Sea of Japan / La Perouse Strait Orders?!?
 

Aack! July 1943 and I'm running TMO 1.5 / RSRD. Have a Balao out of Midway, just returned from war patrol 7, and my new orders are to penetrate into the SOJ via the La Perouse Strait, stay 7 days, then transit out and down the east coast of Japan. Whew! Going to spend that renown now and have a few at the O-Club, as you never know if you'll be coming home...

Seriously, I was somewhat surprised at the orders, since this was the orders for Wahoo's last patrol as I recall. Anyone have any tips / advice for this one? My orders mention mines but say Russian merchants seem to be transiting fine.

advice: keep your head down.

Well I did that in Patrol #4 (#1 in the USS Balao - new boat out of Midway). Like you I too was apprehensive, since that was where the Wahoo was sunk.

The transit was ok though, albeit I encountered 3 merchants along the way. Which I sank of course.

The SOJ is quite a target rich environment, yo could expend all your torps there,

Looks like whenever one gets a Balao, this is the 1st mission.

It'll be patrol #7, out of Midway, first in a Balao - SOJ via La Perouse Strait

I got the exact same mission to accomplish now, running RFB with RSRDC. I have no clues either, but I don't think the Strait will be filled with mines every few yards. Maybe I will do some active sonar, or wait for a merchant heading the same direction as me and just follow through - to sink her afterwards :arrgh!:

Or maybe I don't bother at all.

I've done this mission three times in three different careers, and that's exactly how I've done it every time. I've waited until dark, and then followed another ship through on the surface. Given that it comes up in a Balao, you will have SJ radar, so just stay well back out of visual range and make sure you're following a merchant rather than a warship. Also, plot the point-man's position every so often, that way you can get back out without needing to wait.

Not for me
 

For me this is patrol #8, my second one with the Balao.

Some good ideas, following another ship through at night... I've got my crew rotations done, and have upgraded my AA guns to the 40mm that just became available (in case I get in trouble with aircraft and can't dive). I've also added to my loadout a Mk 27 "Cutie" aft (in case I need to "discourage" an attacker), and a pair of Mk18s (which just became available to me) forward; 1 in tube 6 and 1 as reload (in case I need a bit more surprise than usual).

I'm debating adding 1-2 more of the Mk18s but for me they are unproven so I hesitate to take a lot of unproven ordnance into battle, especially if the stakes get high and I can't afford malfunctions... Anyway, didn't have much time last night so I busied myself with base preps so I am now ready to put to sea. I also added the new mod changing medal structure last night, my brief look I liked what I saw.

Anyway, thanks for the advice guys.

I had this a few times, transit the strait at night. I usually get keep radio silence too when in the sea of japan, whats the difference between that and anywhere else?

psssssssst, don't tell everyone..................never found any mines there, but can you say 'anti submarine net' ??

anti submarine net.:know:

I have only found one up to now, surrounding a lagoon with two cargo ships moored, in the Marshall Islands, I think? It was a while back, in a finished war career.

There was a place where I could pass underneath it at approx 200 depth, but it took some finding (east to west transit).