The same idiot who decided that it's his job to start wars, not some lowly skipper far down the ladder.

I wonder how worthwhile attacking even capital ships would have been unless the attack could be made with virtually no risk (i.e. no destroyer escort). By 1939 battleships are obsolete in surface warfare. Would you risk your boat attacking a ship if you knew it would only be effective for a few days in 1944, particularly since a ship that size requires quite a bit of resources to support?

retired SH3 for a bit since i really don't have the time to play it all my campeigns have captains getting fat on extended shore leave

Make sure that they don't get fat enough else they won't be able to enter the hatch of the conning tower! :D

already planed on putting them through a rigorous PT training program if they make the boat list considerably when stepping on and a lighter PT program if they just cant fit in the hatch:k_rofl:

Now , there is an exellent Flotilla Commander!
A beer on me! :Kaleun_Cheers:

Battleship obsolescence was only a far from universal opinion at the start of the war, in practice in the european theater battleships continued to fight and shape the fight well past 1939, if only because they were what was available. Even if actual encounters with their direct opponents were uncommon they still saw significant active action, be it smashing italian cruisers or chasing german raiders; shore bombardment was conducted well before 1944 as well. Even when just sitting in their harbors they would still influence what the enemy would do; it is worth noting in that regards that even in 1944 Tirpitz was still perceived, wrongly perhaps but perceived neverthless, as a threat that had to be neutralized. Likewise earlier british and italian operations to sink each other battleships in harbor were undertaken for a reason.
By 1944 battleships were certainly obsolete outside few niches, but by then Italy was out, north africa lost and Donitz was feeding u-boats and men into a meatgrinder in the hope to buy time for the elektroboot to come along. In 1940 or 1941 the naval landscape was somewhat different however and the few british carriers and carrier based planes could not bear all the brunt of the fight.

Battleships and Cruisers played important parts in the North Atlantic, Arctic and Mediterranean Campaigns

The Mediterranean theater in particular saw several battles between capital ships

Even in 1943 / 44 the Big Guns were having major influence on the Landings, first in Italy and then in France / Belgium

It was only in 45 when the fighting had moved far inland and the Kreigsmarine fleet had been decimated that the Battlewagons were no longer relevant to the European theater



On my own Late Spet 39 patrol things have significantly improved.
After days of heavy weather the sky's cleared as we left the channel for the Atlantic
Picked up a couple of small merchies, but traffic was very light,
decided to head north on a wide swing around the west coast of Ireland to see if those convoy lanes were any busier

Cruising north we receive a report of a slow convoy approx 150km to the SE of us heading NE,

Plotting an course to get ahead and intercept we race along to get into position before turning to the SW at approx midnight and slowing to a stalking speed

On the 2nd reconnaissance dive the hydrophone operator picks up the convoy dead ahead and coming my way :D

After sprinting in I dive at at what I estimate is 5km out, Hatches closed and starting to go down when Boooooingggggg, Booooinnnnng, something is pinging us, :eek:
Up scope to find a black swan has snuck in behind us at about 800m and is turning in, Quickly prepare and loose the rear fish which explodes underneath him and takes him out,

Can now start to make out the convoy, mostly small merchants and coastal's, but there is a large merchie leading the center column,
I make him my first target and send a II straight down his center line on mag, Bang and that's him slowing and in obvious distress

Looking for my next target I spot an ammunition ship and another large merchie in the convoy, Turning towards them I find another black swan closing on me, He get's the type I I keep in T4 for such emergencies which holes his bow takes him but a min to drive his bow under and that's all she wrote

But behind her comes a Southampton, who rapidly turns and legs it from the scene,

I pick up the ammo carrier with a spectacular explosion and put a hole in the 2nd Large merchie, but she refuses to go down,

I pick off a small cargo that wonders across my path, but her icon turns green, 1am with no lights in the middle of an escorted british convoy, what did she expect

At this point I'm swearing at Hans and the boys in the torpedo room to get me more rounds,
Hans assures me it will be less than 5 mins until I have a tube available so I start to turn back in for a 2nd shot at the big boy when the Southampton reappears,

I decide that if I take her I might be free of the surface escort and can bring my gun into play so I switch targets and yell loudly at Hans to hurry up

Set my attack run just so and as the sh gets into the perfect attack position the light on 2 goes green, good boy Hans and Loss

Perfect hit right under the B turret she sits there for a sec and then a massive secondary as her magazine goes up


Just preparing to surface and doing a final swing when I spot an S class sub lurking at the edge of the convoy, :nope:

He will have to go so start to close
Just getting into perfect firing position with hans telling me he's almost ready when she turns north and puts on a burst of speed,

But I'm right behind her now, right surface and get on that gun, sink her before she can turn to bring her own weapons to bear

She taggs my tower with her AA, but she goes down and that's the last of the escort.

I now have a sea full of unescorted unarmed merchies :rock:

Notice I'm down to 3 fish as well but with 75 rounds I think I can do some damage,
Even more when I find that most of them are carrying a mix of high explosives and gasoline,

it was like fireworks night for a while, explosions going off everywhere,
But now I'm out of fish and out of main gun shells and there are still 4 or 5 little ships on the surface, nice of them to give me some lights for target practice with the aa gun, cant sink them but the cargo exploding is satisfying, I need more ammo :Kaleun_Mad:

Anyway crying a little I set course for home, going to be a long journey without any ammo
But with almost 100k to my name some of those dockside nurses are in for a rough time when we get back

17 Feb 42 Patrol 20. It is with regret Bdu reports the loss of U-651 in the Bay of Biscay. Recent orders and increased flak guns required boats to "stay up and fight", rather than dive to avoid aircraft.
The galant crew were able to down several fighters, yet, two fighters were able to limp back to base, alerting British bomber command.
The bombers returned in force, to overwhelm the crew of U-651. It is suspected that the radar set wasn't turned off. Oh well, time to start a new career.
3 Sept 39
Patrol 1
U-18
U-Flotilla Weddigan
Base: Wilhelmshaven
Orders: Patrol AN16
Well....it's about time I learned how to manual target. This will be my first time playing at 100 % realism. This should be interesting.
We leave the harbor and encounter twelve sightings, one German destroyer and several Schnell boats. At 12:22 we spot a German fishing trawler. Using the map tools and the stop watch, I practice estimating the trawler's speed. She's doing about 8 knots. I used the note pad method to obtain the range and the Aob. During our patrol, all fish fired either missed or exploded early. Near Scapa Flow, I encountered a C-2. Out of eels, in heavy winter seas, I was curious about the effects of ramming. (on our boat and the C-2) The only effect were sparks, no damage to either ship! It was rather exciting, speeding at 8 knots broadside into the ship. The 1st patrol ended with TWICE the renown for accomplishing nothing, except to complete our orders.

first post-first campaign
 

Hi guys! im new to the forum and really started playing SH3 in the last 2-3 months..im doing my first campaign started in 1939 in Wilhelmshaven, i been playing in a very easy mode (when i will die i will start a new campaign increasing realism) trying to learn the game. The date now is August 14th 1942 and i been transferred to Lorient i command a nice type IXC and i can tell the Tommie's are getting smarter and greater in number (especially in the air!), i have now 4 petty officers specialized in flack-gun!! In this current mission im playing im on my way off the coast of South Africa and a large convoy was signaled to me but i had to give it a miss as i was too far away,
Anyway i would like to thank all you guys for all the tips i got from the forum and hopefully we will be in touch again. Happy hunting you old rascals :up:

Hakkalotty

Welcome to Subsim.
Try to stay away from aircrafts as much as possible.
Fighting them equals to your death sentence.

Gute Jadg Herr Kaluen

Welcome and :agree: with the tips and help from this forum

:subsim:

Welcome Aboard :salute:

I've decided to start using manual targeting.

April 1940, Operation Hartmut.

Wasted four eels on a collier. The first time, I messed up the solution. The second... one missed, one dud.

Was told to intercept allied forces. Attacked the HMS Nelson. Wrong solution. Broke the port diesel in my attempts to attack a second time.

Returned to base, tail tucked.

U-94
 

28 Sept 40
Patrol 10
U-94
Due to our victories in France I have been transferred to a new type VII boat in Brest. Most of my officers and crew from U-19 will accompany me on the train from Germany to France. I've dismissed two sound men for neglect of duties on our last patrol. I caught them sleeping while on duty. We provision our boat and depart at 13:01 hrs. (100% realism)
As soon as we leave the harbor I order the navigator to make a sounding to determine the depth under keel. Fifty two meters. Good! I order a dive to periscope depth and proceed at 1 knot until dusk.
I have decided to set the watch for the entire crew the same as our enemies; 4 on, 4 off. (in this way I don't have to play "musical chairs" more than necessary, while allowing my crew rest)(I have fatigue turned off)
19:41 hrs
I go up on deck to smoke a cigar. The sea is calm. A faint light is still visible to the West. We head towards the North Channel.
Rudi Kruska, Lt. Sr.

30 Sept 40
Patrol 10
U-94
We have reached the edge of the continental shelf, off the SW coast of France, 216 kilometers from Brest. No contacts to report. The crew has settled down to a routine watch schedule. Morale is good.
I go up on deck at 0:200 for a cigar smoke. The sea is glass. The sky is clear, filled with stars. The sea air is fresh. All I need is a pine forest to surround us and I'd feel right at home. Back home, my wife is closing the windows at night to keep the day's warmth in our cottage. Should it become cold enough, she'll start a fire in the wood stove.
Two days at sea and I'm already homesick.
Rudi Kruska, Lt. Sr.

Decided to go though my stable mod soup and make it reletively unstable, on an atomic scale, with new mods. Now i have to go back every now and then and edit this or that to make some mods compatable when i find an error:-? why does it seem some of us spend more time fine tunning than playing:k_rofl:

2 OCT 40
Patrol 10
U-94
11:39 hrs., received a report from the sound man, "merchant, medium speed, constant distance, bearing 358". I order a depth change from 50 meters to 21 meters, maintain course and speed 1 knot. I plot a mark on the map at 358 degrees about 34 kilometers from the boat. And I wait. Noon, contact is now at 20 degrees. I plot a mark on the map at 20 degrees about 34 kilometers from the boat. I order the boat surfaced, ahead full, course due North. I assign Lt. j.g. Schminga to the bridge. I set the torpedoes to a depth of 3 meters, with contact pistols.
13:07 hrs. contact sighted, bearing 317 degrees. I order a dive to periscope depth, flank speed, new course 335 degrees.
13:31, fire!
13:32, Impact, enemy unit destroyed.
Down scope, depth 50 meters, speed 1 knot, reload tube 1.
13:44 tube 1 reloaded. Good job men! At my request, the radio man puts a record on the platter to play "Sing, sing, sing" by Benny Goodman.
Tomorrow, Noon, we'll have good news with our daily position report for BdU.
Rudi Kruska, Lt. Sr.

Running the surface warfare mod, I took the only ship worth playing in the campaign, (the pocket battleship due to its range), to indonesia, via a fuel stop with a V ship. The pickings around the west coast of Australia and India are great.

4 OCT 40
Patrol 10
U-94

03:04 Ship spotted, bearing 270 degrees. I order a dive to periscope depth, ahead full, new course 151 degrees.
03:14 Ship identified 500 meters away as a British tug boat, speed 7 knots.
03:16 I miss (or duds?) with two torpedoes. We surface. I man the deck gun myself and fire high-explosive shells 400 meters away from the target.
03:27 Enemy unit destroyed. Return to course.
5 OCT 40
02:00 We surface the boat in grid BF18. I go up on deck, holding a cup of coffee. The big dipper constelation is off our starboard beam. The two torpedo misses bother me. Five thousand marks apiece, wasted. I confer with my torpedo men. We draft a report for headquarters.
Rudi Kruska, Lt. Sr.