M4XDmG
05-30-10, 05:01 PM
I couldn't find thread for "patrol stories", so decided to open one. I apologize my bad english, but I have a story to tell for those who are willing to listen...
It was at the beginning of the war when I was sent to patrol the eastern coast of England. Young and brave I was, totally new with SH5 and tried to love it even with it's flaws. That was also one of my first patrols without my jetpac and the allmightyeye. Totally wonderful things they were and absolutelly powerful weapons, probably from the future, but my humble mind decided to abandon those unfair weapons of destruction. So here I was with my crew, trapped inside my sub and relying to our hydrophone and periscopes. And of course our eyes and ears.
First weeks went fine, nothing major happened. Greatest thrills we got from enemy airplanes. But soon they appeared to be pretty dull playmates. So after too many (and too dangerous) crashdives in shallow coastal waters we just started to ignore them. Time passed and not a single ship we saw.
Morale went down. As a captain I thanked god that Ubi released that 1.2 patch with moralefix. My men needed that.
Ok. So maybe we should go little closer to the ports. I ordered course to the nearest harbor, and I think I found my self near the shore of Newcastle. Maybe... well I'm not too good at geology. And oh yes, I did find an enemy destroyer. Or it found me. And it started to chase me. And this is the first time I realized how unhealthy it is for a submersible to be submerged in water, like, about 20 meters deep when there is a destroyer hunting you. At some point I desperatelly tried to calculate solution and even fired a couple of torpedoes and I really hope my men did not see the shear horror in my eyes. It was our luck that AI sucks. Atleast this time it did because I got away somehow. But my boat took a little beating. I learned that keep your friends close. And keep your enemy as far as you possibly can...
So now I was getting some action, but was just receiving. Due to my own stupidity. And that is maybe the reason why they gave me new orders. I was about to move to north near the canal. And there I finally found it. It was medium(ish) convoy with atleast two escort ships. Too bad that it was slowly getting out of my reach. So what do I do? I start to panic again. In front of my men. It was getting late and sun was setting, so I ordered ahead flank, asked nicely from the engineer if we could just a little overcharge the diesels and steamed ahead. Massive engines roared when we slid through the dusk towards the dark shades in the horizon. And again I find that we were too long on the surface. That handy AllMightyEye From the Future was actually quite a neat thingy. So here I was again, enemy depthcharges beating the living s&/%t out of my boat.
Finally it stopped and hurried back to the others leaving us on the seabed feeling blue. Nothing seriously damaged but our spirit. We almost head back to home, but seeing a map gave me an idea. We were at the "northeast corner" of the Enland, about 80 km of the shore of Norfolk. Convoy was heading at the same direction the shore line was. I mean the shoreline was not heading anywhere... I mean... Doh, my bad english. I made a guess that they were following the shoreline. So maybe they were heading somewhere west when the coast turns... If I go like about 20 kilometers of the shore I could take "inner curve" and go ahead of the convoy. I decided to try atleast.
I guestimated the possible enemy course, I knew their speed and calculated (khrm... guessed...) the best attack position about 80 km of the shore (why they would change this distance...), got below and waited...
And listened. And waited. We almost gave up hope when hydrophone officer suddenly started to scream. They were coming right where we were. after awhile I raised periscope to see them and yes, it was the same convoy.
The rest is history. I did my first convoy attack with manual tdc, and we were right in the middle of the convoy, in perfect firing angle. I sunk two enemy tankers and crippled the third before escorts started to beat us again. But we were used to it by now... And we laughed at their try, and we laughed at Ubi. And we decided to download U-boat killer mod or so to give them some juice for their depthcharges.
That was my story. I hope my bad english didn't make it too hard to read... But hunting down that convoy was one of those "This is something I will remember" game moments. This game/simulation series is one of a kind, you can't get same kicks out of any other game/simulation...
Happy hunting and please post your most thrilling/memorable patrol stories here!
Edit: Some people mix left and right, port or starboard from time to time... I apparently mix north and south! Don't tell that to anyone... Or I will lose my boat... Every time when in this text I mention north, I mean south.
It was at the beginning of the war when I was sent to patrol the eastern coast of England. Young and brave I was, totally new with SH5 and tried to love it even with it's flaws. That was also one of my first patrols without my jetpac and the allmightyeye. Totally wonderful things they were and absolutelly powerful weapons, probably from the future, but my humble mind decided to abandon those unfair weapons of destruction. So here I was with my crew, trapped inside my sub and relying to our hydrophone and periscopes. And of course our eyes and ears.
First weeks went fine, nothing major happened. Greatest thrills we got from enemy airplanes. But soon they appeared to be pretty dull playmates. So after too many (and too dangerous) crashdives in shallow coastal waters we just started to ignore them. Time passed and not a single ship we saw.
Morale went down. As a captain I thanked god that Ubi released that 1.2 patch with moralefix. My men needed that.
Ok. So maybe we should go little closer to the ports. I ordered course to the nearest harbor, and I think I found my self near the shore of Newcastle. Maybe... well I'm not too good at geology. And oh yes, I did find an enemy destroyer. Or it found me. And it started to chase me. And this is the first time I realized how unhealthy it is for a submersible to be submerged in water, like, about 20 meters deep when there is a destroyer hunting you. At some point I desperatelly tried to calculate solution and even fired a couple of torpedoes and I really hope my men did not see the shear horror in my eyes. It was our luck that AI sucks. Atleast this time it did because I got away somehow. But my boat took a little beating. I learned that keep your friends close. And keep your enemy as far as you possibly can...
So now I was getting some action, but was just receiving. Due to my own stupidity. And that is maybe the reason why they gave me new orders. I was about to move to north near the canal. And there I finally found it. It was medium(ish) convoy with atleast two escort ships. Too bad that it was slowly getting out of my reach. So what do I do? I start to panic again. In front of my men. It was getting late and sun was setting, so I ordered ahead flank, asked nicely from the engineer if we could just a little overcharge the diesels and steamed ahead. Massive engines roared when we slid through the dusk towards the dark shades in the horizon. And again I find that we were too long on the surface. That handy AllMightyEye From the Future was actually quite a neat thingy. So here I was again, enemy depthcharges beating the living s&/%t out of my boat.
Finally it stopped and hurried back to the others leaving us on the seabed feeling blue. Nothing seriously damaged but our spirit. We almost head back to home, but seeing a map gave me an idea. We were at the "northeast corner" of the Enland, about 80 km of the shore of Norfolk. Convoy was heading at the same direction the shore line was. I mean the shoreline was not heading anywhere... I mean... Doh, my bad english. I made a guess that they were following the shoreline. So maybe they were heading somewhere west when the coast turns... If I go like about 20 kilometers of the shore I could take "inner curve" and go ahead of the convoy. I decided to try atleast.
I guestimated the possible enemy course, I knew their speed and calculated (khrm... guessed...) the best attack position about 80 km of the shore (why they would change this distance...), got below and waited...
And listened. And waited. We almost gave up hope when hydrophone officer suddenly started to scream. They were coming right where we were. after awhile I raised periscope to see them and yes, it was the same convoy.
The rest is history. I did my first convoy attack with manual tdc, and we were right in the middle of the convoy, in perfect firing angle. I sunk two enemy tankers and crippled the third before escorts started to beat us again. But we were used to it by now... And we laughed at their try, and we laughed at Ubi. And we decided to download U-boat killer mod or so to give them some juice for their depthcharges.
That was my story. I hope my bad english didn't make it too hard to read... But hunting down that convoy was one of those "This is something I will remember" game moments. This game/simulation series is one of a kind, you can't get same kicks out of any other game/simulation...
Happy hunting and please post your most thrilling/memorable patrol stories here!
Edit: Some people mix left and right, port or starboard from time to time... I apparently mix north and south! Don't tell that to anyone... Or I will lose my boat... Every time when in this text I mention north, I mean south.