patrol 12, 1940 october 6

Uboat VIIB

70620 tonnes on a 3 week patrol

ran into a convoy and only went after C3s and Tankers.

also ran into 2 tankers and C3 in pairs and sunk those along with several small merchants and coastal merchants. deck guns when able. had to limp home after running into several destroyers on teh way home.

96% realism (no dud torpedoes - its annoying enough to calculate all that and then watch it not explode).

41,255 tons. Running RUb with some other realism tweaks via SH3Cmdr.

I'm at 77% realism because I let the other officers do their jobs!

I average about 20,000 tons per patrol. Still yields too high a career tonnage for my liking (last two careers resulted in over 300k sunk after 16 patrols).

Patrol 21
U-103, 2nd Flotilla
September 13, 1941, 18:46
Lorient

EntryText=Ship sunk!|Grid BF 16|Coastal Merchant, 2042 tons
EntryTitle=September 15, 1941, 06:31

EntryText=Ship sunk!|Grid AM 37|T2 Tanker, 10871 tons
EntryTitle=September 18, 1941, 05:43

EntryText=Ship sunk!|Grid AN 16|Fiji Light Cruiser, 10725 tons
EntryTitle=September 20, 1941, 08:34

EntryText=Ship sunk!|Grid AM 39|C3 Cargo, 7909 tons
EntryTitle=September 22, 1941, 14:19

EntryText=Ship sunk!|Grid AM 52|T2 Tanker, 10872 tons
EntryTitle=September 23, 1941, 07:22

EntryText=Ship sunk!|Grid AM 52|C2 Cargo, 6450 tons
EntryTitle=September 23, 1941, 15:45

EntryText=Ship sunk!|Grid AM 52|C2 Cargo, 6451 tons
EntryTitle=September 23, 1941, 17:43

EntryText=Ship sunk!|Grid AM 93|T2 Tanker, 10871 tons
EntryTitle=September 28, 1941, 11:19

EntryText=Ship sunk!|Grid AM 93|T2 Tanker, 10872 tons
EntryTitle=September 28, 1941, 11:27

EntryText=Ship sunk!|Grid AM 93|Armed Trawler, 530 tons
EntryTitle=September 28, 1941, 13:02

EntryText=Ship sunk!|Grid AM 94|Small Merchant, 2342 tons
EntryTitle=September 29, 1941, 07:30

EntryText=Aircraft destroyed!|Grid AM 94|HurricaneMkII Fighter Bomber
EntryTitle=September 29, 1941, 07:37

EntryText=Aircraft destroyed!|Grid AM 94|HurricaneMkII Fighter Bomber
EntryTitle=September 29, 1941, 07:38

EntryText=Aircraft destroyed!|Grid AM 94|HurricaneMkII Fighter Bomber
EntryTitle=September 29, 1941, 07:40

EntryText=Aircraft destroyed!|Grid AM 94|HurricaneMkII Fighter Bomber
EntryTitle=September 29, 1941, 07:40

EntryText=Ship sunk!|Grid AM 94|Clemson Destroyer, 1190 tons
EntryTitle=September 29, 1941, 08:43

EntryText=Aircraft destroyed!|Grid AM 95|HurricaneMkII Fighter Bomber
EntryTitle=September 29, 1941, 11:18

EntryText=Ship sunk!|Grid AM 99|T2 Tanker, 10873 tons
EntryTitle=September 30, 1941, 13:58

EntryText=Ship sunk!|Grid AM 99|C2 Cargo, 6447 tons
EntryTitle=September 30, 1941, 16:49

EntryText=Ship sunk!|Grid AM 99|Armed Trawler, 530 tons
EntryTitle=September 30, 1941, 19:23

EntryText=Ship sunk!|Grid BE 68|Nelson Battleship, 36000 tons
EntryTitle=October 10, 1941, 05:02

EntryText=Ship sunk!|Grid BE 68|Revenge Battleship, 28000 tons
EntryTitle=October 10, 1941, 05:03

EntryText=Ship sunk!|Grid BE 68|Revenge Battleship, 28000 tons
EntryTitle=October 10, 1941, 05:05

EntryText=Ship sunk!|Grid BF 25|C2 Cargo, 6400 tons
EntryTitle=October 12, 1941, 11:24

EntryText=Ship sunk!|Grid BF 23|C2 Cargo, 6448 tons
EntryTitle=October 12, 1941, 23:37

EntryText=Ship sunk!|Grid AN 79|C2 Cargo, 6398 tons
EntryTitle=October 15, 1941, 04:22

EntryText=Ship sunk!|Grid AN 79|T2 Tanker, 10875 tons
EntryTitle=October 15, 1941, 04:32

EntryText=Ship sunk!|Grid AN 79|J Class Destroyer, 1690 tons
EntryTitle=October 15, 1941, 04:59

EntryText=Ship sunk!|Grid AN 79|V&W Destroyer, 1188 tons
EntryTitle=October 15, 1941, 04:59

EntryText=Ship sunk!|Grid BF 26|C2 Cargo, 6450 tons
EntryTitle=October 17, 1941, 22:17

EntryText=Ship sunk!|Grid BF 25|Tribal Destroyer, 1850 tons
EntryTitle=October 20, 1941, 22:36



Total tonnage: 232,274

Realism 63%

Boat: IXC


This was my lucky day, I met this task force consisting of 3 BB's (Nelson+2*Revenge) and 8 DD's, and luckily I survived! The Fiji CL was anchored in Scapa Flow.

In one patrol without the RUB mod - 137000 tons
With the RUB mod - 42000 tons

I don't know how you guys get tonnages >100k. I've done I think 19 patrols, highest being 104K with lots in the high 80's. In the 100k mission I was totally out of ammo, and had to finish off the last C3 with star shells. I'm trying to imagine doubling that but I can't see how. I never shoot at anything lighter than a T2 (just that one time since I was so close to 100k, good weather and a small tanker appeared just begging to be shot at). But the duds, the random damage (some T3 taking 3 eels), the relatively small loadout of 14 eels that the VIIC has, and the never ending bad weather seem to make scores >100K pretty darn hard to reach.

Single torpedo kills help a lot. Smooth seas and not wasting deck gun ammuntion also seems to help.

I was playing at 51% realism and mostly impact hits for a while and was taking 2-3 fish to sink a ship. I switched to setting manual depth and going for magnetic trigger and am finding a lot more single fish kills.

Latest patrol VIIB, October 1940 to BF15. 92K tons. Sat in the shipping lane and kept getting double and triple C3s, tankers, etc. Emptied the deck gun and all but three torpedos, two fore, one aft.

On the way back to Brest, just south of Ireland, I received warning of a task force and had just seen the lead destroyer and hidden. Managed to drift into the TF, put my two forward torpedoes into a Fiji and sneak out with only superstructure damage. Most of the escorts went running off the other direction so it wasn't one of those long and interesting escapes.

Then I found a lone C3 and managed to snap it in half with my remaining aft torpedo. Set it for 10 meters and hit just forward of midship. I returned to base with 40 star shells and about 800 rounds for the flak gun.

My tonnages for the the first four missions in the type II were 7k-10k. Immediately jumped up to 50k for the VIIB.

I totally agree with you. I didn't find average 20K per patrol realistic. High tonnage totals bothered me in all subsims. In Silent Hunter it was impossible to leave port without sinking 75,000tons. But with Surface Search Radar and 24 Torpedoes, what are you going to do?

A big problem is that is way easier to find targets by remaining submerged, relatively immobile, and listening with the hydrophones, when in fact the Uboats remained on the surface, mobile, and visually scanned the oceans.

The Uboat Commanders Handbook says to do soundchecks at dawn and dusk under most conditions. Just following this rule will cut your tonnage per career by 35% to 50%.

My last career was 13 Patrols for 160K. This included one patrol for 60K when I located a convoy with 5 Tankers. On 4 of the 13 patrols I saw no targets and sank no ships.

So if this is the kind of realism you are looking before, try this for a couple of patrols.

The beauty of this is that not only are you using uboat tactics, but it works equally we using manual or auto tdc. Your tonnage will be cut in half either way.

My Best Tonnage was also my best patrol period.

MARCH 1943 Mediteranean
100% Realism
NYGM TW
various graphics mods

Helms Klauth U562
Patrol 1

Even though the tonnage wasnt that high i sunk 5 ships damaged 1 other.
Total Tonnage: 20,131 grt.

1 Old Transport Sunk
1 Landing Ship d.
1 Coastal Merchant
1 C3 Sunk
1 Coastal Sunk
1 Small Merchant Sunk

It was the greatest patrol i ever experienced. I met up with a freindly convoy and witnessed a surface to air battle! The tommies managed to damage one of our italian coastal merchants and it sank 2 hours later. I lost my freindly convoy in fog and continued to alexandria and sunk the last unescorted coastal merchant. Then i quit while i was ahead and went back to Toulon.

This patrol felt real thats why i liked it the most. It was rare when a skipper turned in 100,000 tons or more. Specially on 1 patrol, i believe this NEVER happened actually. I was playing 100% serious for the first time on this patrol, definately an excilirating experience.

my best run was in April ´40. playing Living SH3 Mod I travelled to Harstad Harbour (Norway, near Narvik) during operation "Weserübung". There I encountered a task force. I sank 2x BB Nelson, 1x BB Revenge, 3xPassenger Liners. Total tonnage 112,000 GRT.
Realism 92% (only with external view, for the mood :up: )

I see some of you guys note your Kaleun's name. LOL. Mine is Warner Crickbaulm like the guy from Das Boot. Whenever faced with a tough question, I repeat like in the movie, "Well Crickbaulm, what do you think?" :hmm: Talking to yourself is something you start doing on those long SH3 patrols. :P

My approach too. Love it when the fog is thick, it gets really close in the columns. You sort of slip in silently, cut a destructive swath, and sail away nice and quite..well with some Godsmack on the gramophone but still. I let the C3s pass by usually, tops being reserved for T2s, T3s, passenger liners and big war ships (if I ever actually spot one).

Can't always go by the numbers e.g.

Von Schroeter. Ritterkruez. Sank six ships for 28,000 tons.

Gustav Poel. Ritterkruez. Sank four ships for 30,139 tons.

Albrecht Brandi. Ritterkruez with Oak Leaves and Crossed Swords. Sank 12 ships for 32,000 tons.

And that's just a very small sample. Just 32,000 tons to get what Brandi got is cool though. I'm sure I could manage that at 100% realism. I'm not quite at the hardcore level yet though, as you can tell by my best patrol of 78,048 tons :oops:

While our non-modded tonnages seem excessively unrealistic, Lieut. Commander Guther Hessler sank 14 merchants for a total of 87,000 tons in one mission in around early 1941! It was the highest single mission tonnage. Donitz hesitated to award him with the Knight's Cross since Hessler was his son-in-law and there was fear it would appear to be favoritism.

I don't think the awards made much sense. For example, Albrecht Brandi received the highest award, Knight's Cross, Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds (only two were earned by sub-mariners) yet he only sank 12 ships for a total of 31,689 tons. Others like Prien - in addition to the daring Scapa Flow raid - managed 197,218 tons and received only the Knight's Cross. As the war dragged on, the criteria for the awards was progressively made easier too.

normalizing tonnage values
 

It occurs to me that tonnage is not that meaningful without the year and the submarine that pulled it off. Pulling 50k in a IXB in 40 is totally different than pulling 50k in a VIIC in 45.

Maybe we can normalize our tonnage by the number of torpedoes on the boat when it left port?

Tons Per Torpedo (TPT) = Patrol Tonnage/available torps.

So, for a VIIB that leaves port with 14 torps, its TPT on a 50k patrol is
50000/14 = 3571.

For the IXB that leaves port with 21 torps, its TPT on a 50k patrol is
50000/21 = 2381.

This obviously doesn't address the differences in difficulty that hold in different years of the war, but it attempts to correct for the loadout of different subs. Thus, a Type II can still have a great TPT but a low overall tonnage.

Secondly, it doesn't address deck gun kills. However, with NYGM tonnage war these are so hard to get that it should only bias the TPT slightly (i.e. 1 or 2 DG kills per patrol, which were already torpedoed anyway).

Third, it might be neat to think about a way of incorporating patrol length into the equation. The idea would be to somehow correct for extremely long patrols where one cherry picks for large tonnage in an unrealistic way. But maybe cherry-picking is part of the fun?

And, it's not obvious how to normalize for difficulty settings (%realism). This would be a good thing to add (since settings like 'dud torpedoes' makes a major difference to tonnage. Maybe something to think about.

Finally, TPT assumes that you fired all your torpedoes. Otherwise, the best way to get a high TPT is to get 1 lucky shot on a KGV and then go home.

Anyway - so what's yer highest TPT?


Kb

Doenitz used Tons per Day at Sea to evaluate his boats.

Here are the stats from my current career. If you routinely use you hydrophones to find your targets, expect these figures to be about doubled.

Total Tonnage:165,282grt
Total Number of Patrols:13
Total Number of Ships Sunk:30
Total Days at Sea:554
Ships Sunk Per Patrol: 2.3
Tons Per Day at Sea:298grt

Total Allied Tankers:6
Total Allied Tanker Tonnage:56,871grt
Total Allied Passenger Liners:1
Total Alliend Passenger Liner Tonnage:14,902grt
Total Allied Troop Transports:1
Total Allied Troop Transport Tonnage:8,006grt
Total Allied Merchants:21
Total Allied Merchant Tonnage:83,091grt
Total Allied Warships:0
Total Allied Warship Tonnage:0
Total Neutral Tankers:0
Total Neutral Tanker Tonnage:0
Total Neutral Merchants:1
Total Neutral Merchant Tonnage:2,412grt
Total Neutral Warships:0
Total Neutral Warship Tonnage:0

Patrol 1.....U-10(IIa)...Days at Sea:29...Tonnage:2,412grt
Patrol 2.....U-10(IIa)...Days at Sea:27...Tonnage:1,994grt
Patrol 3.....U-10(IIa)...Days at Sea:33...Tonnage:0grt
Patrol 4.....U-10(IIa)...Days at Sea:26...Tonnage:7,901grt
Patrol 5.....U-105(VIIb)...Days at Sea:58...Tonnage:24,473grt
Patrol 6.....U-105(VIIb)...Days at Sea:59...Tonnage:10,333grt
Patrol 7.....U-105(VIIb)...Days at Sea:33...Tonnage:17,383grt
Patrol 8.....U-105(VIIb)...Days at Sea:56...Tonnage:0grt
Patrol 9.....U-105(VIIb)...Days at Sea:23...Tonnage:5,092grt
Patrol 11...U-565(VIIc)...Days at Sea:60...Tonnage:0grt
Patrol 13...U-565(VIIc)...Days at Sea:56...Tonnage:0grt
Patrol 15...U-565(VIIc)...Days at Sea:35...Tonnage:64,599grt
Patrol 16...U-565(VIIc)...Days at Sea:59...Tonnage:31,196grt

I guess my highest would be 104000/14 = 7428

I think most people end up shooting off all their torps in any given mission. I find I'm always out of torps, and cannon shells, and well into my star shells. :P