Close Call during night surface attack.

[Bubblehead1980]

Occured 3 days ago but have not had a chance to post.No screen shots since external cam was off.

December 7, 1944, off Indochina Coast with a Balao...USS Kraken(TMO 2.0 RSRD)

Found a convoy hugging the coast but saw it would pass through patch of deep water, so made a submerged attack with Mark 18's....sank a Nippon Maru tanker(10,000 tons) which had a load of fuel, she blew up REAL nice.

Took quite a beating from escorts but made it out, repaired the minor damage.Although hull damage went to 10.Made high speed end around, preparing for night surface.

Convoy had 9 ships and 6 escorts originally, so tough to get inside the screen for surface attack esp with Mark 18 and their limited range but decided to try, I've done it before.Kept stern pointed at targets3050 yards off track while one port flank escort was off searching, preparing to fire when the radar detection requipment began alerting, seems the escort with radar(previously unknown) was racing forward from behind convoy, had been hunting at scene of last attack I assume.Could not fire yet or would miss due to distance and gyro, seems radar escort got just within range or the flank escort spotted me, but gunfire erupted soon.I went to ahead flank to get the hell out of there.

While I usually kick special abilities people overboard, I kept the "AHEAD EMERGENCY" guy since in RL some subs did push the engines beyond the safe limits to get extra speed, this ability saved my boat since we were soon making 22 knots pulling away from the convoy.One escort was was a Type A/B and couldnt keep up but the other(the returning flank) was a Mutsuki DD and was closing, and firing.I was in dangerous situation with only 150 feet below the keel and a full fledged DD closing and firing, with shells landing close.I manned the aft TBT and pointed stern straight at the DD, decided a down the throat shot with Mark 18 may help.DD closed tyo 2600 yards, blasting away but missing as tried to run away at 22 knots.I fired two Mark 18's 10 seconds apart.

Just after firing second torpedo, heard crash and boom...a shell exploded over or on the periscope shears, damaging antennas and injuring both lookouts, but nothing major.The DD then began zigging back in forth, so could fire a broadside salvo, slowed her down but was still able to keep up.Time ran out on the first torpedo, damn. Just then a large salvo from the DD was fired and one hit after, leaving a large gaping hole near the stern, hull damage went up high and had some damage to stern torpedo room and after battery.If that last torpedo didnt hit, it was all over.

Just then....BOOOM! The DD erupted into a fireball forward and XO reported torpedo impact, the DD slowed and exploded 8 seconds after impact as we sped away.The Type A/B was still chasing but was 6000 yards away and we were slowly pulling away.The Mutsuki began to sink.We raced away and the Type A/B turned back.

With just 6 fish left, serious hull damage and some injuries, plus with about 30k tons down between earlier singles sank, the big tanker and DD. decided it was time to head home.

Definitely one of the more intense moments in SH 4 lately, glad I had the ahead emergency guy.

[Armistead]

You lucky arse...Surprised they didn't blow you out of the water.
Tell me, when were you gonna to pull the plug?

I hit 23 kts once with that guy in calm water, nice to have.

[Bubblehead1980]

You lucky arse...Surprised they didn't blow you out of the water.
Tell me, when were you gonna to pull the plug?

I hit 23 kts once with that guy in calm water, nice to have.


Yea, will not lie, there some luck involved that they were not better shots, esp at such close range,, they def tried to blow me out of the water, shell splashes everywhere.Glad I didnt have to dive and evade after I took the hit to my stern, my hull integrity was crap after that.

Well I planned to fire the last two stern torpedos if the first two missed, if that didnt work, I planned to try and use the 40 MM aft to give him something to dodge while raced for deeper water, once had 220 feet or so under keel, I wouldve pulled the plug then if couldnt open the distance on surface, but pulling the plug in the dead calm waters in such shallow water woudlve been suicide.Lucky the other escorts were the costal defense types and couldnt keep up.One fast escort to dodge was enough.

23 knots? nicce, i never could get more than 22 1/2 knots out of my boat. I normally hate special abilities but ahead emergency is realistic since more and more boats had to push the engines to the limit once night surface became common and the Japanese had more escorts.

[Ducimus]

You might consider engine experts too. (i think that was the name, i redid all the abilities so none are like stock) I specifically slowed down the dive times to be about 60 seconds without them, and around 35 with them. Experienced crew and all that.

[Thrair]

Hehe, accept the luck. Nothing wrong with getting lucky. It's a quality that was found in RL, especially amongst some of the better (read:lucky bastards) skippers.

A few patrols ago, I fired a spread at a convoy, and one of the torpedoes was a circle runner that sank a DD that was depth charging where I'd fired from. :P

Was it skill? No. Was it BS? Certainly. Would anyone brag about the hit anyways? Oh yes. Yes they would.
:D