No more harbour raids ever!
 

April 1 1940 and BdU in his kindness assigned me to patrol grid AN68. Seeing as I'm 2nd flotilla in Willi this meant I had fulfilled my obligation to patrol in 3 days. Also with the benefit of being from 60 years in the future I also knew the Norway campaign was gonna kick off in a week or two so no point heading back to base for a 28 day refit. After trawling up and down the north sea picking off tramp steamers I decided to head towards Scapa to intercept any Home Fleet ships sortieing out. Of course being an impatient git I wasnt prepared to wait in deep water for a week twiddling my toes but now on my 5th patrol I'm also wise enough not to attempt to infiltrate Scapa. What to do?:hmm: Why not raid Lerwick sub-base!:damn:
Off I went until 15k out we spotted a V&W then another. Down to periscpe depth and onwards. How we laughed as the first one ran aground and sank, then the second one just stopped at the lands edge with props still going. We stopped laughing when 2 more appeared behind us and blocked the entrance. Luckily we had the perfect distraction, We ran into a net at 5 knots and they came to investigate :damn: DC's away and next minute one of them is sinking then no2 runs aground but doesnt sink. Using the ob scope we get through the net and what do we find? 2 fishing boats, a coastal tanker, an armed trawler, a depot ship and another V&W tied up at the pier. Prob was that the two grounded destroyers were like gun platforms. Everytime scope went up they shot it and I couldnt hit them (wasted 3 torps but no hits) eventually sank the depot, the tied up V&W and the coastal. Then I couldnt find the gap in the net again. Eventually had to bump into it, back away afew 100m then ahead flank and surface, over we go and periscope depth again. Like the champion hurdles only a lot slower. I went from 99% integrity to 11% in seconds. Spotlights and starshell and us cruising along slowly flooding. Thank christ I gave repair quals to the CE and senior PO or we would have flooded. Needless to say we didnt stick around for the fleet and crawled home :D

sounds like a personal problem, hahaha. also i know when the Norwegian campaign started the Brits sent a Exp force to the North Western coast of Norway. So just cruising near the fords about mid way on the North West Coast. You will see a few Cruisers, lots of DDs, lots of Troop Transports and a couple merchants, good hunting.

O and when i was stationed at Willi and sent out on patrol i always found a Task Force heading South East about Towards Denmark, but its entirely made up of DDs, a bit strange, anyone else notice that?

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: i guess you went "Gunther Prien" one time too much:rotfl:

hehehe i used to attack harbours in stock sh3 and had lots of success and high tonnage, but since GWX not a chance, harbour raiding is way too dangerous, the DDS pick you up before you can even get close :nope:

:D I am much more cowardly than Prien I've only ever raided neutral harbours before. I never intend seeing Scapa unless its from the deck of the corvette bringing my surrendering ass in:D

haha:rotfl:

Every so often I get close to a harbour, even a nuetral one and get tempted to take a peek. It's getting late in `41 current carrer with a VIIB so it's possible, but something tells me it would be a good way to end this carrer.

i think i might have to agree with u there danurve. i stay away from harbours full stop but then again neutrals are so-so to have a peek in.

Harbours and shallow waters, a career-ending combo. :nope: :nope:

Fog, I did appreciate your net vaulting technique :rotfl: :rotfl:

hmm career ending combo?
how do you leave harbor then?:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

lol nice one :D , shame you weren't rewarded for the effort tho

Halifax is a good port to raid in 1940, still only a few armed trawlers and 1 DD.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Even Prien didn't go harbor-raiding. Admiral Doenitz concieved of the Scapa Flow raid after studying aerial photographs and spy reports, and he and Prien planned it for days before the actual attempt. After U-47's success the British seriously beefed up all their harbor defenses, and that was the one and only harbor raid of the war.

I like harbor raiding on first and second patrols. Once I have anything invested in my character, it gets more painful.

The weather makes all the difference as far as I have experienced. If the waves are calm and you can keep the conning tower down, you have a chance.

That said, I've only done Scapa, Loch Ewe, and Port Said. Truthfully, if the destroyers hadn't run themselves aground - which I don't think is very realistic - I wouldn't have survived Port Said. I got into Loch Ewe by sailing - without knowing it - right through a minefield along the southern coastal edge. Must have got extremely lucky. I opened the mission editor later and was kind of surprised that my "clever trick" was actually a death run.

By the way, if you wait for Germany to declare war on Greece and then pop into Port Said at the end of 1940 hoping to sink the Averof, she isn't there. :damn: That was a tough trip through the Straits and into that damn harbor with very little payout!

Bottom line is that risk/GRT isn't very good.