Attacking a convoy
 

I'm quite inexperienced at SHIII, so I need some help attacking a convoy. I'm using GWX.

I've found this nice juicy convoy heading to England. There's several Pyro ammunition ships (5k tonnage) and several large merchants (11k tonnage). The convoy is sailing in a box formation with several destroyers as escorts. The line closest to me consists of the Pyro ships, and the line second next to me consists of the large merchants. I've positioned myself perpendicular to the sail path. Problem is: How do I maximize the damage? Should i dive into the middle of the convoy? As it is now the pyro ships will be about 600m away from me while the large merchant will be about 1,5 km away. Should I shoot after one pyro and one large merchant, or shoot at everything I can? I only have 4 front torpedoes


Also: How come this forum doesn't have a search function?

I would start off with a periscope attack, I only reserve surface attacks for poor weather and at night where your superior surface speed can get you in quickly to make the attack and then then same speed will get you out quicker. An attack tactic pioneered by Otto Kretschmer (U-99) who favoured night surface attacks and within the convoy which managed to cause mayhem and confusion.

I would go after the Pyro's with 1 torpedo, mainly they are quite easy to kill especially with GWX. The Large Cargos would need to have 2 fish each to have a chance of sinking them, although on rare occasions I have managed to sink them with one fish.

So, if there are 2 Pyro's then fire 1 fish each and then with the last two fire at a large cargo or merchant, and aim at the smoke stack - the engine room is in that area of the ship.

You might find that if you can get into the convoy you will be able use your rear fish as it will be able to bear on to anything behind you.

I take it you have a Type VII boat? Once you have fired all fish dive deep and quickly you can use the crash dive option with the "C" key, once you are down to about 80 to 100 meters slow down to minimal speed and run in silent mode ("Z" key) - keep diving down to about 160 to 170 meters. Once there you should be safe from any reprisals from the enemy escorts.

Yes, I'm in a VII
But how do I aim for the smokestack when the ship is 1,5 kms away and it's in the middle of the night? I can only target specific parts of the ship if I'm at 1km or closer

Sorry I didn't realise you were at night.

Are using manual or automatic targeting?

What year is it?

if the escorts ahve Rada then you will need very diffrent tactics.

Depends what year it is,if your in the late years I would take out the lead escort if anything atleast you have 1 less escort to worry about,if there's a few pyro's about fire a wide spread then dive to reaload even if you havent sunk anything you might have been lucky to slow em down and finish them of later, or find the biggest ship in the convoy and let her have it.there are a number of possibilities you can do just depends on what year your in and what kind of fish you got.

It's september 1939 so it's my first patrol. Sorry for not making clear it was night. I'm using automatic targeting for the moment, until I'm more experienced.

I'd chose to attack the Pyros, if you aim at the first mast 1 torpedo is sufficient to sink it, because it blows up.

Nope, he's using auto targeting...:)

He can still aim at the first mast with auto-targeting.

Here is how:

1. Lock onto your target by pressing the 'L' key. The periscope will automatically snap to the middle of the ship.

2. Ask your WO for a solution. When you see the numbers show up on the clipboard, click on the 'check mark' on the clip board.

3. Now unlock the ship by pressing the 'L' key again.

4. Turn your periscope to the first mast and then shoot your eels.

This should give you a hit at the first mast but you must do the solution, unlock, move scope, and shoot within a short time as the solution degrades with time.

HTH.

There is no need to ask your WO for a solution, the solution is done automatically when the cross hairs have been locked onto the target.

But manual isn't that difficult: Just place the crosshair over the first mast for example and the torpedo should hit at this spot.

Some top tips in this tread, but basically......

So I should only go for the Pyros?

What about after the attack and I have escaped? Should I follow the convoy to strike at it again or is that too dangerous?

Well it depends...what is the escort makeup of this convoy? If there's only one or two escorts and they don't have a clue where you are, you can reload and attack again, you can try to sink the escorts if you want, or you can bugger off and take what you have. Me personally...I'd blast them all, escorts included. :D