good crew. Sub was a tough one took heaps of damage but survived:arrgh!:

[Jimbuna]

Historicaly (Don't know about SH3 Stock or GWX - See Mr. Jimbuna for that.), the passage between The Orkneys & The Shetlands was HEAVILY MINED by England fairly early.

In GWX as well :03:

Actually....the channel between the two is relatively mine free.

http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/9596/mines.jpg (http://img535.imageshack.us/i/mines.jpg/)

[Jimbuna]

Watch out around Helgoland,sail far to the east of the place,struck 2 mines en route to my usual hunting grounds,managed to get back to port minus 7 good crew. Sub was a tough one took heaps of damage but survived:arrgh!:

There is a low density British minefield to the east and west of Helgoland until January 1940.


http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/9596/mines.jpg (http://img52.imageshack.us/i/mines.jpg/)

[Paul Riley]

Actually....the channel between the two is relatively mine free.

http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/9596/mines.jpg (http://img535.imageshack.us/i/mines.jpg/)

Jim,is there a way to activate this map overlay in game? looks bloody handy!

[Jimbuna]

I'm afraid not Paul...these are screenshots from the Mission Editor.

[Paul Riley]

No problem jim,still,would be a handy tool if it could be done :hmmm:

[melnibonian]

No problem jim,still,would be a handy tool if it could be done :hmmm:

You have two options for getting this information.

1. Use SH3Gen. You should be getting areas where mines are expected. More historical and realistic as you know the general area but not the actual location.

2. Used the SH3 Editor, copy and paste the area of interest (as Jim did above) and import it on the game as a TGA file (in C:\Program Files\Ubisoft\SH3\data\Menu\Gui\Layout)

[bigboywooly]

Spoiler

http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h22/bigboywooly/MFM/error/Mines.jpg

[Vipper]

Thanks! Now i know it wasn't a whale that i did hit...

[applesthecat]

This is a thread I started last year with a photo of a tethered mine I avoided. At this time I was running stock, and around the western approaches to Scapa Flow, there were mines.

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=151777

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2112/3529674510_252e5270d6_o.jpg

[martin1004]

How deep are the mines anyway? Today I was 70 meters below in AM53 and suddenly most of the compartments were slightly damaged. I didn't hit the bottom and I wasn't being DC-d either so I can only assume i hit a minefield. On the other hand I think mines would have caused much more severe damage and floodings too, I only had some minor problems.

[Paul Riley]

I also would like to know the approx height the mine heads extend to.In any case,when in waters suspected to be mined and I need to go under I go no deeper than about 10m,or even decks awash.

[Jimbuna]

To check the depyhs (they are varied in each minefield) you need to interrogate the mission editor.

[martin1004]

Once again I was caught by mines near the coast of Aberdeen. This time I was running 50 meters deep and suddenly had damage to all bow compartments and critical floodings in two compartments. Gave the order to blow ballast and back emergency and managed to surface. Luckily my repair crew did a good job and managed to keep the boat on the surface. This really blew my HI and since I was out of torpedoes too I didn't want to take the risky route over Northern England and decided to dock at Wilhelmshaven instead of going back to St. Nazaire. This mine incident cost me the lives of 2 of my crewmembers.

[Jimbuna]

You should consider yourself fortunate because hitting a mine usually results in a destroyed sub. :hmmm: