When do you give up when you miss?
 

Might be a stupid question, but I am curious to know... When do you give up on a target after your torpedo miss? When did historical Kaleuns gave up on a target?

Let's consider my current patrol as an example : Type VIIC, May 1942, around grid CC11 right by the Canadian Atlantic provinces. 9 days without a contact, and I finally spot a small coastal freighter (under 2,000 tons) and make my usual manual targeting routine. Got her speed and range on lock, fairly sure of my AOB, so my confidence in my firing solution is above 95%.

I fire Tube 2. It explodes prematurely.

Ok. Now that my cover is blown I slightly dial down the target's speed on the TDC. I fire Tube 3, but she didn't in fact slow down. So it misses right by passing right by her bow.

I recompute and fire Tubes 1 and 4. The former bounces off the middle of her keel, and the other passes right under without exploding. :doh:

I turn around and fire Tube 5... but by now the freighter did catch on, slowed down, and veered away, so that one misses too.

For such a small target, when would you have given up and said "well, too bad. Next target"? Would have real Kaleuns given up as well, or pressed on like I did? Deck gun isn't a solution because, by 1942, all Allied enemy merchants are armed anyway.

Thanks! :up:

Currently, on all small ships, I will shoot 1 torpedo max. If I miss, then they get a reprieve. I try to use my torps on large craft (more renown). Or weather permitting, I use the deck gun on small ships.

I don't believe the small ships are ever armed. One look through the scope would tell though.

Welcome aboard!
 

For me it is always dependant on the situation. Is the geometry suitable for another attack? What's the threat like? What year is it? Where are we in reference to the nearest air base? What's the quantity and type of remaining torpedoes? These factors and others get plugged into the decision tree.

Most of my SH3 careers are late war, 1943 or later and often in British coastal waters. They tend to be short and end violently, trying to force a re-attack usually serves just to make the career even shorter unless circumstances are just so.

-C

fire a well calculated spread into a convoy and run like hell!:D

For me it depends on how seriously I'm playing. If I have a miss it's so tempting to make some quick adjustments and take another shot. Often the result can be another wasted torpedo. If I try to be serious, then I try to avoid detection and re-engage at a later time. I try to evaluate my shooting data to see where I might have made a mistake, or if I'm sure I haven't, consider other variables like torpedo failures and/or the weather.

Typically if I'm playing to what I consider an authentic level, then I'll only give up on a target if it becomes impossible or the risk to my boat doesn't warrant it. I've limited knowledge of typical historical scenarios, but do remember reading an interesting example from a patrol log. Can't remember which boat, but the Kaleun fired 8 torpedos to finally sink the small freighter he was attacking. Of the 8 I think 6 were misses. BDU noted his inaccuracy and advised him to improve, but also praised his determination to not give up. Interesting.

It's really the great thing about SH3 in that you can play it however you want.