HowardMilner
03-18-13, 09:43 AM
Never really had any problems with planes flying around me at night, but I just had one effectively end my career. I am playing with just TMO2.5 and some graphics mods.
My patrol started from Pearl, Jan. of 44. I completed an assigned patrol near the passages into the East China Sea, just south of the home islands. I decided to head towards the Korea Strait and try and tackle that area, something I have never really tried in many campaigns.
About halfway there, kind of tracing the coast, got a radar contact about 2 hours after sunset, just a couple points off the bow. In the time it took me to check the PPI and see there was no pip (why can't the game tell me if it's an SD or SJ contact?) the lookouts were shouting 'aircraft spotted'.
We started down and from the bridge I finally spotted a large twin engine plane right overhead. It was too dark to see any bomb, but the explosion was enough to announce it as the boat was passing through about 30ft depth. Damage was extensive to the bow section. All tubes destroyed, bad bulkhead damage in the forward room and control room and flooding. Bow batteries destroyed, minor damage to the stern batteries. Dive plane transmission destroyed as well.
As I sorted through the situation and got damage control going the crash dive to 150 became a plunge beyond 200, with severe flooding in control and forward torpedo and minor flooding in the conning tower, with about a 40 degree down angle. It took an emergency ballast blow to get the boat back to the surface.
Repairs continued on the surface as we turned back for home. Seventy-one percent hull damage, but the bulkhead repairs finally completed and the flooding was eventually pumped out. I found we had regained diving control, but I only tested it down to about 220 fearing the compromised hull. The batteries would take a charge, but only up to 25%. I put on 4 engines, took off the charge and made 18kts towards the east.
About mid-day the following day I, of course, stumble on a huge convoy crossing my path. With 4 good aft tubes I sought to make something out the abbreviated patrol. But I got into a tussle with the escorts, and that was that. Unable to go deep, and with only 3kts at flank due to the diminished batteries it was over fairly quick.
So I guess my big take-away from this is later in the war, close in to the main islands, treat any radar contact like it's high noon and perfect visibility. Can they vector those planes with radar in the dark?
My patrol started from Pearl, Jan. of 44. I completed an assigned patrol near the passages into the East China Sea, just south of the home islands. I decided to head towards the Korea Strait and try and tackle that area, something I have never really tried in many campaigns.
About halfway there, kind of tracing the coast, got a radar contact about 2 hours after sunset, just a couple points off the bow. In the time it took me to check the PPI and see there was no pip (why can't the game tell me if it's an SD or SJ contact?) the lookouts were shouting 'aircraft spotted'.
We started down and from the bridge I finally spotted a large twin engine plane right overhead. It was too dark to see any bomb, but the explosion was enough to announce it as the boat was passing through about 30ft depth. Damage was extensive to the bow section. All tubes destroyed, bad bulkhead damage in the forward room and control room and flooding. Bow batteries destroyed, minor damage to the stern batteries. Dive plane transmission destroyed as well.
As I sorted through the situation and got damage control going the crash dive to 150 became a plunge beyond 200, with severe flooding in control and forward torpedo and minor flooding in the conning tower, with about a 40 degree down angle. It took an emergency ballast blow to get the boat back to the surface.
Repairs continued on the surface as we turned back for home. Seventy-one percent hull damage, but the bulkhead repairs finally completed and the flooding was eventually pumped out. I found we had regained diving control, but I only tested it down to about 220 fearing the compromised hull. The batteries would take a charge, but only up to 25%. I put on 4 engines, took off the charge and made 18kts towards the east.
About mid-day the following day I, of course, stumble on a huge convoy crossing my path. With 4 good aft tubes I sought to make something out the abbreviated patrol. But I got into a tussle with the escorts, and that was that. Unable to go deep, and with only 3kts at flank due to the diminished batteries it was over fairly quick.
So I guess my big take-away from this is later in the war, close in to the main islands, treat any radar contact like it's high noon and perfect visibility. Can they vector those planes with radar in the dark?