1th 100% patrol

[Mil_tera]

First patrol on 100% Realism.


3 September 1939,

Its in the middle of the night when we set sail on our first patrol after completing the Naval academy. The men are eager to go for a real patrol after all the days,weeks and months of practicing. On the other hand I realize that this might be more then just a patrol since after we invaded Poland it looks like Germany is on collision course with the English and it seems that England is about to Declare war on our country.

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/Pic1leavingharbor.jpg
Lets hope this won’t be true….

After sailing for a couple of hours surfaced I decided to check the crew out on the bridge to see how they are doing and to have some fresh air. The sea is calm and the sky is clear at the moment. We are having some visual contacts but these are ships of our Kriegmarine so nothing to worry about yet. We are still in safe waters so we don’t have to worry yet about eventual hostilities from anyone, especially since we are not at war with anyone else yet then Poland..:)

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/Pic2Sep3friendlywaters.jpg
Several hours after this pic we received the message we had expected but feared. We are at war now with the English. So this first patrol with a crew that still needs experience and a sub that is merely for training we are set for a dangerous adventure far from home without the security of ever make it back home. I got the microphone and told the crew the bad news and told them we were going to dive to go submerged for a while. Testing our Hydrophones and trying to build up some routine. We stayed submerged for most part of the 4th only to surface for a little breeze of fresh air. No visual or sound contacts so far except for the friendly visual contacts one day earlier.

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/Pic35thsepsurfacedforair.jpg

The 5th we stayed submerged and from the 6th till the 11th we had a routine of submerging till the batteries were on 25% and then surface till the batteries were full again constantly being on our guard now the war has begun.

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/pic811sep.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/pic710sep.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/Pic69sep.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/Pic58sep.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/Pic4Sep6.jpg
Then suddenly the 12th the Hydrophones pick up a sound!! Suddenly I get that adreline going through my vains!!! I upped the periscope and turned the scope towards the bearing the hydrophones were showing. It was a dot in the distance and we could’t make much out of it yet. Eventhough it should enough to get an estimated range from the WO.
I ordered the boat to service and together with the WO on the deck we took a range to Target and placed the marks on the map. The chase begun!!!!

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/Pic9markthetarget.jpg

I ordered to go flank speed on a parallel course of the target to stay within visual range and to outflank the target to set up an attack run. Suddenly we were alarmed by the sound of planes, I took a quick look through the binoculars to take another range so we could mark it off on the map and ordered a crash dive. I thought a second of fighting the planes off but the sound of the bombs and the anti aircraft might would alarm our prey. So I decided to go submerged for about an hour to try to shake the planes off. But being in the process of diving I noticed the planes didn’t change course to attack me so I guess they didn’t see us. We were lucky this time. We stopped the diving and went on flank speed turning slowly to our target to begin our attack run.

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/Pic10aircraft.jpg

We are now on our attack spot waiting for the target. We know the range and the speed and the type of vessel. We first identified it through the hydrophones being probably a coastal merchant, but now we know for sure what it is. Its just a pity that the target is a Norwegian vessel which means its neutral.

At least we were able to find a target and even were able to lay in a perfect position for attack… At least that gives me some faith for the future. After giving the merchant a final look I ordered to lower the periscope and we continued our patrol….



http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/Pic11target12thsep.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/Pic12norwegianvessel12th.jpg



Ps. I have no clue how big the pics are in this thread but if they are too big please give me some advice to get them smaller without losing much of the quality!!

[Slemtiger]

Always nice to read storys like this when people stay in character.

[kiwi_2005]

Whats that wooden panel up above on the left partly showing? Also 100% realism means no Cross hair dude :|\ :D

Still your doing better than me i play at 93%

[DMarkwick]

Whats that wooden panel up above on the left partly showing?

Looks to me like some sort of persistent stopwatch mod. I'd like to know what that mod is please :)

[Mil_tera]

Hi Kiwi,

That wooden panel on the left top corner is the dragable stopwatch. Its a mod. that will show the stopwatch on every screen. And about the cross hairs...I am using the stock version of the game patched up to 1.4 with some mods installed. I haven't thought about the cross hairs though....according to the settings its now on 100% realism.

But now you do mention the cross hairs....how do you remove them?

[Mil_tera]

By the way...I don't know yet if I am doing better then you since I haven't had an opportunity yet to hit something...:) As you saw my only target so far was a neutral..:) But as we continue I hope I will be able to hit something soon..:roll:


What is the issue with the cross hairs anyways? Thought you were playing on 100% if you had checked all boxes including the no map updates? And that is what I have at the moment. There is no checkbox saying "Remove crosshair from binoculars" :hmm:

[kiwi_2005]

What is the issue with the cross hairs anyways? Thought you were playing on 100% if you had checked all boxes including the no map updates? And that is what I have at the moment. There is no checkbox saying "Remove crosshair from binoculars"

Actually the crosshair is not a big thing, i was just pulling your leg. Yet if you want the cross hair to go away the RUB1.45 mod will lose it or i know it could be as easy as editoring a file in SH3. Maybe someone might know what file to edit .

[Mil_tera]

:hmm: Allready was affraid you did but didn't know for sure...


its the first time actually that I really play blind at 100% before that I used to be between 80 - 92 % playing around with map updates on or off but also have the free camera option on so that I could actually see how my torp solutions were working out. But any comments are welcome. I still have to learn a lot and any suggestions (like the crosshair:o) are welcome as long as they add to the experience this game can give.

I also saw that there was a discussion going on about playing on 100% also can be with the map updates on. I can understand why since the kaluen is not the only member onboard and has his fellow officers that can help him out determining where the contacts are. but on the other hand I think a Kaleun also had the overal knowledge. So imo you can play with the map updates on and still play on 100% as long as you do have the knowledge to play it without..:) But that is my own humble opinion...:sunny: So don't kill me over that!!! :arrgh:

[DMarkwick]

That wooden panel on the left top corner is the dragable stopwatch. Its a mod. that will show the stopwatch on every screen.

What's the name of the mod?

[Mil_tera]

http://www.subsim.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=49198&highlight=stopwatch

its called Dragable Chronometer. Just follow the link..:up:

[kiwi_2005]

Heres another way of playing SH3 at 100% realism. Install the following mods if you haven't.

Rub1.45 - makes those 100,000 tonnage scores and finding convoys much harder. Also dont know if its the mod or 1.4 patch but destroyers are more cunning.
WAW realism - no map updates
SH3 Commander - for the very long reload time of your deck gun :o
or have no deckgun altogether.

Ive played like this for months but just for a change im going back to the stock game with a few graphic/sound mods as my only extras.

[Dantenoc]

nice :up:

[Capt. Punze]

Well done. I too enjoy the reports made in character. Always exciting to read others experiences.

[jasondef]

Great story you got going there!

Thanks for the stopwatch mod recommendation. I was just thinking of posting a topic about having a stopwatch in the command room. After firing torps, I like to down periscope and dive silent, and it adds to the realism to wait for the torp explosions in the command room, thus a stopwatch there is needed. Will install now and give it a try. :)

[Mil_tera]

Heres another way of playing SH3 at 100% realism. Install the following mods if you haven't.

Rub1.45 - makes those 100,000 tonnage scores and finding convoys much harder. Also dont know if its the mod or 1.4 patch but destroyers are more cunning.
WAW realism - no map updates
SH3 Commander - for the very long reload time of your deck gun
or have no deckgun altogether.

Ive played like this for months but just for a change im going back to the stock game with a few graphic/sound mods as my only extras.

:up:

After I get more comfortable about the way its going at the moment I will certainly give it a try! I was also thinking of joining WAW but want to practice a bit more first before I take that step!

And about the stopwatch.....I was OVER THE MOON when I saw this mod because it was quite aggravating to keep switching between screens while a real Kaleun should have his stopwatch with him..:)

Anyways, I am still in patrol and will keep posting as it proceeds..:arrgh!: That is if you guys are interested....:stare:

[Tonnage_Ace]

Just curious Mil_tera, does the stopwatch work when your working the hydrophone? I don't have a real life stopwatch handy and this would be better suited to check a ship's speed via screw oscillation.

[Mil_tera]

The stopwatch works in every screen and its click and draggable, only thing is that you can only use the original stopwatch to start and stop the watch. But I don't see that as a problem. So far this mod is working great for me!!!

[Tonnage_Ace]

Thanks for the heads-up, I guess I can start it in the periscope screen then, in the hydrophone screen, start counting when the minute hand passes one minute.

[Mil_tera]

The next two days went on without any problems so we had time to do some test dives to improve our diving time, I have the feeling we might need that soon since patrolling by the English might increase a lot after we sunk one of their merchants. Luckely the planes and destroyers that we did see or detect didn’t hear us. So they know something is up but they don’t know what..:)

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/th_Pic1313th.jpg (http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/Pic1313th.jpg)
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/th_14the14th.jpg (http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/14the14th.jpg)


Today there was some excitement about a contact but when we went to check it out it just seemed to be too small to be of any interest. So we sailed on without any more incidents.

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/th_pic21coastalvessel1.jpg (http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/pic21coastalvessel1.jpg)

The night of the 14th I gathered the officers together and we had a little meeting talking about tactics about how to deal with different scenarios and it was quite useful. Can’t wait to test it out once the situation occurs that we have the change to fire one of our fish.
So after the meeting I went to lay down and basically was just up the next morning when
Suddenly there is a lot of noise at the front of the boat, I just grabbed the map table not to be swept of my feet. What the???? I sent Jurgen out to investigate. The men are all quiet…then Jurgen is on the speakers. “You better get down here Kaleun, something went wrong in the torpedo room.” I went up there and what I saw didn’t make me very happy. One of the sailors was doing some maintenance in the torpedo room and apparently he managed stupidly to activate one of the fish which was then launched into the sea. You can imagine that I freaked out and spontaneously invented a lot of new curses to shout to the sailor and his chief. :Damn: :Damn: I will deal with this issue when we are back ashore I promised them both. :x

This is not a good sign. I hope the rest of the trip goes better. Only 4 torps left. This is definitely not a good sign..:(

I didn’t had much time to think about it because suddenly there was some excitement in the sonar room. SOUND CONTACT SIR!!!! I rushed to the periscope to check out the bearing but didn’t see nothing. “CHANGE COURSE TO HEADING, SURFACE THE BOAT!!!!! FLANK SPEED!!!!! :D Quickly I did a 360 degrees with the scope while I already felt the boat moving towards the surface. After sailing approx. 8 miles towards the bearing of the last sound contact I ordered to stop the engines and go to periscope depth again. The hydrophone picked the ship up straight away. I looked through the scope towards the sound contact and there was she..:) A potential target!!! This one better is English….Or else I don’t know what to do!

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/th_pic15contact215th.jpg (http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/pic15contact215th.jpg)

We went flank speed again for about an hour, while in the mean time we did some plotting on the map trying to get in a good position to attack. After an hour I ordered to go to periscope depth and to go silent. This time it didn’t take us to long to get into position for the kill. (Hopefully) :O

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/th_Pic16target2stillwatching.jpg (http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/Pic16target2stillwatching.jpg)
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/th_pic17plottingtarget2.jpg (http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/pic17plottingtarget2.jpg)

Its confirmed now, the target is an English Coastal merchant, again not much tonnage but if we are able to send it to the bottom of the sea it will be more then we had before though..:) This can’t go wrong, we are lined up perfectly. “Open Torpedo door 1” , Wait…….Wait…….not yet…..Waaaaiiiit………..LOSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!! :rock:

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/th_Pic18fire1ontarget2.jpg (http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/Pic18fire1ontarget2.jpg)
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/th_pic19target2destroyed.jpg (http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/pic19target2destroyed.jpg)

YEAH!!!!!! WE DID IT!!! Our first kill!!!!!!!!!!! :rock: :rock:

“Take us to the surface!!!” I shout… And up we went taking 1 more peak towards the target and went back on course, this is what we needed, it boosted the morale and the trust in what we are capable of doing, we feel indestructible and on the top of the world. The torpedo incident from earlier was forgotten (for the moment).

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/th_pic20surfaceafterdestroytarget2.jpg (http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/pic20surfaceafterdestroytarget2.jpg)

We noticed that our little encounter with the merchant alarmed the local authorities because since we sunk this ship we had some close encounters with planes, even though we were able to submerge before they could launch some kind of attack.

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/th_pic22planewarning1.jpg (http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/pic22planewarning1.jpg)

Well apparently our luck has really changed for the good..:) we found yet another coastal merchant which Identified English. And this one we didn’t had to chase, it came straight for us..:)

We lined up and took care of this merchant. I can notice that the crew is getting more of a team. A lot of actions are now being done before I even can give the command..:) I am starting to feel proud of them!

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/th_pic23soundcontact3.jpg (http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/pic23soundcontact3.jpg)
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/th_pic24identifiedtarget3.jpg (http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/pic24identifiedtarget3.jpg)
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/th_pic25target3destroyed.jpg (http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/pic25target3destroyed.jpg)

And now a more sad report that brought back memories of that terrible day that we wasted that one fish, which now came back to haunt us. We found a large merchant sailing along and we knew that if we would be able to sink it it would double our tonnage sunk for this patrol so we went all for it. I don’t have to comment since the pics speak for themselves…

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/th_pic26largecargo.jpg (http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/pic26largecargo.jpg)
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/th_27torp1target3.jpg (http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/27torp1target3.jpg)
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/th_pic28torp2target3.jpg (http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/pic28torp2target3.jpg)
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/th_pic29torphittarget3.jpg (http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/pic29torphittarget3.jpg)
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/th_pic30sailingaway.jpg (http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/pic30sailingaway.jpg)

I didn’t took the pic of the impact of torp 2 because of the excitement of a big target like this. But both of the torpedoes hit. The ship just kept sailing. Banked slightly to the right but sailed on…after a last peak in the periscope I had to let it go….Came 1 fish short of sinking it. So disappointed I ordered to return to Wilhelms Haven. Were we docked a couple of days later! But it was a good patrol. Not because of the tonnage but because it was our first trip and we were able to let 4 out of 5 torpedoes hit a target. While the fifth was wasted by accident. So I am overall happy even though the escape of the large cargo still haunts me from time to time.

These were the patrol reports. I hoped you liked this little story. If so I’ll keep you all posted on next patrols.

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/th_pic31patrollog.jpg (http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/pic31patrollog.jpg)
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/th_pic32summary.jpg (http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/pic32summary.jpg)
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/th_pic33homefinally.jpg (http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/Silent_runner/pic33homefinally.jpg)

[kiwi_2005]

Nice. :up: :yep:

[Dantenoc]

very nice :up:

Don't worry too much about the last one that got away. Yes, maybe you could've sunk him with one more torp... but then again, sometimes they can absorb 4 or more (!) and still not sink :shifty: ... it happens :dead:

Anyway, congrats again :yep:

[Kpt. Lehmann]

Aaaahhh nice!!!

Maybe someday (soon I hope) I will be able to sail and write patrol reports. :cry:

It seems I spend all my time modding. :-?

[Mil_tera]

hehehehe.....I would like it for you to keep modding....:D and with me a lot more people I'll bet....:yep: :yep: :yep: