Change from the Usual Convoy
 

Hi all...

I'm up to mid '41 in my career, and whenever I find a Convoy up in the North Atlantic, it's normally pretty much the same setup, probably 4 or 5 rows of ships with 3 or 4 ships in each row, some US ships (like a T3 and a couple of C3s) that I can't attack yet, and the rest British ships, with one T2 and a three C2s, and then smaller merchants.

I just spend a few days hounding one of those convoys, taking out the T2 and 3 C2s, and as I was heading back south I came across another convoy! :) And this one was different, much bigger (maybe another 10 ships or so) and they're all British, with about 5 or so T2/T3 and even more C3s. Also, they're not in a standard layout, the front 10 or 15 ships are in 4 or 5 rows, but the ones in the back of the convoy are all over the place, changing direction, almost hitting each other etc. Basically as if they've been attacked (before I went near them).

Is this convoy unusual or have I just been always getting the more 'sedate' UK/US convoy up until now? Of course, when I found them I only had 4 torpedoes left, and 2 of them where in the stern, but I still had some fun with so many targets! ;)

J.

Did you use high time compression? If so, my guess is they didn't like it and very nervously tried to keep their station in the convoy. Or they recently performed a course change. The front row doesn't have as much potential collisions to worry about.

In the early years, merchant skippers didn't always do very well holding a formation. And their discipline was not so great either. But as the war dragged on and captains got used to sailing with each other, formation holding improved. It might not seem very accurate, with the ships running around all 'willy-nilly', but it is historical.

As the saying goes: "It's not a bug, it's a feature!" :up::O:

I would use Time Compression alright (though not normally that high, especially close to a convoy).

It's weird though, *every* convoy I've seen in about 17 patrols has always been nice and neat and tidy in rows. Until I attack them, and then they all start weaving together.

This convoy, before it had any idea I was there, was half in perfect formation, and half all over the place. And a few hours later, it was still the same, it's like the second half of the convoy has some glitch and it just can't get into the formation that the first half is in.

J.

Details!
 

Congrats on your find. But the rest of the boats on patrol could use some details. We would like to know the date and latitude/Long of your find.

Sub skippers should share that info so others can home in on the enemy convoys. It isn't wolfpacking, but it is helping our cause.

Good idea, I hadn't thought of that.

I don't know how to get the Long/Lat, but at 4:30am on the 5th September 1941 the convoy is approx. 13km North West of the centre point of Grid AL38.

Hope that comes in handy to someone, if you get there with a sub full of torpedoes you'll have a field day! :)

J

Distance to the equator and Greenwich meridian, divided by 120km. Then you have the degrees. The rest fraction must be multiplied by 60 to get minutes.