Ramming Speed
 

At 2048 this evening I was lying in wait for a convoy a few hundred kilometers from the Irish Sea when the convoy abruptly changed course directly toward me. As I had not yet determined the speed of the target and the new trajectory ruined my plans, I went to 25 meters to await developments. As the convoy passed over me, I returned to periscope depth and determined its speed and course. I was able to angle my sub for a shot on one of the rear ships–a small cargo ship of some sort. Although the angle was probably about 135 AOB I scored a successful torpedo impact and the escorts did not detect my presence. About an hour later I returned to scope depth to find the majority of the convoy gone with the stricken ship behind.

I began following the ship at 3 knots, which was the ship's speed. After 5 hours, however, I had overtaken the ship. I believe the ship's speed is 1-2 knots and it is listing to port. As is my custom I came up on the starboard side of the ship prepared to eliminate the ship with the deck gun. Unfortunately the wind speed is 15m/s.

My crew was nonplussed at the order to ram the ship. :06:

At ahead slow we rammed the non-damaged side of the cargo vessel. Except for an unpleasant screeching noise, U-48 was not affected. I attempted again on the damaged side of the cargo ship with no better results.

I backed off about 500m on the damaged side and ordered ahead one third. :huh: Except for an unpleasant grinding sound no effect was observed to either my fine boat or the cargo ship.

After a few false starts we managed to get a good AOB on the stricken ship and I ordered ahead standard. The ship zigged and we scraped off towards the stern with no damage.

I backed off to 700m and ordered ahead full. My loyal crew :nope: obeyed my order without question. U-48 struck the enemy vessel at 14 knots and climbed up on top of the boat in question. It took more than a minute of back emergency to sort that out. The bow torpedo tube was damaged, but my intrepid crew fixed it within 3 minutes.

At 800m and with a good angle I ordered ahead flank. :rock: We hit the stricken vessel at 15 knots and slid underneath her. It was impossible to sort that out with any kind of back anything so I went to 25m and surfaced on the other side of her. The cargo ship was unaffected by any type of ramming. I noted no damage to my vessel, but my crew assured me that we took damage. We must have lost some hull integrity.

Conclusion: Don't ram cargo ships. It doesn't work.

what would pop into your mind to even bother giving the order to ram ????:06:

sink her with a fish, or out of fish leave it in high sea's

LOL, rammed my fair share of fishing boats in SH4, but would not even think about doing this to a steel hull vessel

What in blazes made you think ramming would work?

This: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...4&postcount=23

HEY! I see it ZosiBBY's way! Rammgeschwindigkeit! Talkn' 'bout Nonplussed here:yeah: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXh1tW16V-8 :salute: A little starter ether in the 'Jumbos' (Maybachs) Mr. Peltz!-just for impact! Nuthin' good goes outta style!

Ramming is something we have all tried....
 

... once.

Zozzy is just one of the few who admits it. :har:

Zosimus's flotilla commanders would probably say, that he intentionally damaged his uboat to stay at base for longer time before next patrol.

And they have the point here :agree:

BDU.. likes aggression.. top marks Herr Kaleun.. :D

When returning to base you must write your report on the methods used - this will in future be part of cadet Kaleun training.
:)

Yes, note that it wrote:
"I once was waiting around for a medium sized cargo ship to sink after I had hit her with my last torpedo.

While trying to slowly get close to her I accidentally hit her (on the side near where my torpedo hit) and she sunk.

I don't remember taking any damage maybe some but I just don't know if that ship sank from me or was it coincidence and was going to sink then anyway. "
So I think I will lean towards the coincidence... :hmmm:

QFT

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...5_Bent_Bow.jpg

This image shows the bow of the USS Growler (SS-215), a Gato-class submarine of 1520 tons displacement, after it rammed a kaibokan (small unarmored IJN patrol vessel of approximately 750 tons displacement) on February 7, 1943.

The kaibokan got near Growler in darkness and low visibility and attempted to ram the sub. Growler tried to turn away, but did not respond in time and instead rammed the kaibokan amidship at 17 kts. The kaibokan raked Growler with heavy automatic weapons fire, fatally wounding her skipper, Commander Howard Gilmore. Unable to get below, Cmdr. Gilmore ordered a dive, saving the sub from further damage. For this, Howard Gilmore became the first submariner to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.

It is worth noting that the kaibokan also survived the encounter.

Just add one of these(suitably upgraded) to the bow from Octavian's war galley's at Actium over Antony and CleoBBY: The Athlit ram: 1100 lbs ca. 300 BC and very high tect I-beam structure too! generally on the business end of a 15+ knot (ramming speed) tireme war galley.:hmmm: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...aval_ram-1.jpgAs I recollect: Jules Verne's Nautilaus also is a ramming vessel:http://www.vernianera.com/Nautilus/O...s/3Dmodel.jpeg AS I stated: nothing good goes out of style BBY!:/\\!!

I think you should try it and report back. Then we can all learn from your experience.:)

Through some testing I've found that high speed ramming (in this case, 17 knots) is actually a viable tactic against certain types of vessels.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.n...66378583_n.jpg

However, the long fabled torpedo still provided a much more favorable outcome.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.n...32964873_n.jpg

The topedo managed to blow the target right out of the water,
https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.n...57a9d4c4bbc01d
and less than a tenth of a second later, the mast was flung from the hull of the vessel.
https://scontent-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hpho...57672465_n.jpg
Said mast was subsequently found impaled in the ocean floor below.

I have tried ramming sail boats several times but could never draw a bead on her.

I finally nailed one about a month ago, head-on at flank speed. It did sink her. No damage to me.

Steve