Deck Gun

[PacificWolf]

Welcome again:salute:
I want to ask All of You, do You mount Deck Gun or your boats and use it.
I always take deck gun it helped me attack small ships (even armed) but from large distance and i am shooting then( because crew isnt experienced enough for now).

[Gerald]

I can use it if the situation allows for this ... if weather and other things are favorable, :yep:

[Obltn Strand]

I'm not much of deck gunner. It's good during early war when merchants are unarmed. Since I play always from -41 onwards it has been quite useless to me, save few distant shot as coup de grâce. It gets discarded for heavier AA armament after -42.

[Fish In The Water]

I want to ask All of You, do You mount Deck Gun or your boats and use it.
I always take deck gun it helped me attack small ships (even armed)...

Absolutely, you can always make a surface attack at night or pop up right behind them and quickly take out their guns. When it comes to armament, the more the merrier... :yep:

[frau kaleun]

I love my deck gun. Early in the war (and TBH I don't think I've ever played past early 1941) I prefer to use it if at all possible, either initially when first attacking if the situation permits, or as a followup to a first torpedo hit in order to finish off a damaged ship. I have way more gun ammo than eels, and there's nothing more fun than training a big ol' hunk of naval artillery on another ship and letting 'er rip.

Sometimes I order "feuer frei" and then go to external cam so I can really watch the boys at work. :D

The only real downside to this approach early in the war is if you're using the Q-ship mod and the poor lonely merchant you just opened fire on turns out to be a well armed decoy. Those guys? They shoot back! :doh:

[Jimbuna]

The deck gun can be useful in finishing off the mortally wounded thereby saving you an eel or two but come mid 41 (even earlier for some merchantmen) don't ever lose sight of the fact your boat was intended to be used aggressively under the waters surface and is quite vulnerable to shellfire whilst surfaced.

Did anyone mention the Q Ships? :03:

[frau kaleun]

Did anyone mention the Q Ships? :03:

Just like a man, they never listen. :nope: :stare: :O:

(See my post directly above yours, big fella. :D)

[Wreford-Brown]

I always carry the deck gun and will use it to finish off ships even late in the war. I also surprised myself a couple of weeks ago (after being forced to surface by damage) by sinking a Flower class. Third round hit the main gun, fifth or sixth took out the secondaries and I could sink it at my leisure. The deck gun became my new best friend!

Did anyone mention the Q Ships? :03:

I prefer to call them the $£%^&%^$ Q-ships. Bloody things still surprise me even now, but I can't bring myself to disable your mod.

[Jimbuna]

Just like a man, they never listen. :nope: :stare: :O:

(See my post directly above yours, big fella. :D)

No need....my comment was in direct reference to what you posted :DL

I always carry the deck gun and will use it to finish off ships even late in the war. I also surprised myself a couple of weeks ago (after being forced to surface by damage) by sinking a Flower class. Third round hit the main gun, fifth or sixth took out the secondaries and I could sink it at my leisure. The deck gun became my new best friend!



I prefer to call them the $£%^&%^$ Q-ships. Bloody things still surprise me even now, but I can't bring myself to disable your mod.

Good to see you around D :up:

[Wreford-Brown]

Good to see you around D :up:

Good to be around!

[frau kaleun]

I prefer to call them the $£%^&%^$ Q-ships. Bloody things still surprise me even now, but I can't bring myself to disable your mod.

Same here. And I always forget about them until I disable a ship with a torpedo hit and then surface to finish it off with the gun, only to find shells whistling over my head and all the LI screaming at me about damage. :damn:

No need....my comment was in direct reference to what you posted :DL

:salute:

[Jimbuna]

Might be an idea to do a few different skins :hmmm:

[Raptor]

I wasn't aware the deck gun could be removed. How is that done?

[Wreford-Brown]

I wasn't aware the deck gun could be removed. How is that done?

SH3 Commander can get rid of it for you.

[Jimbuna]

Mind you, removing it makes absolutely no difference to the performance of your boat.

[desirableroasted]

Mind you, removing it makes absolutely no difference to the performance of your boat.

Interesting! So you might as well keep it, even if its usefulness diminishes.

[Jimbuna]

Interesting! So you might as well keep it, even if its usefulness diminishes.

Well I do if I've a VII or IX....it does save on the odd eel

[Obltn Strand]

The deck gun can be useful in finishing off the mortally wounded thereby saving you an eel or two but come mid 41 (even earlier for some merchantmen) don't ever lose sight of the fact your boat was intended to be used aggressively under the waters surface and is quite vulnerable to shellfire whilst surfaced.

That's why I stopped excessive deck gunning. When small, "easy" targets not worth an eel suddenly opens fire with two cannons + flak, one torpedo is small price compared to damage it can cause.

Did anyone mention the Q Ships? :03:
Haven't encounterd them bastards yet. I wait wth anticipation.

[Missing Name]

Q Ships are nasty surprises. They look exactly like tramp steamers...

[PacificWolf]

Thats right, so its always better to have it.:yeah:
More historical and risky.

[Jimbuna]

Oh I think they're rather quaint http://www.psionguild.org/forums/images/smilies/wolfsmilies/evillaugh.gif

[Sailor Steve]

Q Ships are nasty surprises. They look exactly like tramp steamers...
In real life there was more variety. There was even one tanker converted to a Q-ship.
http://www.history.navy.mil/docs/wwii/Q-ships.htm#anchor1530236

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a325/SailorSteve/bighorn2d-08.jpg

[JazzJR]

But in WW2 the most Q Ships were sunk by german U-Boats. They didn't sunk any U-Boat but three of five Q-Ships were sunk by the U-Boats. :salute:

[Sailor Steve]

But in WW2 the most Q Ships were sunk by german U-Boats. They didn't sunk any U-Boat but three of five Q-Ships were sunk by the U-Boats. :salute:
"Three of five"? The British commissioned nine Q-ships in 1939. Three were sunk, two in 1940 and the third in 1942 while in French service, and after the Royal Navy had abandoned the program. The US Navy commissioned five Q-ships, of which one was sunk.

Q-ships only work when the submarine policy is to board and search ships and then sink them with scuttling charges. If the policy is to torpedo them while submerged, then no, they have no real value. If you're going to make a surfaced attack against a lone merchant, then the Q-ship can be troublesome. But then so can an armed merchant, which is why Q-ships were eventually dropped.

[Jimbuna]

Q Ships in WWII

American

http://www.history.navy.mil/docs/wwii/Q-ships.htm

British

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q-ship

[JazzJR]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/Bundesarchiv_Bild_101II-MW-4006-31%2C_U-Boot_U-123_in_See.jpg

What a nice picture :) U-123 under command of Reinhard Hardegen. One of the most sucessful U-Boat commanders. :salute:

[Obltn Strand]

What a nice picture :) U-123 under command of Reinhard Hardegen. One of the most sucessful U-Boat commanders. :salute:

As I recall it, Hardegen was a commander who often used a deck gun.

[Jimbuna]

He was also an individual who was initially mistaken for an SS officer of the same name and very lucky not to be executed after the war.

[JazzJR]

And he is the oldest still living U-Boat Commander of the Kriegsmarine. :03:

http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/bildnachweise/personen/42-03-08%20u123.jpeg

http://www.thelongestpatrol.com/sitebuilder/images/U-123-3-567x329.jpg

Btw: This is Rainhard Hardegen (on the right)
http://members.cox.net/slystrat2/k6.jpg

[Jimbuna]

Good to learn he is still alive :sunny:

[Obltn Strand]

He was also an individual who was initially mistaken for an SS officer of the same name and very lucky not to be executed after the war.
A commander who fired at merchant between it and the shoreline, so strays won't hit civilians:nope:

[SubConscious]

A commander who fired at merchant between it and the shoreline, so strays won't hit civilians:nope:

He also stopped a Greek merchant and requested that they pick up survivors from a ship he had just sunk. When he saw that they weren't going to do so, he chased them down a second time and threatened to sink their ship.

There is a wonderful account of his exploits in "Operation Drumbeat" by Michael Gannon. In the video interviews of Hardegen in the documentaries U-boat War and Battle of the Atlantic, he strikes me as a highly intelligent and affable fellow. I wish I had the opportunity to meet him.

[frau kaleun]

IIRC he started off as a flyer but was grounded due to a leg injury which left him "unfit" for combat duty.

He transferred to the KM and the u-boat service and somehow wherever he went after his grounding by the Luftwaffe, his medical history always reached his new superior officers too late for them to remove him from whatever assignment he'd just been given.

I think by the time it caught up with him as a u-boat man, he'd already proven himself as a commander so there was no question of him being transferred ashore because of it.

[Obltn Strand]

He also stopped a Greek merchant and requested that they pick up survivors from a ship he had just sunk. When he saw that they weren't going to do so, he chased them down a second time and threatened to sink their ship.
:DL
he strikes me as a highly intelligent and affable fellow.
Me too. Probaply a good officer to serve with.

[JazzJR]

:DL

Me too. Probaply a good officer to serve with.

I think he really was a good U-Boat Commander and he had a great Crew. :salute:

"On 26 March, Hardegen attacked the American Q-Ship USS Atik (3,000 GRT), mistaking it for a merchant freighter. After torpedoing the ship, Hardegen surfaced to sink her with the deck guns, only to find the Atik trying to ram him and opening fire on him with guns that had been concealed behind false bulwarks. Making a getaway on the surface, U-123 received eight hits and one of the crew members was wounded fatally. Approaching the Atik submerged, Hardegen sank her with another torpedo."

Unbelievable, that a submarine could handle so many hits. :o

[Jimbuna]

I think he really was a good U-Boat Commander and he had a great Crew. :salute:

"On 26 March, Hardegen attacked the American Q-Ship USS Atik (3,000 GRT), mistaking it for a merchant freighter. After torpedoing the ship, Hardegen surfaced to sink her with the deck guns, only to find the Atik trying to ram him and opening fire on him with guns that had been concealed behind false bulwarks. Making a getaway on the surface, U-123 received eight hits and one of the crew members was wounded fatally. Approaching the Atik submerged, Hardegen sank her with another torpedo."

Unbelievable, that a submarine could handle so many hits. :o

An exception to the rule.

[JazzJR]

Well a submarine is really small and not armored. So they must have shot with rubber balls.. I mean if they hit the ship it must have more then just a small hole. :hmmm: Or they had really small guns. If i think right it had 4x 100mm guns.

[Jimbuna]

It only took one bullet to penetrate the pressure hull and the U-boat was no longer a 'submersible'.

[Sailor Steve]

I would guess small arms fire that would penetrate the bridge walls but not the pressure hull.

[desirableroasted]

It only took one bullet to penetrate the pressure hull and the U-boat was no longer a 'submersible'.

I wonder if you could "fother" a u-boat, at least to periscope depth? If it was just one shell hole? Of course, they didn't have canvas, but I bet you could make a go of it.

[EDIT] If you had canvas.

[EDIT] Belay that. Obviously not. I could delete this post, but I like to have a public record of how boneheaded I can be.

[Jimbuna]

Yep....I meant 20mm and above :)

[GoDeep]

I keep my deck gun mounted for the simple reason that you never know when it might come in handy. Deck gun shells are more plentiful than torpedoes and if I can conserve my torpedo supply by sinking a ship with the deck gun, I'll do so. Of course the situation has to permit doing something like that. I won't use it close to enemy shores or air patrol zones, for instance. Especially later in the war, the risk is just too high.

Early in the war, it is excellent for picking off stray merchants, stragglers from convoys or already damaged ships that need a little extra "nudge" to help them sink.

One thing I have learned is: always check if the merchant is armed before trying to use your deck gun! :dead:

[Sailor Steve]

II could delete this post, but I like to have a public record of how boneheaded I can be.
Thank you. Misery loves company, and I'd hate to think I'm alone in the world.

[Obltn Strand]

One thing I have learned is: always check if the merchant is armed before trying to use your deck gun!
Absolutely correct. Always investigate.

Or your gun crew can look like this.
:dead: