IX Real life torpedo loadout vs sh3
 

I'm currently reading Operation Drumbeat, a great book about the second happy time in general and Reinhard Hardegen and U-123 specifically. On his two patrols to America Hardegen, in a IXC uboat, apparently only took his internal load of eels with him. According to the author of the book he had 14 available. For the second patrol it was mentioned he brought along 2 external ones.

My question is - can anyone clarify for me why he didn't take a full load of externals? Was this routinely done? If so, is this something I should do as well on long patrols to play more "realistic"?

Not sure why he wouldnt take all the eels possible
To be historical ALL ext torps should be steam only as they need a lot less\no maintenance

Perhaps he didnt want to run the risk of Steam fish being kept in outside stowage for that length of time
Perhaps he wanted a lighter load

Could be many reasons

If I remember correctly there were two reasons why some boats were not having a full external torpedo load

1. The allied air cover was devastating so the boats had little chances to actually move the external torpedoes inside the boat.

2. At some point (later than the first attack in US waters though) it was discovered that depth charges cracked open the containers on the deck of the U-Boat. That meant that the boat was vulnerable (lower "Hull Integrity basically") and the torpedoes were damaged.

Yeah I was thinking maybe something along the lines of AC cover myself, but seeing as aircover over the Eastern seaboard was an unknown, it would be prudent to bring externals along in case (as it turned out) AC cover was insignificant.

As for the lighter load, 10 externals couldn't have weighed more than 5-10 tons at the most I'd guess - but maybe it would have been to much of an extra load in terms of fuel efficency.

Wel other boats took a full load AFAIK so maybe just a personal choice

Still he sank 10 ships each trip IIRC