I survived two collisions with the enemy
 

My first patrol with my new Kaleun went rather well; a nice shakedown cruise for my new crew. Took my 7B on a Das Boot test dive, to check valves and seals. Got her down to 219 metres and pronounced her a good boat. Bagged a few merchants and sailed home for a nice leave.

Second career patrol nearly proved to be my last. While infiltrating a convoy to get at the fatter targets in the center, I lost track of a smaller freighter as I cut across its path. I realized she was very close so I ordered a dive and she cut across my bow, leaving an ugly scar just in front of the deck gun and did some minor damage to my flak gun, which was soon sorted once we surfaced. I made several attacks on that convoy and bagged half a dozen ships from it. Then in the North Sea on the way home I get rammed by a medium freighter in a rainy, pitch black night. Leaks everywhere, batteries damaged, diesel room damaged, etc. Panicky orders soon got the situation in hand and we finally made it back to Wilhelmshaven with 51.9% hull integrity.

You can never afford to let your guard down in this game.

True enough, when the watch starts telling me visibility is poor I typically submerge for a few hours to see if it'll be better upon resurfacing. Especially at night. Amost rammed a little freighter myself once in the pitch dark in a driving storm.

And keeping track of all the columns is for me still the nerve-jangliest part of penetrating a convoy. Always have to be aware of who's headed your way, how fast they're coming, and how quickly you can get out of their path if need be. All while trying to get into position to attack another ship, keep track of its position, and also have an eye open for any easy second and third (and maybe fourth) targets if you went in with your tubes full.

Thank heavens the VIIB's a nimble little beastie.

Yes, the 7 is a deft boat; a good combination of speed, agility, endurance and firepower. I know there are a few skippers who love their little duck boats, but I simply can't wait to get out of one the odd time I start a career with one. Yes, they are very agile, but their limited range and firepower really drag down your potential tonnage tallies.

I love that crazy feeling you get when you switch from a II to a VII, it feels like you're in an agile aircraft carrier and you've got enough Eel's to sink the entire RN!
and OH the range!
well worth the upgrade :D but i'd never loose my love for the plucky Einbaum

Ba ba bah!

I likes the IX, too :D

By the way, welcome back K61 :salute:

I always prefer IX also..
 

BTW,to change the subject for a while, what has happened with Balz,have he holiday :hmm2:

I just posted a Balz bit yesterday, people are letting it sink :shifty:

Kinda like Balz's u-boat, then. :O:

J/k, I'm sure the green banana is doing its special magic even as we speak.

How's the Bactine working out? If it stings too much try some aloe.

It's completely insane, from human side,
 

I will send a box of whiskey to Balz, he will certainly be in a better mood :yep:

We have lots of Bactine in the medical box, bot no one wants to eat it :03:

My first three or four careers with a IX were like a curse to me. Bang! Dead! Every first patrol. It got to the point where I was afraid to look outside the pen. Then I decided to conduct a rational analysis of my tactics, formed mostly with smaller subs. Once I thought it through, my survival rate went way up. The thing with the IX is, you have to realize she's a big, clumsy thing and needs lead time. It's like the difference between driving a small car and a big, floaty Lincoln Town Car. My Dad had one that was so long, I swear, you had to start turning it three or four seconds before you got to a corner. I like a car that has guts, but can still jump around if you need it to. My current ride is a 2010 Dodge Charger R/T AWD. It's Canada here, it's nice to have the extra grip, even though my previous car was a 2006 Charger SXT RWD. I put four good winter tires on every winter, the same tires the OPP put on their Crown Vics. OPP? They are Ontario's equivalent of State Troopers.

The nice thing about the IX's is all of those eels, plus that bigger, louder gun, and a big tank of diesel. The perfect boat for your own little Paukenschlag campaign, or just to get away from the Missus for a few months. My style with them is to not be as aggressive as with a 7, but to use a bit more caution and to take her deep when the tables turn. I'm in a 7 now, but when I have enough renown, I think I'll jump over to a IX.

Storms can be nasty at concealing warships, I was in the chart room when shells hitting the u-boat and I promptly ordered a crash dive. Long story short we managed to creep away but the watch officer and lookouts got a real stern talking to especially since we almost got rammed :nope:

Prior to the invention of radar, it was the U-boats which had the advantage of being stealthy and hard to see. They sat much lower in the water, did not have a large structure above the waves, except for the conning tower, but even that was lower than an escort deck. Even harder to see if they ran decks awash. In most very close encounters before radar, it was usually the U-boat which spotted the escort first, not the other way round. I've read accounts by U-boat captains who mentioned coming within 200 yards of a surface vessel and passing unseen. In fact, some U-boats were bagged because nervous watch crew called an alarm upon seeing a surface vessel, where a cooler head would have held off. Otto Kretschmer, for example, was captured in this manner. His boat's watch crew saw a destroyer, called for a crash dive and then got caught in the Asdic beam. Otto K. was most upset about this. It is a pity that the game does not more accurately model this. As well, the convoy columns in the game are too close together, so it is nearly impossible to sail up and down within a convoy as more intrepid Kaleuns did.

I have to say, GWX3 seems to model the visibility thing quite well. I only played stock SH3 a few times before installing GWX but it seemed like destroyers could instantly spot anything within 4-5km. Nowadays, provided it's dark and not too calm, I don't have a problem sneaking around destroyers at about 2000m or so.

I've come within about 800m of lone freighters and not been seen. Compares well to what I've read about U-boats dashing in and out of convoys.