Resupplying

[Flaxpants]

Sorry for another novice question- When I'm adept at this game I promise I'll help all the noobs out myself! In fact I'll set up a call centre- yes, in India.
Regarding resupplying- Can I do this at any friendly port during the course of any patrol? Up till now I haven't even considered it as I wasn't aware it was within the boundaries of the game, though after having read a few posts around here I now am not so sure. If so, presumably a 'friendly' port is any port marked in blue on the main map? Can this be done at any time?
Cheers,
F

[Jimbuna]

Yes :yep:

[Herr-Berbunch]

Blue is fine. Green - be wary as there may be enemy ships around or the neutrals can turn on you if you hit them. Red - either avoid or be very, very careful (and watch your depth in all!) :yeah:

[ryanglavin]

I've noticed that if your trying to get through Gibraltar, and you attempt to dock in the Neutral port directly south of Gibraltar... Lets just say it doesn't work well.

[Flaxpants]

Well funnily enough, I decided to try this last night. Having come from Kiel I decided to attempt a resupply at St Nazaire. Managed to dock ok using the 'Dock at St Nazaire option', then I quit the game. Upon resuming the campaign I loaded this last save at St Nazaire, only to find myself roughly 100m or so inland from the bay where I was clearly supposed to be starting from, physically embedded in the port itself. Tried to reverse her through the concrete but of course it didn't go too well and killed all my deck crew not to mention the damage on the sub. This was my first attempt to resupply at a friendly port and it didn't go too well! Is this a common problem?

[Snestorm]

Not that I know of.
Never happenned to me.

[Snestorm]

I've noticed that if your trying to get through Gibraltar, and you attempt to dock in the Neutral port directly south of Gibraltar... Lets just say it doesn't work well.

Got a bellyache from laughing.

This post is great.

[Tessa]

Got a bellyache from laughing.

This post is great.

Gibraltor has to be my favorite spot in the game (although that enormous unprotected merchant fleet that sits in Halifax (believe that was the harbor, or closeby) at the end of that super windy river is the ultimate turkey shoot), it has everything: Excessive use of force beyond the overkill level with ASW boats, plenty of convoys and large ships passing through, holes in the subnets to sneak through and take down the Rodney and a flat top if you're lucky (plus usually 4 london class cruisers), and hours of fun playing cat and mouse with the surface ships trying to figure out where the hell I am :arrgh!: - usually hiding under another merchant waiting for the right moment to slip out.

Rofl, that harbor is quite an attraction. Few times I've actually parked my boat there (literally like a merchant ship at one of the pier bearths) and been safe to do real time repairs. Only have done so when the duck tape is barely holding things together and either the interior's become a nice cold swimming pool from massive flooding or the pressure hull will break staying submerged at periscope depth too much longer when every section of the boat's red.

Normally if the boat can be repaired back to some sort of sailing condition I've been able to make it out by heading due west or east then making a b-line to any real port; be it La Spezia or any French port. To actual dock the ship there to repair the hull I can only imagine how that situation would play out irl; I imagine the sailors might have the time of their lives :rotfl2: The locals would know that the second they leave the port waters every ship with a gun is going to be waiting for it. The town would probably throw a huge party to milk all the cash and any valuables from the crew knowing its going to be their last supper.

[Snestorm]

@Tessa
Going through Gibralter Straights (I don't harbor raid) in one of my IXBs, was the only time I ever took out an Elco. We had to surface for oxigen, and couldn't dive until the CO2 cleared.

The Elco showed up at exactly the wrong time.
Hmmm. Elco. Plywood. I can ram him without damaging my boat.
It was one of the few times I've ever used Flank Speed.
I only brought the gunners up so my watch crew wouldn't get slaughtered.
My 2. Class Gunnersmate hit, and destroyed the thing with his second shot!
He went from being "expendable" to a prized crew member.
Iron Cross 1. Class, and a promotion.

And ja, we got our oxigen and dived before the big boys showed up.

[Flaxpants]

Just a quick question re the foreign port colour status on the map. I'm currently playng a campaign and the date is 18th June 1940, my patrol started on the 1st June 1940. I needed to resupply and the nearest 'blue' port to my position on the nav map was in the Netherlands, though after checking the Flaggen and the GWX 'Enemies of Germany' list, Germany was at war with NL from 10th May 1940. I decided to check how the game was treating this and so proceeded to my chosen port, only to come under heavy fire from a dutch patrol vessel, fortunately I managed to dive and sneak away succesfully.

My nav map currently shows all Dutch, Belgian, Danish, Norwegian and French ports as being 'friendlies', but according to the Flaggen etc, these are all my enemies at this point time.

I post this with a certain sense of dread that I may be missing something obvious, if so apologies in advance! Can anyone enlighten me?

[CherryHarbey]

maybe the German army has captured that particular port hence blue but the Dutch haven't surrendered yet so forces like your destroyer are still fighting the war. can't say I've checked the dates but it seems to fit.

[frau kaleun]

The sources I checked say that the Dutch capitulated on May 15 1940, except for a small force in Zeeland which continued to resist until the 17th.

After that it would appear that the capitulation of the Netherlands was complete and all ports would have been under the control of German occupying forces and therefore friendly as your map indicated.

Seems odd that you'd take fire from a Dutch vessel in the vicinity of a German-occupied Dutch harbor almost a month later.

Unless - did you perchance attack any Dutch vessels within 24 hours of approaching the Dutch port?

Attacking a non-enemy ship will cause its nation of origin to consider you, personally, to be an enemy combatant for the following 24 hours of game time - regardless of that nation's stance toward the Axis powers overall.

[Flaxpants]

I definately did not attack any Dutch vessel prior to this incident, and it was definately dutch as I used the external camera to take a look. I did sink a couple of British ships a couple days before this happened though I'm sure that won't be relevant to this.

I'm on my way back to home port anyway now, so maybe when I set out on my next patrol the map will have been updated properly. I hope I haven't got some problem with my installation as I am in the middle of a career that's going pretty well for me, that is, I'm not dead yet and have sunk some ships finally! Here's hoping...

Hang on, going back to what you said Frau Kaleun, the Flaggen denotes the Dutch as (AL) from 10/05/40- 31/12/45. Presumably then, according to this, there is every reason for them to start shooting at me? I assumed that it was the map that was incorrect?

[sergei]

I am in the middle of a career that's going pretty well for me, that is, I'm not dead yet

Sometimes that's the best you can hope for.
As the war progresses I consider any patrol where I'm still alive to be a successful one :DL

[Tessa]

@Tessa
Going through Gibralter Straights (I don't harbor raid) in one of my IXBs, was the only time I ever took out an Elco. We had to surface for oxigen, and couldn't dive until the CO2 cleared.

The Elco showed up at exactly the wrong time.
Hmmm. Elco. Plywood. I can ram him without damaging my boat.
It was one of the few times I've ever used Flank Speed.
I only brought the gunners up so my watch crew wouldn't get slaughtered.
My 2. Class Gunnersmate hit, and destroyed the thing with his second shot!
He went from being "expendable" to a prized crew member.
Iron Cross 1. Class, and a promotion.

And ja, we got our oxigen and dived before the big boys showed up.


:har: Now I'm crying from laughing, guess he came running up from below decks with his red undershirt on ready for action.

[frau kaleun]

Hang on, going back to what you said Frau Kaleun, the Flaggen denotes the Dutch as (AL) from 10/05/40- 31/12/45. Presumably then, according to this, there is every reason for them to start shooting at me? I assumed that it was the map that was incorrect?

May 10 1940 was the beginning of the German invasion of the Netherlands, at which point they would have been "Allied" because they were at war with Germany. But they surrendered to German occupation and control later that month, so (aside from the Dutch resistance) I don't see how they could have been considered an Allied power until after they were liberated from German occupation much later in the war.

But IIRC there was a Dutch govt in exile in Britain in the interim, and maybe there was a "free Dutch" navy/merchant component to Allied shipping during that time period. Those ships would not be neutral or friendly after May 10 1940 and would remain enemies 'til the end of the war, although I don't know offhand if the game reflects this possibility.

Still seems odd to me, though, that you would be attacked by a Dutch vessel patrolling a Dutch harbor that should have been under German control for over a month. :hmmm:

[Jimbuna]

It all sound double Dutch to me :DL