Crazy lucky
 

August of '39 completed the shakedown cruise, and set off on first war patrol in the week leading up to the invasion of Poland.

I stumbled across a medium sized inbound convoy in perfect weather on September 1, 1939 escorted by two destroyers

Cruised up and down the lanes looking to see if any polish vessels had taken refuge in the convoy but i only saw British merchants. so i left the convoy and stalked just beyond visual range waiting for confirmation from BdU to commence hostilities. then, the message came as i was setting myself up in position several miles ahead of them.

my first shot was against the lead destroyer which split in half and sank within minutes. I broke off and re-established myself in attack position again, this time taking out the other destroyer.

I surfaced and expended all torpedoes and deck gun rounds on the unarmed merchant ships claiming over 70,000 tons of shipping on my first patrol with the new career. it was literally like shooting fish in a barrel. when i left the convoy to head home with no ammo remaining there were only a few ships remaining in the convoy.

gotta love it when such fortunes come along

Sinking a destroyer with one torpedo, you are an ace mate ! But why do you need confirmation to sink British ship ? I was thinking that they were open target at the beginning of the game ?

Not true. English ships are not fair game until you get the confirmation from BdU that war is on.

If you are unsure, you can look at any English city (such as London) and if it shows red, then fire at will. If it still shows green, then don't fire.