Flak any good ingame?
 

My current boat is a type VIIc w/ 2 light flaks. IS it worth to upgrade to the heavy flak conning tower? Has anyone had any rewarding experience fighting back airplanes?
I have lived to see 1943, and air strikes are becoming ever more frequent and fierce. One of these days I may find myself under attack in a shalow (although I try to avoid shalows, since I do not have a death wish).

Incidentally mine is U-262, which in real life survived every mission, with a few exciting episodes in high sea, only to be "Bombed at Gotenhafen in December 1944. Stricken at Kiel on 2 April, 1945. Broken up in 1947." (quote from uboat dot net).
One of the emblems she had showed 2 aircraft "On 8 Aug 1943 U-262 shot down two attacking aircraft from the escort carrier USS Card." (uboat.net):D

"8 Aug 1943
Aircraft attack, aircraft shot down:American Avenger (VC-1 USN, pilot Lt (jg) A.H. Sallenger)
a.m., mid Atlantic south of Greenland, severe weather conditions: U-262 was awaiting refuelling from U-664 while U-760U-760 was being supplied. At 10.11 hrs, an Avenger/Wildcat team from USS Card located the boats and attacked U-262. The Wildcat strafed the boat while the Avenger tried to drop depth charges, but an AA hit in the bomb bay had damaged the release mechanism and put the radio out of commission. Making a second run, the Avenger was hit by flak again, setting a fuel tank in the starboard wing on fire. Two depth charges were launched manually, causing severe damage, but the pilot was forced to jettison a Fido homing torpedo and ditch the burning aircraft. The radioman went down with the Avenger, but the pilot and the gunner were picked up in the afternoon by USS Barry after being spotted by other aircraft from the escort carrier. The Wildcat was also shot down by U-262 during another strafing run and crashed into the sea, killing its pilot. U-262 was forced to abort the patrol due to damage. (Sources: Franks/Zimmerman)
8 Aug 1943
Aircraft attack, aircraft shot down:American Wildcat (VC-1 USN, pilot Ens J.F. Sprague)
(Sources: Franks/Zimmerman)" (all quotes from uboat.net)

A uboat is a very poor AAA platform.

They did experience some successes against aircraft, however the number of uboats sunk by airplanes far exceeds the number of airplanes shot down by uboats. :03:

If you want to upgrade your boat you'd be wise to use the renown on some of the more passive defenses like bold decoys, anti sonar coatings etc.

If you choose to fight it out on the surface with planes... Especially in GWX you might experience a couple of successes, but for the most part you probably won't last long.

dive! dive! dive!

:Kaleun_Binocular:

I don't think it's worth to upgrade. Usually you should dive when your crew spot an aircraft. I think there's not much to gain in trying to shoot it, while at the same time you could lose your boat.

If my crew spots a aircraft at medium range, I'm staying at the surface gaining as much speed as possible and turning hard left or right if needed. It's too late to dive, so staying at the surface is better. But once the plane dropped it's bombs/DC's (and hopefully missed) I'm crashdiving before it turns around for a second attack.

Nice, sounds great. Thanks Vince. And thank you all for your input.
Of course diving is always best. My concern is regarding a situation where I cannot dive because its too shallow. From time to time I feel tempted to raid a port. I miss SH2 Tieffenmesser showing available depth.

I don't take chances with aircraft, I get under as fast as I can, until the coast is clear. I have used my flak gun on small unarmed merchants, with quite good results, which usually takes about 200 rounds to destroy, thus saving a torpedo for something bigger, or an armed merchant, where the flak gun would be pretty useless against more heavy armament. I have never yet used my flak gun against an aircraft.

You've got that right! Taking on a plane on the surface has never ended well for me....nor did it end well for most U-Boats caught on the surface during the war.

Kelly
621

Sometimes when I get surprised by a plane and it is too close (or I am going too slow) to dive, I do engage it during its run (making evasive maneuvers and picking up as much speed as possible), then diving once too far to shoot.

So far, with GWX, the score is -

4 planes downed : 3 men dead, 2 interrupted patrols due to damage

Even with GWX, you really only have a decent chance of downing a Swordfish. Against everything else, even if you have a flak-qualified gunner or Watch Officer, you are on the short end of a short stick, and it gets shorter fast as the war progresses.

An aircraft can fly with several holes in it. A U-boat only needs one hole in the pressure hull to make diving impossible.:wah:

Crash-dive and avoid the risks inherent in a confrontation.:up:

On the other hand, it can come in handy later in the war when you are leaving or entering base, and the bombers show up to try to spoil your day.:yep:

:subsim:

its only a good idea at the start of a patrol and a very bad idea in the middle of the ocean. of course i have found that you may be hitting the planes and it does very little damage so unless you want to edit a file giving you super AA powers but i would recommend against it because you may inadvertently give destroyers and planes super guns as well.

...you should read Ralph Kapitsky: Battle in the Caribbean and the Death of U 615.

its in the book Silent Hunters: German U Boat Commanders of WW2.

..talk about flak being any good....an unbelievable story of courage.:yep:

link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Silent-Hunte...silent+hunters

Recently finished Operation Drumbeat and I am in the middle of Black May and Hitler's U-Boat War....will have a go at the book you mentioned once these are done....thanks for another good recommendation.

Kelly621

...its one of my favourite essays/stories. the ferocity of the fight is breathtaking, on both sides. im a slow reader but I gulped it down in one sitting.

and its a pleasure..:up: