Loudspeaker
02-25-12, 04:28 PM
Ok, here I was, just south of the Bungo Strait, with a Gato and an inexperienced crew. It was a beautiful day, sun was shining and I enjoyed the fine graphics of RFB, when suddently my watchman reported a ship sighting. The visibility was so excellent that he spotted it even before it was noticed by my radarman. (Note to self: Have radarman polish all shiny stuff in command room tomorrow.)
I ordered engines stopped while making the first plottings, no wakes from the bow or stern, thankyou. From binoculars I could tell that it was a big, juicy mother f... TARGET! coming my way. Better dive to periscope depth and wait, but then... The target, which turned out to be a 10000t tanker, altered it's course, just as I opened torpedo doors.
No worries, said I, we just end around, and so we did. It was getting dark, when I positioned the boat ahead of the tanker. My sonarman reported its coming. I raised periscope and prepared for the attack. Minutes passed.
Why don't my crew report of its sighting? thought I. I took a look at it myself, and there it was, big and juicy with foam around its nose. But my crew couldn't see it in the clear night. Nevermind. Surely they will see once it's within 2000 yards.
But they didn't, and I had to take action myself.
Have you ever tried to make a firing solution on a target that nobody else but you can see? It's hard, I tell you. When the tanker was within 1000 yards and right ahead of me, with my crew still unable to see it, (note to self: Make a donation to visually challenged people society), I launched a spread of 3 torpedoes at it, but oh my...! I forgot to send bearing to TDC, and the torpedoes took their own way back to Pearl Harbour without me!
Now, I am an optimistic and happy guy, so I just let panic overwhelm me and fired 3 more shots in an insane manner, and luck was on my side, 2 hits.
The tanker slowed down, it was ablaze a few hundred yards from me, it looked so beautiful, burning with the stars as background. Could my crew see the big, burning tanker, so bright that my eyes hurt? No they couldn't!
Ok, let's see if the watch crew can see it, thought I and surfaced right next to the tanker. After all this is what they get payed for. It was like daylight up there, I tell you, and the flames lightened up the faces of my crew. They, however, couldn't see the tanker...
Fire at will, shouted I to the gun crew, give them hell! Give who hell? they asked. There is no one around. At that time I could hear the blaze from the burning tanker right next to us.
Ok, I took the gunners seat myself and started to fire. Shell after shell hit into the hull with high explosions to follow.
Then, after 5 minutes, the tanker lit its search light, and my watch man announced: Ship sighted! I bloody know there is a ship! I have been firing at it for 5 minutes, you imbecile hobo!
Now hell broke loose. Shells were everywhere around us, and machine guns were firing at us. We were like a plastic duck in a shooting tent. CRASH DIVE, IF YOU BLIND PEOPLE CAN FIND THE VALVES!
We took several hits, and we began to sink. I ordered periscope depth, but the depth just increased, slowly and deadly. I didn't mind it at all. I still had a few good cards at my hand, such as going flank speed or blowing main ballast tanks. Humming the Funeral March I got the best mechanics into an repair team. After a while we were able to maintain depth, and I prepared for the final attack on the tanker, which no one but I could see.
A stern tube salvo finished the job, and we went home.
From now on I will recommend Chief of Command not to enlist people from a blind peoples home. Maybe, just maybe, more submarines will return from patrol this way.
I ordered engines stopped while making the first plottings, no wakes from the bow or stern, thankyou. From binoculars I could tell that it was a big, juicy mother f... TARGET! coming my way. Better dive to periscope depth and wait, but then... The target, which turned out to be a 10000t tanker, altered it's course, just as I opened torpedo doors.
No worries, said I, we just end around, and so we did. It was getting dark, when I positioned the boat ahead of the tanker. My sonarman reported its coming. I raised periscope and prepared for the attack. Minutes passed.
Why don't my crew report of its sighting? thought I. I took a look at it myself, and there it was, big and juicy with foam around its nose. But my crew couldn't see it in the clear night. Nevermind. Surely they will see once it's within 2000 yards.
But they didn't, and I had to take action myself.
Have you ever tried to make a firing solution on a target that nobody else but you can see? It's hard, I tell you. When the tanker was within 1000 yards and right ahead of me, with my crew still unable to see it, (note to self: Make a donation to visually challenged people society), I launched a spread of 3 torpedoes at it, but oh my...! I forgot to send bearing to TDC, and the torpedoes took their own way back to Pearl Harbour without me!
Now, I am an optimistic and happy guy, so I just let panic overwhelm me and fired 3 more shots in an insane manner, and luck was on my side, 2 hits.
The tanker slowed down, it was ablaze a few hundred yards from me, it looked so beautiful, burning with the stars as background. Could my crew see the big, burning tanker, so bright that my eyes hurt? No they couldn't!
Ok, let's see if the watch crew can see it, thought I and surfaced right next to the tanker. After all this is what they get payed for. It was like daylight up there, I tell you, and the flames lightened up the faces of my crew. They, however, couldn't see the tanker...
Fire at will, shouted I to the gun crew, give them hell! Give who hell? they asked. There is no one around. At that time I could hear the blaze from the burning tanker right next to us.
Ok, I took the gunners seat myself and started to fire. Shell after shell hit into the hull with high explosions to follow.
Then, after 5 minutes, the tanker lit its search light, and my watch man announced: Ship sighted! I bloody know there is a ship! I have been firing at it for 5 minutes, you imbecile hobo!
Now hell broke loose. Shells were everywhere around us, and machine guns were firing at us. We were like a plastic duck in a shooting tent. CRASH DIVE, IF YOU BLIND PEOPLE CAN FIND THE VALVES!
We took several hits, and we began to sink. I ordered periscope depth, but the depth just increased, slowly and deadly. I didn't mind it at all. I still had a few good cards at my hand, such as going flank speed or blowing main ballast tanks. Humming the Funeral March I got the best mechanics into an repair team. After a while we were able to maintain depth, and I prepared for the final attack on the tanker, which no one but I could see.
A stern tube salvo finished the job, and we went home.
From now on I will recommend Chief of Command not to enlist people from a blind peoples home. Maybe, just maybe, more submarines will return from patrol this way.