Out of fuel again!
 

For the third time my career ends abruptly!

Amazingly, this time I actually departed my patrol area in the Hokkaido Sea (30000 tons) for Pearl in USS Gar with 60% fuel left, at 2/3 speed,but was out of fuel 270nm from Midway.

It would only have taken a tug boat a few hours to reach me :(

How did it happen? Well while warping back at 3000x I went to make a cup of tea. Seems I hit a squall and that zapped all my fuel, coz i didn't have any when I got back and it was raining.

Well it seems to me that Pearl is uphill from Japan, because i always consume more fuel coming home. But it could be because youve sufferd damage to the tanks

It could be due to damage to the tanks or batteries. When I run out of fuel on my way back to Midway, it's because the batteries can't recharge 100%, but the engines keep trying, so you burn a lot of fuel for that.
Next time you see you fuel low on the way back, check the batteries and stop recharging them if they can't get up to 100%.

My home harbor is also Pearl Harbor, and I'm still using a Porpoise class sub.

To give me more chances with fuel, I usually stop at Midway after I left home, to already fill the fuel tank. And when I come back, I usually need to stop at Midway again.

Once, I had to make a trip to Java (early war, Java was still in control of US) to fill tanks, or I would not have been able to make it back home.

Best cruising speed is 10 knots..... period.. (except S class).

At 2/3 your going to burn up fuel quickly.

A stop at midway is also S.O.P.

thanks for the replies everybody. It is true i did take one shell hit and that could have caused the fuel leak.

I'll also be sure to refuel at midway each time, although had the fuel loss been even slightly faster it wouldn't have helped much.

Still it would be nice if you could radio for help. I mean really what is Midway harbour authority to say? "No! You lose Captain Grundman! I don't care that you are only 270nm away. We don't have the resources to encourage this sort of careless skippering, and we will make an example of you! You and your men will starve to death where you are and then maybe, maybe we'll retrieve your boat and give it to someone else!":rotfl:

Running out of fuel does not necessarly mean "game over".

If you have the patience you can return under battery power. Somehow the batteries recharge even without the engines running :o

Run submerged as far as you can... surface and recharge... rinse, repeat.

Now if your ruddder gets chopped off you are truely screwed.

The 1.3 readme says this doesn't work anymore, if I remember right.

Tea.......That's your problem. Happens every time drinking tea at 3000x. :arrgh!: :lol:

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Could be. I havent had to do the solar batterie trick in quite some time.

If what you say is true then... well I guess your screwed.

Yep, you're screwed.
I can confirm there will be no recharging when out of diesel.

only worked once...
 

I tried that, on that uphill run - thought jobsagoodun when the batteries recharged, but they only did it once :-(

At least it was a first mission and a luckless patrol.

So I'll be starting again soon...

Dimdoms.

I have shifted my running speeds to 10 knts...and im getting great results in distance.

Very efficient.

COMSUBPAC:

"No! You lose Captain Grundman! I don't care that you are only 270nm away. We don't have the resources to encourage this sort of careless skippering, and we will make an example of you! You and your men will starve to death where you are and then maybe, maybe we'll retrieve your boat and give it to someone else!"