As much as i enjoy type 9's......
 

I have to admit, the IXD2 is just too damn big. I never realized how big they really are until one day.. a long time ago, i got blasted to the surface and subsquently rammed.

http://www.ducimus.net/sh3/convoy_test_4.jpg
Note size compared to the DE.


But thats not the boat that i just lost. Acutally, come to think of it, i havent had a IXD2 career where i DIDN'T lose the boat. :hmm:

My latest loss... well... maybe i should look into the 2nd patrol club.

All things considered, i think i did exceptionally well given the year, boat, and ASW i encountered.


Here is the ONLY single merchant i sank:
Here is the attack on the first convoy i encountered
yeah, soo... well, that escort carrier was ticking me off. I saw him, and he' was all i focused on. The first DE happen to get in line with my aft tube before i went deep and received a healthy depth charging. The last DE came back sniffing around for me after i finished off the tramp steamer. Surpised the hell out of me too, he crawled right up my baffels. Popped the scope and there he was.



Heres the results of an attack on a second convoy i encountered, south of madagascar, NE of Durban.
Again, a healthy depth charging. I honestly didnt think id survive but i did.


On 22 Feb 1943, i encountered a 3rd convoy and prosocuted another attack. As if i hadnt learned my lesson from the two previous "payoffs" i recieved. Two magnetic shots under the keel of a T3 tanker. Both of which hit. Never saw him sink though. Shot two more at a T2 tanker. One prematured, the other missed.

This depth charging was even longer, and with the uboat twice damaged by near hits, i was forced to go shallower and shallower. When i couldnt go deeper then 170 meters without being crushed i knew my chances of surviving was 10 to 1. After the yet another masssive bombadment (i honestly thought theyd run out of depth charges soon) i recieved a hit which forced me to blow ballast. 10 seconds later, another one landed right forward of the conning tower, and that was all she wrote.


3 convoy attacks, 3 depth charging's, and all with the exterior camera off i might add. After the second convoy attack i was seriously consiering avoiding convoys. Of course when i made contact with that 3rd convoy i didnt think twice about it and attacked. Obviously i shouldnt have. :roll:

I hate type IXs they're big hence easy to detect via active sonar and they turn veryyyy slo o o o o o o o o o o o o o o ow. Plus their underwater performance is poor(poor speed). And yeah almost forgot their dive time is miserable and they got noticed a lot further by her enemy hence you need to give longer underwater chase.:down:

No wonder about your career results with type IXs

I prefer type VIIB/C they're fast)even faster with upgraded engine albeit with the cost in range), small enough to avoid active sonar(especially with sonar coating) and they're agile(fast dive time, turn faster). It's perfect :up:

you VII fanatic:down:


if you know how to handle a type IX boat
its a piece of cake to get through depth charge attacks or plane attacks or whatever
but if you dont know how to handle the boat (seems like you dont)
you're going straight to the bottom

and ducimus
IX types werent s'posed to attack convoys but act alone

yeah i dont like the bigger boats either big margin of error for the dds when they dc you. i go as far as a IXB no bigger

I've slowly turned into a Type IX convert myself. If you love attacking convoys in the same few grid squares in the North Atlantic, by all means go for your Type VII. If you like to be sent who knows where and have new adventures in exotic locales, then the Type IX is for you.

I do notice the longer dive times on the Type IX's, but I never noticed the slower underwater speed. A half a knot on top underwater speed doesn't really matter to me, as I never really use top speed underwater anyways.

I have been playing online alot lately, and my mate always use the IXD2 (although I told him he was a tonnage-tosser), so I started using it sometimes because he was getting all the tonnage before I could reload.

I dont like it, its too easy to mess up late war convoys when two(or more) boats are pumped full of Falke`s. And - as Ducimus says - its so big! I actually think an oil rig could dive faster!

Next time I`m gonna insist on using VII`s with only one rear Falke.

I like the IX-class, dont get me wrong, but when the kitchen gets hot nothing beats the Formula 1-agility of the VII! :D

PS: I must admit I grinned when we attacked a Task Force last night. He killed off a few DD`s and a Carrier with his 5000 Falke`s, and subsequently got blown to bits while trying to crash dive at 1mph. I got away in My VIIC with approx the same tonnage after a while, but alive.

Us IX Captains get to see the world so stick that in your pipe and smoke it. :|\\

Guys;

You know why IX skippers are so grumpy?
It's all the money they spend. No, not like renown but on a 2nd. computer.
One for the game, and the other to browse the forum while waiting for their IX to dive. :rotfl:

Who needs a big sub.

New York, New York can a Type VII sail there, NO. :rotfl: :rotfl:

No one named Tiny:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

I attack convoys all the time in my IXB! :up:

Ofcourse it's only 1940. That's true.

Yep. I lile the challenge of a type IX but I doubt their crews did. Guess there is a good reason why they typically went to areas where ships were largely unescorted. But where's the fun in that?

:yep:

Duce,

love the story. I'm in an IXC now, and was thinking of going for the D2, but maybe now I'll stay with what i've got. My few past experience with the D2 have also been short. Maybe that boat's just too damn big.

Anyway - I always love to hear stories about a good depth-charging. I'd love to get detected for a change. In my past career (VIIC) I pulled 18 patrols and attacked convoys on every patrol, often several times. I was only detected by escorts once i think, and was no close depth charging. It was a little boring actually. Now that I'm in the IXC, I hope i cast a bigger shadow and maybe sweat a bit. So if you're switching to the VII class, remember that small is safer, so much so even that it can get boring.

Last night, second patrol with no ex cam, I thought I was going to see some hairy action. There were 4 torps that i had to spend before returning to base (Apr 1941). Mouth of gibraltar, slow convoy eastbound. Glassy water. I drift into the convoy at PD, 2kts silent. Lead Black Swan never suspects a thing. He's so steady I even use him to estimate the convoy speed with stad. readings. I proceed to attack and sink two Large Merchants (with the whopping GWX tonnage of 14k each) . I turn into the convoy begin my descent, 3kts at first, and then back to 1kt. Over the hydrophone I hear some angry warship screws chugging about in my rear. No pings. No DC. Nothing. I drift out of the convoy again. I'm itchin for a depth-charging. If i had sonar i might have sent out a 'hello!' ping. Man I need a close call. Maybe I'll take a suicide run in single player just to get it out of my system so I don't blow this career.

Kb

What was the difference in displacement between a Gato class and a Balao class....anybody know??