Bubblehead1980
09-15-13, 04:55 PM
TMO RSRD USS Tirante-Tench class. 100 realism, contacts on, cams off.
First patrol, assigned to the Area 12- Yellow Sea...which means littoral operations as Japanese avoid deep waters now.
While in extreme southern part of Area 12 West of Quelpart Island on March 2, 1945, convoy shows up on radar.After tracking into deeper waters and with convoy being out of area at nightfall and moderately choppy seas, decided on a submerged attack.Dove off the projected path on the 3 ship, 4 escort convoy.Soon I had 3 small HARUNA MARU tankers with a DE, two Type C escorts and an aux subchaser escorting.I fired 6 Mark 18's from 3,000 yards, three each to the leading tankers.4 hits, one tankers exploded in a fireball, obviously full of fuel, the other listed and was burning, the aux subchaser was on me, I went "deep" to 290 feet, dropping decoys along the way.
The aux subchaser attacked decoys, as did two others escorts but the DD(judging by sound, external cam was off) made an accurate run, but charges were set too shallow, they exploded above, causing minor damage to deck area and conning tower(sonar stack) . The DE then made a follow up run which was much more accurate, caused minor damage in engine rooms but damaged after torpedo room, causing mild flooding, forcing us to use more speed to stay off bottom.Making noise, the others came in.
dropping several sets of decoys at 200 feet, I then went back to 270 while DC party when to work.They began to launch an intense assault on the noise makers while I departed area at flank speed.Using the decoys and disturbances of depth charge explosions(thank you thedarkwraith for this excellent mod) to slip away.Making maybe 7,000 yards, attempted to slow but not enough water pumped out yet, still had to keep speed up, apparently this helped the DE find me again, as closed in and launched an attack but used my final set of decoys at 220 feet to fool him and went back deep, managed to slip away again, shaken, some damage but nothing too major.spent rest of day evading persistent escorts and planes, surfaced after dark, one tanker sunk, other possibly sunk(it later went down but did not get credit as it was well out of contact but a grey "ship sunk": marker appeared along its path about 100 miles away)
tirante then darted across the Yellow Sea to the coast of China since other side was stirred up.Soon learned 3 stern torpedo tubes were not repairable at sea, down to just one stern tube , but plenty of stern torpedoes in reserve.
After a few days of nothing but planes off the coast of China, headed to coast of Korea, dodged a few planes and began running into fishing ships and sampans.Used the Tirante's twin 5 inch deck guns and 40 MM to sink 16 of them in 3 attacks.Encountered a patrol of armed tug and aux subchaser, attempted to attack but Mark 18 missed due to target slowing during the torpedo run.
Moved back to China coast, further north of Qingdao when detected a convoy. Four ships, 5 escorts running maybe 5,000 yards off the coast, would have to wait until night to attack.One escort has radar, could get tricky.Tracked convoy from 10 miles throughout day, as it rounded the shantung promotory(think thats it) and headed for Darien.Attacked after moonset. Fired six Mark 18's from 2100 yards, while turning away, escorts spotted me, all missed as we ran under fire.Soon lost the escorts in the dark, except the radar equipped one who closed in fast and kept track of me, tried a Mark 28 homing fish out the stern tube, it tracked but even at 19 knots couldnt catch the subchaser making 19. Soon managed to pulled away, then using cover of night, headed back to the convoy while the SC dropped depth charges, guess he lost contact and though we pulled the plug.
Back in, I fired last six forward Mark 18's at a large troopship and medium merchant, troopships took 3 hits, 3 others missed the zigging merchant as it slowed.Then a spotlight, an escort standing guard on opposite side spotted me, the pursuit was on again and I fired a Mark 28 homing fish out at the escort, it bypassed it but locked onto the medium merchant I just missed, hitting her stern.0550-the large troopship-KITRUIN MARU sank. outran the Type C escort and avoided the radar equipped SC, now back on scene hunting for me.
What to do? Out of bow torpedoes with one working external tube but plenty of torpedoes, I doubled back to finish off the medium merchant, dodging escorts and backed down to 2000 yards on an AKITA MARU.Fired one Mark 18, which finished off the ship, which went under at 0610. Two ships left, escorts hunting, ordered single tube reloaded, we had a chance to get one more before dawn and convoy reached port.
Trouble though, we soon had an SD contact flying in.only 70 feet below keels, we chose to go all stop and keep slim profile to the radar equipped night flier.Plane circled in but was not aware of us, then left area.Soon we noticed an escort was stationary, listening and was standing in our way to the convoy, so we backed down on the Type C escort to 3,000 yards, fired one Mark 18, which hit and caused a massive explosion, we then sped to other side of convoy while an escort arrived on scene to investigate. Backing down on the last merchants,we now had one more Mark 28 homer loaded in tube.Fired at the lead ship, torpedo hit and ship quickly began to sink the small troopships, TYOHEI MARU(looked larger in TBT in the dark), torpedo being reloaded and knowing wouldnt have time to get in another torpedo attack before final ship reached port and with escorts scattered hunting me, we turned and for a broadside shot from the twin 5 inch deck guns and 40 MM.The 5 inch guns scored immediately hits with first salvo, starting a fire, more hits, 40 MM scored hits then.The freighter returned fire with light machine guns, scored few hits, one crewmen on watch wounded.Soon though shell splashes, the radar equipped escort was back! AHEAD EMERGENCY we ran away, showed him our stern and lobbed few more rounds at the merchant, setting it afire.
After a long chase, we lost the escort and soon the merchant exploded, just 10 miiles from port! An entire convoy sunk, we were a proud ship.
Sailed south to the coast of Korea for some more hunting, still had a few fish left in stern, fuel at 45 percent.Next few days were nothing but a few planes.Ran into a convoy of sampans, went for Battle Surface.To my surprise, they opened fire with machine guns. Closed in and made quick work of them with 40 MM guns(seas were too rough for deck guns) .Back to the coast of the china, radar contact made at 1800, smoke on horizon, ordered ahead flank and closed to investigate, soon we had a small coastal freighter with 4 small patrol boats as escorts, maybe 4,000 yards off the coast, we were tracking and pulling ahead when an SD contact forced us to dive in the shallows.Plane spotted us at scope depth and dropped some close bombs, we surfaced to find one pip closing fast and his radar trained on us, ahead flank we went, outran the escort, forced to dive briefly for the plane again.Surfaced attempting end around, a patrol arrived and forced us to take long way around.The convoy made a sharp turn and entered port at Qingdao, we lost this one.Clearing the area, heading back to extreme southern end of patrol area to finish off last few days of patrol(fuel was getting low and been at sea for 40 days now, time to head home soon. On the final night, planning to leave area at midnight, radar contact, we had a westbound convoy running north of quelpart island. Two contacts with 5 escorts, two of which had radar.Decided to take out one escort, then go after one of the merchants with remaining Mark 18 torpedoes(down to four I believe, one in tube, three reserve) .Closing in on radar signal expecting to get close like did on last radar escort(adjusted radar so its possible sometimes, releasing it as a mod soon) at 5000 yards of so, the escort detected me, here we go again! Problem is, this was not just a escort, this was a DE or DD, it was closing at 30 knots or so for at 20 I was not pulling away, it was overtaking me.Time for a down the throat shot.Also, being in shallow waters, ordered aft deck gun and 40 MM manned in case we were in a bind.
The escort began to zig at 3,000 yards making a down the throat shot difficult but after plotting him at 26.5 knots, the pursuer(now identified an Otori/Tomozuru torpedo Boat) continued to overtake him, firing star shells and machine guns in my area.Deciding to chance it, I timed the shot and fired Mark 18 at 1,500 yards while gun crews stood by.The ship's spotlight came on, illuminating the Tirante, just then Mark 18 hit the escort broadside as it turned to adjust.I ordered the aft five inch gun to open fire and 40 MM opened fire.The ship exploded and caught fire from bow to stern, she was finished. What a close one!
The other escorts rushed and slowed to investigate their burning friend, in but Tirante was long gone.Reloading the tube, closed in on the now lightly protected merchants(port side was left open, on escort aft, one on starboard side) we back down to 1800 yards, we have TWO large tankers, NIPPON MARU class.Set one mark 18 for 12 feet and would aim under her stack, hopefully she is full fuel and will blow up easily.Fired Mark 18, missed ahead. Pulled away to reload and plotted speed again, we had speed correct, mustve been a gyro error.Backed down again, fired once more, missed.Speed changed during the run, ah! Final torpedo, backed down on target again and fired.Torpedo took a hard jog to port, CIRCLE RUN! Ahead flank, we sped away just barely avoiding the torpedo.Sent a last contact report and left area, then headed for Guam with 21,000+ tons down.
This was an exciting fun patrol and was also testing out some mods. One is a rework of enemy radar.I adjusted the minimum height for the Type 21 and 22 radars so that they dont automatically pick you up.Profile has a lot to do with it, as I found out, sometimes can get extremely close, sometimes can not, all depends on your angle as well as skill of the enemy.Noticed once alerted by others, their radar does help them locate you.May try adjusting couple more things before release.Of course, Armistead's darker nights is a vital role in this also, the darker nights with TMO visuals by tater for RSRD makes for a challenging yet realistic simulation of night surface attacks.
I also adjusted depth charges so they damage in a manner more consistent with history.No more death blows from far away as in RL they had to be fairly close to cause a "death blow" but they will cause damage to build up, leading to sub becoming a true death trap.
Also adjusted my torpedo mod as be more accurate for late war torpedoes.While the major problems were solved in 43(duds ,prematures and always running deep) US submarine torpedoes still had issues such as running deeper than set(Mark 18 and 14 but not usually by much as opposed to the minimum 10-12 feet by early Mark 14's in 42) gyro errors and circle runs.The Mark 18 seemed to be the most prone to gyro errors and circle runs in later war, this mod reflects it.Still a low chance but it does happen as it did in RL.All these changes are meant to create a challenge via some realism but also give player a chance.
First patrol, assigned to the Area 12- Yellow Sea...which means littoral operations as Japanese avoid deep waters now.
While in extreme southern part of Area 12 West of Quelpart Island on March 2, 1945, convoy shows up on radar.After tracking into deeper waters and with convoy being out of area at nightfall and moderately choppy seas, decided on a submerged attack.Dove off the projected path on the 3 ship, 4 escort convoy.Soon I had 3 small HARUNA MARU tankers with a DE, two Type C escorts and an aux subchaser escorting.I fired 6 Mark 18's from 3,000 yards, three each to the leading tankers.4 hits, one tankers exploded in a fireball, obviously full of fuel, the other listed and was burning, the aux subchaser was on me, I went "deep" to 290 feet, dropping decoys along the way.
The aux subchaser attacked decoys, as did two others escorts but the DD(judging by sound, external cam was off) made an accurate run, but charges were set too shallow, they exploded above, causing minor damage to deck area and conning tower(sonar stack) . The DE then made a follow up run which was much more accurate, caused minor damage in engine rooms but damaged after torpedo room, causing mild flooding, forcing us to use more speed to stay off bottom.Making noise, the others came in.
dropping several sets of decoys at 200 feet, I then went back to 270 while DC party when to work.They began to launch an intense assault on the noise makers while I departed area at flank speed.Using the decoys and disturbances of depth charge explosions(thank you thedarkwraith for this excellent mod) to slip away.Making maybe 7,000 yards, attempted to slow but not enough water pumped out yet, still had to keep speed up, apparently this helped the DE find me again, as closed in and launched an attack but used my final set of decoys at 220 feet to fool him and went back deep, managed to slip away again, shaken, some damage but nothing too major.spent rest of day evading persistent escorts and planes, surfaced after dark, one tanker sunk, other possibly sunk(it later went down but did not get credit as it was well out of contact but a grey "ship sunk": marker appeared along its path about 100 miles away)
tirante then darted across the Yellow Sea to the coast of China since other side was stirred up.Soon learned 3 stern torpedo tubes were not repairable at sea, down to just one stern tube , but plenty of stern torpedoes in reserve.
After a few days of nothing but planes off the coast of China, headed to coast of Korea, dodged a few planes and began running into fishing ships and sampans.Used the Tirante's twin 5 inch deck guns and 40 MM to sink 16 of them in 3 attacks.Encountered a patrol of armed tug and aux subchaser, attempted to attack but Mark 18 missed due to target slowing during the torpedo run.
Moved back to China coast, further north of Qingdao when detected a convoy. Four ships, 5 escorts running maybe 5,000 yards off the coast, would have to wait until night to attack.One escort has radar, could get tricky.Tracked convoy from 10 miles throughout day, as it rounded the shantung promotory(think thats it) and headed for Darien.Attacked after moonset. Fired six Mark 18's from 2100 yards, while turning away, escorts spotted me, all missed as we ran under fire.Soon lost the escorts in the dark, except the radar equipped one who closed in fast and kept track of me, tried a Mark 28 homing fish out the stern tube, it tracked but even at 19 knots couldnt catch the subchaser making 19. Soon managed to pulled away, then using cover of night, headed back to the convoy while the SC dropped depth charges, guess he lost contact and though we pulled the plug.
Back in, I fired last six forward Mark 18's at a large troopship and medium merchant, troopships took 3 hits, 3 others missed the zigging merchant as it slowed.Then a spotlight, an escort standing guard on opposite side spotted me, the pursuit was on again and I fired a Mark 28 homing fish out at the escort, it bypassed it but locked onto the medium merchant I just missed, hitting her stern.0550-the large troopship-KITRUIN MARU sank. outran the Type C escort and avoided the radar equipped SC, now back on scene hunting for me.
What to do? Out of bow torpedoes with one working external tube but plenty of torpedoes, I doubled back to finish off the medium merchant, dodging escorts and backed down to 2000 yards on an AKITA MARU.Fired one Mark 18, which finished off the ship, which went under at 0610. Two ships left, escorts hunting, ordered single tube reloaded, we had a chance to get one more before dawn and convoy reached port.
Trouble though, we soon had an SD contact flying in.only 70 feet below keels, we chose to go all stop and keep slim profile to the radar equipped night flier.Plane circled in but was not aware of us, then left area.Soon we noticed an escort was stationary, listening and was standing in our way to the convoy, so we backed down on the Type C escort to 3,000 yards, fired one Mark 18, which hit and caused a massive explosion, we then sped to other side of convoy while an escort arrived on scene to investigate. Backing down on the last merchants,we now had one more Mark 28 homer loaded in tube.Fired at the lead ship, torpedo hit and ship quickly began to sink the small troopships, TYOHEI MARU(looked larger in TBT in the dark), torpedo being reloaded and knowing wouldnt have time to get in another torpedo attack before final ship reached port and with escorts scattered hunting me, we turned and for a broadside shot from the twin 5 inch deck guns and 40 MM.The 5 inch guns scored immediately hits with first salvo, starting a fire, more hits, 40 MM scored hits then.The freighter returned fire with light machine guns, scored few hits, one crewmen on watch wounded.Soon though shell splashes, the radar equipped escort was back! AHEAD EMERGENCY we ran away, showed him our stern and lobbed few more rounds at the merchant, setting it afire.
After a long chase, we lost the escort and soon the merchant exploded, just 10 miiles from port! An entire convoy sunk, we were a proud ship.
Sailed south to the coast of Korea for some more hunting, still had a few fish left in stern, fuel at 45 percent.Next few days were nothing but a few planes.Ran into a convoy of sampans, went for Battle Surface.To my surprise, they opened fire with machine guns. Closed in and made quick work of them with 40 MM guns(seas were too rough for deck guns) .Back to the coast of the china, radar contact made at 1800, smoke on horizon, ordered ahead flank and closed to investigate, soon we had a small coastal freighter with 4 small patrol boats as escorts, maybe 4,000 yards off the coast, we were tracking and pulling ahead when an SD contact forced us to dive in the shallows.Plane spotted us at scope depth and dropped some close bombs, we surfaced to find one pip closing fast and his radar trained on us, ahead flank we went, outran the escort, forced to dive briefly for the plane again.Surfaced attempting end around, a patrol arrived and forced us to take long way around.The convoy made a sharp turn and entered port at Qingdao, we lost this one.Clearing the area, heading back to extreme southern end of patrol area to finish off last few days of patrol(fuel was getting low and been at sea for 40 days now, time to head home soon. On the final night, planning to leave area at midnight, radar contact, we had a westbound convoy running north of quelpart island. Two contacts with 5 escorts, two of which had radar.Decided to take out one escort, then go after one of the merchants with remaining Mark 18 torpedoes(down to four I believe, one in tube, three reserve) .Closing in on radar signal expecting to get close like did on last radar escort(adjusted radar so its possible sometimes, releasing it as a mod soon) at 5000 yards of so, the escort detected me, here we go again! Problem is, this was not just a escort, this was a DE or DD, it was closing at 30 knots or so for at 20 I was not pulling away, it was overtaking me.Time for a down the throat shot.Also, being in shallow waters, ordered aft deck gun and 40 MM manned in case we were in a bind.
The escort began to zig at 3,000 yards making a down the throat shot difficult but after plotting him at 26.5 knots, the pursuer(now identified an Otori/Tomozuru torpedo Boat) continued to overtake him, firing star shells and machine guns in my area.Deciding to chance it, I timed the shot and fired Mark 18 at 1,500 yards while gun crews stood by.The ship's spotlight came on, illuminating the Tirante, just then Mark 18 hit the escort broadside as it turned to adjust.I ordered the aft five inch gun to open fire and 40 MM opened fire.The ship exploded and caught fire from bow to stern, she was finished. What a close one!
The other escorts rushed and slowed to investigate their burning friend, in but Tirante was long gone.Reloading the tube, closed in on the now lightly protected merchants(port side was left open, on escort aft, one on starboard side) we back down to 1800 yards, we have TWO large tankers, NIPPON MARU class.Set one mark 18 for 12 feet and would aim under her stack, hopefully she is full fuel and will blow up easily.Fired Mark 18, missed ahead. Pulled away to reload and plotted speed again, we had speed correct, mustve been a gyro error.Backed down again, fired once more, missed.Speed changed during the run, ah! Final torpedo, backed down on target again and fired.Torpedo took a hard jog to port, CIRCLE RUN! Ahead flank, we sped away just barely avoiding the torpedo.Sent a last contact report and left area, then headed for Guam with 21,000+ tons down.
This was an exciting fun patrol and was also testing out some mods. One is a rework of enemy radar.I adjusted the minimum height for the Type 21 and 22 radars so that they dont automatically pick you up.Profile has a lot to do with it, as I found out, sometimes can get extremely close, sometimes can not, all depends on your angle as well as skill of the enemy.Noticed once alerted by others, their radar does help them locate you.May try adjusting couple more things before release.Of course, Armistead's darker nights is a vital role in this also, the darker nights with TMO visuals by tater for RSRD makes for a challenging yet realistic simulation of night surface attacks.
I also adjusted depth charges so they damage in a manner more consistent with history.No more death blows from far away as in RL they had to be fairly close to cause a "death blow" but they will cause damage to build up, leading to sub becoming a true death trap.
Also adjusted my torpedo mod as be more accurate for late war torpedoes.While the major problems were solved in 43(duds ,prematures and always running deep) US submarine torpedoes still had issues such as running deeper than set(Mark 18 and 14 but not usually by much as opposed to the minimum 10-12 feet by early Mark 14's in 42) gyro errors and circle runs.The Mark 18 seemed to be the most prone to gyro errors and circle runs in later war, this mod reflects it.Still a low chance but it does happen as it did in RL.All these changes are meant to create a challenge via some realism but also give player a chance.