U64 IXB 2. Flotilla Patrol 7 complete.
 

Patrol Grid was BE86 thence northward along the suspected shipping lines.
Patrol dates were 12.OKT.41 to 20.DEC.41.
3 merchants sunk for 6700 GRT.

The patrol ended with 2 separate attacks on the same convoy.
8 torpedoes fired for 7 hits. Only one target sunk!
A final attack on a C2 Cargo with both stern tubes resulted in 2 hits, and 1 unfazed merchant. It didn't even slow him down.
All 14 torpedoes expended for 6700 GRT?! Not good.
At least we did manage to get off 2 separate contact reports on the convoy. The action started in BE61 so somebody should have been able to respond and intercept.
(The second contact report was essential as the convoy had altered course from 022 to 064).

U64's current history:
7 patrols (23.Mar.40 to 20.DEC.41).
20 merchants sunk for 106.319 GRT.

14APR43- End of patrol 5&6
After 83 days at sea (refueling at U-460) U-125 is back to Lorient. 5 ships sunk for 45.925 tons. Light damages.
Things are getting tougher, lots of planes, few contacts, better escorts, zigzaging convoys...
One good news: New types of torpedoes will be boarded on our next patrol

03JUN43-Patrol 7
70km from Lorient got a radar contact, stayed on surface but soon attacked by a catalina and lightly damaged. Patrol aborted heading back to Lorient...Thx to the luftwaffe...

June 43, Type IXC, 215km west of Gibraltar.....two convoys crossing each other as one heads into the Med and the other exits.

Not enough eels to cope with the treasure available and definitely in need of wolfpacks ingame....if only.

Been operating out of Corrientes and wondering why I couldn't get any upgrades for U-boat, now heading back to Kiel early '40 and hoping to get me a VIIB soon, then maybe I'll be able to strike a bit further afield. :yeah:

I did say strike, in the 'attack' sense - obviously not the 'hit' sense! :wah:

Upgrades are only allowed in your home base IIRC :hmmm:

Well, since the Corrientes is a resupply ship and not a naval base, it's unlikely they'd have any upgraded equpment lying around there just for the taking. :D

I think fuel, food, eels, and repairs to the existing equipment are all one can expect at a resupply ship. Upgrading the boat should require a patrol to end at a base where that kind of refit is actually possible.

Yeah, I tried to catch the convoy in a patch of deep water, but when I started taking hits that proved fatal. I tried running at flank speed towards the shallows but then my engines got shaken up and the best I could make was 2 knots, barely enough to maintain depth, much less attempt to evade :nope:

But for your love of Corrientes, I think they,
 

make it into a permanent naval base :O:

Hi,

since it seems that many dedicated players hang around in this thread, I want to ask whether anyone uses the campaign layers from my zigzag mod:

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=172566

If yes, I would be very happy about some feedback/experiences for possible improvements. Without any feedback it's quite hard to improve a mod for a single person. Thanks in advance and good hunting :arrgh!:

Cheers, LGN1

I know, I realised that hence my return to Kiel - the long way - and I've only come across one merchant (gottim!) between Corrientes and the Kattegat. Still, I'm home and my crew are hitting the town whilst the refit is underway :D

Early 1940 so I'm sticking around Norway for my next patrol or two :up:

...Bernard, get me a flaggon of the house ale does not mean put a flag on my house sale...

Currently alongside the Corientes myself, enjoying some R&R (can't see you Herr Berbunch, you must be in a different bar). Then its back into the Straits of Gibraltar for another suicide mission!:woot:

Currently in my first career :) with only SH3 Commander however, Im going to download GWX 3.0 tommorow and see if my computer can handle it.

It is however 1940 and I have come across my first merchant in british waters while on my way to AM41.

Yes Im a n00b and do have auto targeting on but Ive been reading guides (especially this very nice one that illustrated) about how to manually target so Im trying my hand.

But back to whats at hand. My first merchant ship is abot 2000M off in the distance.. soo wish me luck? :yeah:

EDIT::o

Wow I need work, so I get close to the merchant, around 400m while at periscope depth, I lock on, get a decent solution, fire 1 eel, nada. Take a second shot. Nada again. A third almost yields a hit.. So close to her back end I could almost taste the steel. Yet No hit. So I fire a fourth. and miss yet again -_-.. by this point im frustrated and have no clue why my torpedos arent loaded into their tubes yet. after about a minute of watching the ship go left right, left and right again, I realize I need to man the torpedo rooms with men :o Lord im gonna get my men killed at sea:damn: So after they finally load an electric eel into the tube. I set the depth just below her draft, and for magnetic and fire. this time. Boom. I hit her right in the prop and stopped her dead in the water. I figure why waste another torp so I pull alongside her and deck gun her to death.... now onto my patrol grid :arrgh!: (although most of my sailors probably are looking like this toward their Herr Kapt right now --->:shifty::nope: :stare:except for bernard of course whose like so :yeah:) sorry for the long post .. I got excited :)

You need about 500m for the torpedo to arm but apart from that you seem to be doing just fine. GWX thoroughly recommended alongside Commander :yeah:

To quote the mighty Jimbuna, 'be more aggressive', and 'sink 'em all'! :D

300 M is the distance required to arm. That is, the torpedo must sail at least 300 metres to arm, not be fired from 300 metres. Many new players focus on the second part, not the first. If a target is closing on you and you fire at 300 metres, the torpedo will dud because by the time it hits, the target has moved and brought the running distance under 300 metres. This consideration is of utmost importance, especially if you are trying to kill an escort that is closing on you. Alternatively, you could fire on a target that is under 300 M away if it is moving away from you. If you don't want to calculate time and distance, leave a healthy margin.

In my current campaign I am on patrol 3 of my latest career. I use the realistic career length option in SH3 Cmdr so I have none of this 41 patrols from 39 to 45 and 1.3 millon tons sort of thing. We are in March of '43 and finding those pesky flugzeugen to be a real pain the stern, having to always crash dive. Good thing I have a Biscay Cross, but I don't know how long that will work. I now have the upgraded turm on my VIIC so I have three flak guns and three flak trained gunners. I've only had to engage one plane so far, but that was in a previous career. Our current position is south of the Azores; we torpedoed a passenger/cargo with 2 eels and she still didn't sink, so I left that Greek to live as I did not wish to waste a 3rd. The escorts are becoming real pros now and have a few times frustrated me as I have attempted to get into firing position on a convoy. It is more difficult to get near the convoys due to shipborne radar, but not impossible; it simply requires more skill, patience and time.

LOL :DL

Unless it is a Falke...they require a distance of 400 M