That's quite a tug boat you have there, Mr. IJN.
 

Every once in a while, I get a "wild hair" and decide to try something I normally wouldn't do. This is more likely to happen in games now, rather than real life, since I'm rapidly approaching "Old Fart-dom" and don't heal-up as fast as I used to. :D

Last night, in SH4 (TMO 2.0), I got one of those wild hairs. I was in my Gato, out of Pearl, patrolling off the Japanese coast near Honshu. It was about midnight, late May of '42 with a light wind out of the SW and a clear, starry sky. Two hours previously, I had taken out a Large Sampan with my deck gun and was feeling a bit cocky, when my sonar operator reported a slow-moving, closing, merchant contact.

I set course toward the contact and was soon rewarded with a "Ship spotted!" call from the deck watch. I went to the TDC and found my target to be a Jap (of course) tug boat. Now, normally when I see smaller vessels, I'll avoid them since I don't think they're worth a fish but, it was such a nice night out and I really didn't feel like diving. Besides... he was all alone, and I was still flush from my recent deck-gun victory over the Sampan... what could possibly go wrong?

"A lot", said the Old Man Voice in the back of my head. So, realizing I was about to do something I would probably regret, I did a Save Game. I save regularly while playing, but only use them if I have a CTD or am clearly straying into a "Hey, y'all... hold my beer and watch this" moment. If I get killed fair and square, while exerting my best judgement and effort, I start a new career. I do not load a previous save.

So, with a backup Save in place, I decide to go toe-to-toe with Tuggy... Hell... it's just a little ole tug boat, what can it possibly do? I probably won't even need to use the Save, right?

At about 2500 yds, I open up with my deck gun. It takes me a few shots to bracket him, but I get the range and start pouring it on. Smoke starts rising from his deck. Small-arms tracers are coming back at me, which I expected, but then something big splashes about 50 yds from my boat... immediately followed by a second big splash a little closer. Tuggy's got at least one, and maybe two, deck guns of his own? Can't be...

CRASH!!!! BOOM!!!! SMASH!!!!!

"We're taking damage, sir!" (Thank you, Lt. Obvious... carry on)
"Bulkheads damaged!"
"Pressure hull damaged!"
"Batteries damaged!"
"Radar damaged!"
"We have flooding, sir!"
"Etc. damaged, sir!"

Holy...... I stick to my gun and, after 3 more shots, Tuggy is on his way to see Davy Jones.

The result? 68% hull damage, batteries are trashed, radar is gone, forward tubes trashed, pumps heavily damaged and heavy flooding. :o Amazingly, no crew deaths. Oh well, time to load the Save Game. :88)

I have a new respect for these little guys, and will go back to giving them a wide berth in the future.

Beats having to go home and explaining to the Admiral why you got your butt kicked by a tug boat.:rotfl2:

I imagine that scene would have been like the one in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, where the wizard was trying to convince everyone that the rabbit is dangerous. "But... huge sharp teeth.... LOOK AT THE BONES!!!"

Yea, some of the tugs in TMO are armed and set to "veteran" skill level which makes them a bit too accurate with their deck gun(s). Fire from longer range is my suggestion for the future.

Tugs are also often near shore and shore guns are mean and accurate. I'm not sure if the tugs have DG's in TMO...been awhile since I've seen one. I think some of the Fishing Boats have machine guns. I changed many in RSRD to have have them, plus added many shore guns and search lights.

Great story.

"what could possibly go wrong?" ...is usually always followed by something going wrong. :haha:

Yup, I've sunk a number of Jap tugboats and have yet to see one with a DG mounted on it.