SOP

[Rose]

Hey guys, I would like to know what you standard operating procedures are for long range patrols.


For example:

When do you submerge, and when do you surface? How FAST do you go while submerged and surfaced? and How long do you stay submerged or surfaced?

[Sailor Steve]

I always stay surfaced early in the war. Later, you have to be wary of planes. Also I dive in bad weather, just to give my crew a break.

Surfaced by night, submerged by day was the American policy; I don't know about the Germans.

Speeds: Ahead 1/3 going to and from patrols, slow while in your patrol area. Submerged, always slow; otherwise you drain your batteries to quickly.

[tycho102]

Diving to ~20m every few hours to have a listen on the hydrophones. This is especially important when you are in bad weather (e.g. heavy fog, heavy rain, heavy seas, and combinations thereof) simply because you're going to hear long before you see.

Ahead slow as much as possible.

Your patrol zone is utterly worthless. If you want the reknown: show up, kill your engines, and have an ice-cream day for your crew. Soon as your 24hrs is up, move on to real hunting.

When you go to report contacts, see if you are within CAP (combat air-patrol) range. If you are, radio in then dive to periscope and cruise slow on batteries for a couple hours. There *will* be a patrol heading out your way, even in early 1940.

Alcohol (or whatever propellant that the Jerries were using) torpedoes in the external stores, only. Electrics were always kept inside.

On lone merchants: close in to see if they are armed before you use your deck gun. If they are armed on the bow, you will need to shoot from aft of the target. They can, and will try, to blow you out of the water if you just surface and charge in broad daylight.

Be aware of water-depth at all times. I personally bind "shift-0" to my depth ping, and I use it all the time. Late in the war, you'll want to be at least 5000m from an escort when you ping the bottom; early in the war, you're safe up to about 3000m, but you should ping as soon as you detect a ship, period.

I always crash dive any time a plane is spotted. Crash drive straight ahead until you've got 4-5 meters of water over your decks, then do a left or right turn. Maintain full power for ten minutes or so, to get out of range of their bombing area, then drop down to slow for a couple of hours.

[GreyOctober]

One rule to rule them all: DONT GET KILLED ;)