Well, I've finally handed back my IIA, unfortunately a bit lighter than when I got it. I was patrolling AN46 and detected 3 warship contacts on the hydrophones quite close. Thought I'd go have a looksie and saw 3 destroyers, 2 tribal class, 1 C&D class all heading NNE. Against my better judgement I lined up a shot on the lead and second in line from 3000m whilst riding on the surface, it was about 11pm with a reasonable moon. I managed to hit the first one but had messed up the timings so the second so it missed by mere feet when the second destroyer began changing course.

They all turned my direction so I turned tail and started running. It was then that a fourth contact turned up, another destroyer, heading my way. In my panic, and in hindsight a mistake, I dived to 30m, leaving 10m below but I'd left the engines cranked on flank so of course, they immediately heard me and came steaming in. I should have stayed on the surface as they had not seen me up until that point. 2 hours of evading followed before I managed to reach the deeper water in the NE and slip away.

Unfortunately, I'd taken on a lot of damage with hull integrity down to 46% (longer repair times, woot), so I made for Kiel with no periscopes, one destroyed electric motor and a fair few sore heads. I have a rule as part of my DiD that any boat that goes below 55% hull integrity gets decommissioned and melted down for doodlebugs, so alas, U-16 (I know, a IIB in RL), is no more, and my brief love affair with the underdog is over. After 7 patrols I managed 98,000GRT. Bit gutted I didn't make 100k but it's all down to my stupidity with those destroyers, I should have left them be.

I've now transferred to 2nd Flotilla and have left port in a new IXB, U-123 (as always, number picked randomly). Looking it up on uboat.net reveals it was 'one of the most famous U-Boats of WWII' ( http://www.uboat.net/boats/u123.htm ), so I'm hoping this to be a good omen for the future. It's March 1940 and I'm assigned to just west of the Gibraltar Strait so here's to making the most of the 'happy times'.

Going on electric engines doesn't conserve fuel. After you surface, your diesels will have to recharge the batteries. And by doing that they burn more diesel than if you had sailed on diesels alone (and while you are recharging your Type II it will only run on one propeller and thereby lose speed.).
Think about it. When going on diesels the engines turn fuel into movement (turning the propellers). When you go on battery power your diesels will have to transfer fuel into movement (running the diesels) and movement into electrical power when you recharge the battery (driving the generator). Later the electrical power has to be turned into movement again (running on electrical engines). Whenever you change one energy form into another you will always "loose" energy (actually energy can't be lost but you will turn it into unusable waist products like for example heat...).

So stay on your diesels whenever possible for maximum range.

As some try to rid themselves of a Type IIA, is there any way to get one for the Black Sea Flotilla in '43 instead of a Type IID? I tried editing the flotilla.cfg file but that didn't work.

Thanks in advance.

Yes that is the way it should work. However, it seems that in stock SH3 you have more range if you travel submerged and then surface to recharge than you will if you stay surfaced. This may be related to recharge times being too short.

Eventually you can always go back to the Type II, in fact its interesting to patrol the Black Sea. Six of this type were dissassemble and trucked over reassembled and plopped into the Sea.

"The submarines had been carried 2,000 miles overland from Germany to attack Russian shipping during the Second World War, but were scuttled as the war neared its end. Now, more than 60 years on, explorers have located the flotilla of three submarines off the coast of Turkey."

"The vessels, including one once commanded by Germany's most successful U-boat ace, formed part of the 30th Flotilla of six submarines, taken by road and river across Nazi-occupied Europe, from Germany's Baltic port at Kiel to Constanta, the Romanian Black Sea port.
In two years, the fleet sank dozens of ships and lost three of their number to enemy action. But in August 1944, Romania switched sides and declared war on Germany, leaving the three remaining vessels stranded."

"With no base and unable to sail home - the Bosporus and Dardanelles were closed to them because of Turkish neutrality - their captains were ordered to scuttle the boats before rowing ashore and trying to make their way back to Germany. However, all three crews were caught and interned by the Turks."

One of their favorite tactics was to sit the Type II on the bottom and wait for something to come by that was sinkable.

Just some fodder to fuel a campaign in the Black Sea for you.

Happy Hunting!

In my current career I have an IXC also named U-123. :salute:

Do yourself a favor and try GWX :88)

I'm installing GWX now but I'm apprehensive about it. :-?

The only bad thing about GWX is the ungodly long loading times, but that's only if you've got an older rig like mine. :hmmm:

No need to be. In the long run it will make you play more like a real u-boat commander. Yes, it's a little tougher, but it looks so much better than stock and there are lots of new things to enjoy. Wait until you meet your first blimp!

I also recommend SH3 Commander, as it adds as much to the mental side of the game as GWX does to the physical. And it's not really a mod, so it can be used with any of them.

Yeah, I've been using SH3 commander because I wanted to modify the time compression settings.

Just started my first patrol with GWX. It's a bit overwhelming, since almost everything is changed. It's almost like a new game. It's weird because there are a TON of ships docked in Kiel.

I remember that feeling too! All in all, I think you'll be happy.

Don't worry, be happy!
:D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHFDa9efCQU

Hmm... I really like the IIA. nice little boat...:yep: