panthercules
08-14-05, 09:37 PM
I've been trying to do some research since I lost my first U-boat last night, to see if I was just one of the first Kaleuns to be fatally surprised by American radar capabilities or if it was probably a game glitch. Does anybody here know for sure when US Navy destroyers were equipped with surface search radars capable of spotting surfaced subs at over 7,000 yards?
I had almost made it into the staging area just south of New York harbor near midnight on the surface in my brand new Type IXC at the beginning of Operation Drumbeat (mid-January 1942), when in a moment of dog-induced inattention I was spotted and attacked by a PT boat. I managed to submerge to periscope depth (not much more water under me at that point) and sneak away back out to sea, shaking off the PT boat before his bigger friends could arrive on the scene.
A couple of hours later, I located what appeared to be a "hole" in the scurrying warships' search patterns, and surfaced (2am on a moonless night) at slow speed 6,800m away from the closest enemy ship (a destroyer) and started to creep away toward deeper water and safety. Next thing I know, the destroyer (who had been steaming on a parallel course in opposite direction to me 6,800 meters away bearing about 165 degrees from my sub) has turned right towards me and is charging in at full speed.
I dove and tried to hit her with torps from my stern tubes, but I missed and she and the friends she brought with her eventually clobbered me as I lay on the ocean floor frantically repairing stuff in only about 25m of water.
Although I haven't been able to find anything really conclusive, all my research so far indicates that it was highly unlikely that American destroyers in January 1942 (particularly an old 4-stacker WWI era ship like the one that spotted me) were already equipped with surface search radar, and even if they were it would almost certainly be an early version that was not capable of detecting a surfaced sub at 6,800 meter range (the early ones were only good for spotting subs out to about 3,500m at best apparently).
I think I probably could have managed to get out if I had stayed submerged, so it kinda irks me that I was spotted at what seemed like it should have been a safe range. Seems like an iffy way to lose my virtual U-bootwaffe's highest scoring ace (over 350,000 tons in 17 1/2 patrols on 90-100% realism, mostly with RUB and similar traffic reduction mods in place, etc.).
I guess I'll just have to assume I was unlucky enough to run across a test bed vessel for the American's latest radar unit who happened to pick that night to take her out for a trial run :damn:
I had almost made it into the staging area just south of New York harbor near midnight on the surface in my brand new Type IXC at the beginning of Operation Drumbeat (mid-January 1942), when in a moment of dog-induced inattention I was spotted and attacked by a PT boat. I managed to submerge to periscope depth (not much more water under me at that point) and sneak away back out to sea, shaking off the PT boat before his bigger friends could arrive on the scene.
A couple of hours later, I located what appeared to be a "hole" in the scurrying warships' search patterns, and surfaced (2am on a moonless night) at slow speed 6,800m away from the closest enemy ship (a destroyer) and started to creep away toward deeper water and safety. Next thing I know, the destroyer (who had been steaming on a parallel course in opposite direction to me 6,800 meters away bearing about 165 degrees from my sub) has turned right towards me and is charging in at full speed.
I dove and tried to hit her with torps from my stern tubes, but I missed and she and the friends she brought with her eventually clobbered me as I lay on the ocean floor frantically repairing stuff in only about 25m of water.
Although I haven't been able to find anything really conclusive, all my research so far indicates that it was highly unlikely that American destroyers in January 1942 (particularly an old 4-stacker WWI era ship like the one that spotted me) were already equipped with surface search radar, and even if they were it would almost certainly be an early version that was not capable of detecting a surfaced sub at 6,800 meter range (the early ones were only good for spotting subs out to about 3,500m at best apparently).
I think I probably could have managed to get out if I had stayed submerged, so it kinda irks me that I was spotted at what seemed like it should have been a safe range. Seems like an iffy way to lose my virtual U-bootwaffe's highest scoring ace (over 350,000 tons in 17 1/2 patrols on 90-100% realism, mostly with RUB and similar traffic reduction mods in place, etc.).
I guess I'll just have to assume I was unlucky enough to run across a test bed vessel for the American's latest radar unit who happened to pick that night to take her out for a trial run :damn: