Sometimes the patrol gods smile on you

[Sailingowl]

Kaleun O. Gerthel and U-64 set out in January '40 and en route to his patrol grid he stumbled upon a small convoy just north of Stornoway. 2 13k troop ships sunk in the dark of the night as the lone destroyer tried to find the uboat responsible. Then, just off Ireland, an ore carrier met its fate followed by a medium tanker. Then followed an encounter with a convoy that damaged to hull and forced U64 to break off contact for emergency repairs. Then finally an Empire freighter was sunk south of Cork before U64 returned home.



Patrol number two started out uneventful until an ore carrier was sunk off Brest. After that a series of small ships was encountered off the coast of Portugal and Spain east of Gibraltar until suddenly two large cargo ships were spotted going west and one going east. A turkey shoot ensued (the RAOBF wheel is a delight) and the patrol ended with a total of 12 ships down for a total of 68k tons.





I feel like somewhere somehow I must have done a very, very good deed because these two patrols have been great. 2 patrols and apart from the scrape with the convoy on first patrol there's been no damage to the uboat, the crew is fine and even the weather has been on my side. The targets have been large and most unprotected



Can this streak of good luck and excellent targets go on much longer? I doubt it will. The pessimist in me says that patrol # 3 will be nothing but misery and pain for kaleun Gerthel.

[Levyathan89]

You should have posted this in the "tell us what you're upto in your current campaign"-Thread.

Apart from that: 1940 was called "the happy times" for a reason :)

[Schnee]

But sounds like he hunting in a good area.

The Western Approaches a bit SW of the southern tip of Ireland has always been a target rich environment for me, regardless of year/time.

Especially so in 1940 before radar was too advanced and Merchant shipping was armed.

[UKönig]

My best fishing spots are off of Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago, the refineries and port of Aruba., The Caribbean has been a graveyard of tanker traffic, and I've also had good results off of Florida, and cape Hatteras.
Usually in a type IX, but every now and then, I'll do it in a VIIc...

[Schnee]

Yeah I Like the Caribbean -- its always great to wrack up the 40k+ in tonnage to win a Gold Cross . 42-43 I always take a few trips there in a Type IX befor reverting back to a type IIV until '44.


Next campaign I'll try those hunting spots.

[Fifi]

...and sometimes gods doesn’t smile at you!
NYGM: spotted nice ship in the dark, not far to Scapa (not deep at all)
Reached my interception point, periscope depth, ahead slow 1 knot.
Was about to fire when my hydro man called for 2 warships closing fast...Same merchant trajectory!
By the time i had to fire, the 2 destroyers were surrounding him (and me by the way)
So i let them go, thinking for further interception...when Open space was cleared, i surfaced and full throttle to catch back the guy.
Just when i reached him...rain started falling with heavy fog coming! Few time later, sea was too bad to manage a successful attack, and couldn’t see a damn thing due to fog at night.
Gods were smiling at this damn merchant, ignorant the whole thing!

[Kapitän]

...and sometimes gods doesn’t smile at you!
NYGM: spotted nice ship in the dark, not far to Scapa (not deep at all)
Reached my interception point, periscope depth, ahead slow 1 knot.
Was about to fire when my hydro man called for 2 warships closing fast...Same merchant trajectory!
By the time i had to fire, the 2 destroyers were surrounding him (and me by the way)
So i let them go, thinking for further interception...when Open space was cleared, i surfaced and full throttle to catch back the guy.
Just when i reached him...rain started falling with heavy fog coming! Few time later, sea was too bad to manage a successful attack, and couldn’t see a damn thing due to fog at night.
Gods were smiling at this damn merchant, ignorant the whole thing!


Yep, sometimes it is better to let one go and stay alive to fight another day ... sounds like you came across a Uboat-trap ...



For me right now ... 2H/1940 in front of the Northern Channel ... just not enough torpedoes ...