Merchant firepower
 

I always start my careers in 1939 and am generally dead by 1941 so this kaleun is a bit surprised to be sailing the North Atlantic in mid 1942. The merchies have started tooling up for action. No surprise there but they're decked out like cruisers!
I fired a torp at a solitary whale factory ship and then surfaced to finish him off and got the snot kicked out of me! There were gunners practically hanging off the masts. The Liberty ship I'm stalking now has got a hole in its hull but it also has 3 guns up front, 3 at the stern and 4 machine guns up top!!!!! The Bismark didn't have that kind of firepower!

My 'one torpedo one ship' strategy is gonna have to change and BdU is not gonna be happy :nope: Them fish aint cheap

Just a comment on the fish aint cheap statement...

What your sinking is worth farrrr more then a couple of torpedoes :up:


Yeah watch out for armed merchants in stormy wheather who insist on fireing at your exposed boat when the wave rolls and exploses your conning tower its really annoying.

I have found if you have damaged a ship but it hasn't sunk, put 5,000 to 6,000 metres between the ship and you and you can get a couple of rounds off before he spots you.

Try and attack from a point where his guns woun't bear, if he's got a gun forward, attack from aft. If you want to have fun, put a neutral ship between you and him and watch the fireworks!:up:

With bigger ships it pays to make sure they go down by using a couple of torpedo's, smaller ships can get by with one, and if they don't go down, think before ordering surface and man the deck gun, as the welcome you get may not be pleasent!:yep:

Some Liberties were fairly well armed:

• One 3 inch bow gun
• One 4or 5 inch stern gun
• Two 37 mm bow guns
• Six 20 mm machine guns

http://www.usmm.org/libertyships.html

Yeah, the convoys are far from helpless the later on in the war it gets. PROTIP: "Dead in the wter" might just be us if we take too much for granted.

Some good tips given above. Most importantly, know how to use the DG yourself, and know your sub's limits. For example, if you can get in close to a wallowing C3, I don't care what kind of armament he's got, he just can't get the declination necessary to hit you.

Oh, and don't ever get in a surface duel with battleships. They hate when you do that, and will protest loudly. Their arguments are usually pretty compelling, too.

What works best for me, is when I aim the deck gun myself and shoot from long range (3000-5000 m). At that distance the merchant gunners usually don't stand a chance, especially if I run at flank speed and present only the bow as a target, i.e. running towards or away from them.

Think I'll just torpedo them. I didn't realise the Liberties were so well armed. And the Whale Factory Ship was just carelessness on my part. I spotted the machine guns on his forecastle through the scope but missed the side firing ones in the masts. Gave me a hell of a fright :D

Growler
I'm having this mental picture of you in your Type IIa going flank speed straight at a King George V from 6km out blasting away with your Flak gun going "Take that you big Hulking Mother...!!" dakka dakka dakka... :arrgh!:

your shells would patter off its armor like so much gentle rain.....

so the Admiral on that ship says to his Captain:
"that thing is ruining our paintjob, kindly remove it from my ocean, please, it's impudence disturbs me. I think I'll go have a nap now <yawn>"

Captain: "Aye sir, XO, one broadside for that little canoe if you would be so kind?"

XO: "aye aye sir! FIRE MAIN BATTERY!"

KERFOOOM

and it ends up with you being credited as the first commanding officer to reach earth orbit and also being posthumously made the head of the new German Space Program.

maybe they'll name a new medal after you?
:D

The first two ships I avoid surface engagements with (in order of game appearance) are the Empire and the Liberty :nope:

Once when i was patroling the med in late '41, there was the biggest storm ever, i decided to surface because my betteries were nearly dead , tinking that i wouldnt be spotted in the weather. Two hours later the storm calmed all of a sudden and fog rolled in as quickly as the storm had stoped, cursing my luck and quarter charged batteries i sailed on a 10kts, suddenly the WO screams 'Ship spotted!!' and then 'Were Under Attack!' On the Bridge a C2 Cargo appeared out of no where :damn: Less than 350m away it started plugging away at me with his 4inch deck gun, luckily it missed, i crash dived, then back up to periscope depth and rammed 2 fish into its side for its impudence :lol:

:rotfl::rotfl:

Holy cow, that made my day, Cranky... as in, "that made my day funnier, thank you, KepitanCranky" not, "that made my day cranky, KepitanCranky"... eh... you know what I mean.:D

The only thing you missed was blasting Wagner's Ride of The Valkyries at full volume as "inspiration" for the U-equivalent of Pickett's Charge.

:rotfl:

your welcome, and yes some music would have made it better,

makes me think of Kelly's Heroes too, with the huge speakers on the shermans :D

edit; I'm sparky now? oh well :D

PAINT SHELLS!! CRANKY, YOU'RE A GENIUS!!!:know::up:
: "We have these special shells, they're filled with paint. Makes pretty pictures; scares the hell outta people."

As for the typo in Keptin... beh. I can't spell without at least a half-liter of coffee in me. Apologies.

Firing a main armament broadside at a 'canoe' would give new meaning to the phrase 'overkill'

I suspect that a full broadside from one of those things would be heavier than the canoe.

Yes, you may very well be right, I'll try to find out how much one of those 16' shell weighs :D but how the hell else will the explosion send him into orbit? :D that needs a lot of boom!

You know the sheer sound alone might ruin the admiral's nap :nope: :D