Awesome convoy attack last night.
 

So I just hit my assigned patrol grid, BE29, when I am alerted to a "neutral" convoy just south of me, heading SW. An easy intercept.

I head towards it, but it is raining and visibility is low. I had to make numerous dives to pick up the convoy on the hydrophone. Finally, I was in position ahead and north of the convoy, so I went turned south and dove towards where they should be.

Suddenly, a small freighter appeared out of the rain, but it had a flag I did not recognize (blue field with white cross), and assumed it was a Neutral. Just then a large merchant appeared out of the gloom directly in front! I had already set up my TDC for a 90 degree AOB shot with an 8 knot speed, so I adjusted our heading slightly until the gyro 000 was over her and sent a 2-shot salvo right into her side. I dodged around her rear and pressed on.

Suddenly we heard a cannon shot and there was a starburst overhead! But we could not make out the destroyer and pressed on. Suddenly another huge shadow ahead! I fired two at her and pressed on, and turned west to follow in between two columns of the convoy. One torpedo hit the Ore Carrier, the other hit but did not explode. As I turned 90 to come up along her opposite side I re-computed the AoB and updated the TDC for a 90 degree stern shot, and put another one into her other side, sending her to the bottom.

Suddenty more booms ring out, and I looked behind us and saw searchlights probing and the bow of a destroyer cutting out of the mist!

We went to flank speed and I narrowly cut in front of another huge ship to our port, putting her bulk between ourselves and the destroyer. Realizing I could not reload in time, nor get away from the destroyer, we dove to 220m and easily evaded the escorts. I moved out of the convoy, surfaced, and resumed the chase!

Again we plowed into where the convoy should be, again from the north. Again we cut through the columns of the convoy, and put torpedoes into a couple of large ships (I did not take the time to identify them - we were hitting them so close that only rough estimates of speed - 8 knots) were needed to hit them. Again I cut right to follow in the lanes of the convoy when suddenly there was more gunfire, and I looked ahead to see a destroyer bearing down on us straight ahead! We were running flank speed toward them, and they to us, and I ordered a crash dive.

We did not get under in time. Shells hit us, and suddenly with a horrendous crash the destroyer hit us, pushing us under.

Massive damage to the watchtower. Both periscopes and the radio antenna and the flak gun were all destroyed.

But suddenly we heard a massive series of explosions above, and a red sunken ship icon appeared on the map. I got no credit for the kill (did not show up in the log), but I'm pretty sure our conning tower ripped the hull out of that destroyer!

My DC crew got the rest of the damage under control, and I thought perhaps it would be safe to surface again and hit them again or make a run for it in the rain on the surface.

But as soon as we surface there was more cannon fire! Another escort had moved in! We crash dove as the shells struck out boat and the water around us. Fortunately in the heavy weather again I was able to evade the escorts, even though I only took us down to 100m, for fear of crushing our damaged hull.

Eventually we surfaced, and our wounded sub crawled around England and back to Wilhelmshaven with just barely enough diesel (10%). Ended up with 84% hull integrity (I would have thought it was worse).

In the end, I took out 6 ships from the convoy (plus the one escort that never showed in the log), including large merchants, a modern tanker, an ore carrier, and other high-tonnage ships.

This is the first time I've charged in in low visibility without using "L" to lock up ships I can't see. I took them just as I could see them, and I commanded mostly from the conning tower. I felt just like Herbert Werner as he described such attacks in "Iron Coffins". I could almost smell the fuel oil from the ships as I shot through the low-visibility looking for the convoy!

What I learned from this is you really can cut through a convoy in low visibility and take down ships, as long as you stay on the move and keep an eye out for those escorts!

I was on 100% realism.

Steve

Be more agressive!:arrgh!: :D
Sounds like quite the exciting attack.

I ran into a convoy once in very bad visibility and got inside of it. The big ship that emerged from the fog at very close range was a cruiser......end of submarine.

:)

Good attack, drinks are on you :D

LOL, I never thought of that!

Another fun attack I had a couple of nights ago:

I was north of England when I spotted a destroyer and two huge Auxillary Cruisers heading east at 18 knots. I was north of them. It was darkish, so I went flank on the surface heading south. I opened up with 2 torps at each cruiser from 5km, set for magnetic detonation. This was the max range of the electric torps I had.

One premature. 2 ran out of gas before impact, and one missed.

They convoy was steaming away. So...I opened up with the deck gun at about 4500m. The lead destroyer was far away and could not shoot back. The cruisers opened up on me, but did not hit me, but I am a good gunner and got several strikes on both cruisers before the lead destroyer got close enough that I had to dive.

I ran away from the destroyer until he got within 500m and I put a magnetic torp under his chin from the rear tube and blew him up.

Shortly before that, one of the cruisers sank! I guess I chewed him up pretty good!

Moreover, both cruisers had turned to engage me! I figured they would keep running, but no, they both turned to engage! Well with the escort out of the way and one cruiser sunk, I put up the scope and saw the last cruiser burning in the night. I easily got into firing position while submerged and put another eel in her side and down she went!

Each cruiser was like 31,000 tons. :)

Steve

Good stuff Maillemaker, sounds exciting :DL

you sure are sailing on the razor's edge! :o:salute:

Sounds like quite a party your having http://www.psionguild.org/forums/ima...ies/pirate.gif

I've never been much for surface attacks, even in the bad weather. The most excitment I have had in an attack was on a huge convoy, I didn't get a good count on the number of ships but it had to have 7 coloms and around 8-10 rows. It was only escorted by four distoyers, I pitied them the chore of gaurding all those ships, and that made it all the more easy to do my work.

I used a dog leg aproch, coming into the convoy submerged from the front at silent runing and zero speed; very sneekey. I had ploted the convoys course and knew the speed from the contact reprot, though I checked it with a fixed wire measure and a ploted calculation. I ran out ahead of them a few thousand meters on the surface, just out of visual range and went to parascope depth facing the convoy head on and waited for them.

The lead distroyer crused in and then made a circle and changed position, taking lead position on the colom I intended to focus most of my attack on. It was too late to move, I was well with in detection range and only dared to move at 1 or 2 knots and would have been ramed so I had to hold fast. I watched on the nav map as this sonar contact edged ever closer with each sweep of the hydrophones. Them came closer and closer and I thought for sure that they were eather going to hit me or detect me and blast me into a fine paste. I watched as the line got ever shorter and pased the 500m mark, then 450. At this point I had to stop playing and get a drink. Then I came back, all stealy nerved again and the distroyer passed by at it's closest point of between 300 and 250m, right off the bow. They never knew I was there, or if they did they surely didn't show it.

The convoy held some good targets, large tankers, a whale ship, a hand full of liberty ships and some large freighters. Wanting to get the most for my five torpidos I had loaded I decided that I was going to make simultanious contact shots. It was just my luck that all the forward tubes struk and detonated all within a second. I had a pair of steamers and electrics up front and a high speed electric in the aft tube. I shot the two forward electrics at the ships in the nearest colom first, taking out a jucy pair of oil tankers; all fire, explosions and shrapnel. One busted in half despite it being a contact shot and not an under keel and the other rolled over while on fire due to hevy port side flooding. The second pair of shots were the steamers aimed the next colom over, a liberty ship and a large freighter. They were set for top speed and both found the mark, cripling the liberty and sending the freighter nose in and under. My aft shot took the fule bunker of the whale ship and she sucumb to fires while I was trying to not die at the hands of angry escorts.

Then it was crash dive and hide, an hour or so later I came back up to finish the liberty and then went home. Damages sustained by a worryingly effective depth charge attack renderd half of my torpido tubes inoperable and busted my parascope and deck gun. Good times dancing with the Tommies that was.

If I was suiidal, I'd carry out surface attacks. Sumberged is the way to attack with a sumbie. :D

A 31,000 ton cruiser? Two of them? So.. what port are you sailing from, because I can't get good drugs like that in Wihelmshaven.

I thought that's what they were (31,000), but I do remember precisely that they were "Auxiliary Cruisers". I remember this because for once the ship name that showed up in the periscope menu exactly matched the name in the Ship Recognition Manual, even at 100% realism. In other words, usually the periscope menu just says "destroyer" or "frigate" and you have to go find out exactly what it is in the recognition manual. These ships showed up as "Auxiliary Cruiser" in the periscope AND in the recognition manual, and I thought that was odd.

And there were two of them. Three ships in a row - first was a destroyer (V&W class) followed by two Auxiliary Cruisers.

I never have been, either. The problem is so often the weather sucks! :) I used to get around this by pressing "L" in the periscope to lock up ships I could not actually see (the game will let you lock, for a second or two, any ship within rendering range, whether you can actually see it or not).

This is the first time I've attacked a convoy in low visibility without doing that.

Steve

Reminds me of one time when I was sailing through the fog. It was really thick fog, I didn't even know I was sailing strait through a convoy. I ended up seeing a glimpse of of the ship in front of me and it was around 300m away so I stopped and got rammed by the one behind me. This went on until one of the ships turned out to be an auxilliary cruiser and put me under

Well, good kill. And we all do a bit of "and it was this danged big, too!" But if I catch an Auxiliary Cruiser at 30 K tons, I am dragging the sucker home. Get me a suite in the hotel. call down to Greta's....

OK, I just checked, and I reversed the numbers! :88)

The aux cruiser is 13,850 tons.

Steve

I tend to steer clear of aux. cruisers and q-ships just because I like to use the deck gun when I can but with that kind of tonnage it seems like it's worth giving it a shot next time I see one