Super tankers?
 

I am playing with TM 1.5 and 100% realism, and on my way home from a mission in Japan I encountered a Large Modern Tanker. He passed within 1000 meters of me, and I hit him with six Mark 23 torpedoes, spread all across his lenght, all about 5.5 meters below the waterline.

The bugger wouldn't sink.

He didn't even catch fire, didn't slow down, and there were no visible holes in his hull. I had to surface and finish him off with the deck gun, and considering that he was armed, I took some damage doing so, not to mention exposing myself to roaming aircraft.

How do I punch a hole in such a formidable armor? I mean, I managed to sink a battleship with 6 torpedoes, and this thing didn't even seem bothered by them...

:o

/Fredda

.
 

No clue, I'm using Mark 23's also and sinking just about anything with 2 hits. If they premature a very short distance from the target it will sometimes look like a hit, but not inflict damage. It's hard to imagine that happening to all six though.

I am quite sure they all hit, but even if one or two did detonate prematurely, that still leaves four hits. Perhaps I encountered a new kind of Japanese TANKer?

/Fredda

Tankers can actually take a tremendous amount of punishment compared to dry cargo vessels, because of their much greater subdivision- the "Ohio" (operation Pedestal Malta 1942) is a prime example. Much would depend on whether it was loaded at the time, and where you hit it. A tanker in ballast is a pretty tough customer.
When did you attack it- 1942? A large percentage of failures (prematures/duds/deep runners etc) was, unfortunately, "standard" at that time, so it is by no means unrealistic that all six were failures; the absence of any holes in the hull would tend to confirm the torpedoes exploded short.

Got curious about the Ohio... and found this link. Good reading.

yeah thanks for posting that link it does have some good info.

Tankers can be hard beast to take down, with many internal bulkheads and large pumps and can take alot of damage before giving up!

But if it's laded with avgas, the just fire a couple of deck gun round into it!:arrgh!:

I attacked it in March 1943, and it was headed to Japan. I suppose it might have been empty, didn't think about that.

The torpedoes I used where mark 23s. Do they also have the problem that the mark 14 has? In any case, all six would have to have exploded prematurely within half a meter of the tanker's hull, so the odds must be astronomical.

Anyway, he's dead now. Just got to go back to Midway and restock as the bastard ate up all my deck gun ammo.

/Fredda

If the tanker was proceeding TO Japan, then in real life it would undoubtedly have been carrying a cargo, most probably either crude or fuel oil, if coming from the NEI.
From Japan, it would have probably been carrying diesel, petrol in various grades and other refined products to the various operational areas; after discharging the cargo, possibly proceeding to the NEI to load another cargo of crude, or alternatively, returning back to Japan for another refined cargo- in this case, it would probably be in ballast.
As the "Ohio" shows, even when carrying a cargo tankers are very tough. In ballast, you'd need a lot of ammo to sink it- unless you cause an explosion when the tanks haven't been cleaned yet. Once the tanks are gasfree, they are even harder to sink as causing a fire is almost impossible. And, unlike most dry cargo vessels of similar size, one or two torpedo hits won't do the job- as another tanker, the "Ondina", proved.

Are you running stock 1.3? If so, then you'll encoutner a lot of cases where ships seem 'unsinkable', due to stupid compartment layout and config values. WernerSobe did an excellent job in fixing those issues in his Natural Sinking Merchants mod, which frankly is a must-have for anyone that tries to play SH 4 more than once a month.

:)

/Fredda

A sure Prise these Tankers !!
 

I know that being on patrol , I have encountered these large tankers . I seen a 4 torp Salvo go into her , and The damm things keeps on keeping On .. yeah Scratching My head . What the hell .. So I have decided if there are tankers involved , That I will Use my resources too kill that GDAMMTANKERS At all cost .. Yeah Its a waste of torps to killone tanker . But its resorcefull To Kill 4-6 merchant ships !! Gussing It could be done If you concentrate on killing tankers .. If find a weak spot Gotta Let the Other Skippers , know about ASAP

Being a tanker he was carrying Helium! :p

I find when dealing with tankers, set the depth to 20ft, launch a spread of three; one on the engine room (stacks), another on the bow, and another one under the bridge..

Usually come out with an instantaneous kill, even though there are no large fireworks:-?

With Regards,

Krauter