What am I doing wrong with my eels?
 

It's a calm day off the coast of Portugal and I've got a rare good shot lined up at 90°, the big fat merchant waddling along not knowing what's about to happen.
I set my torpedo to impact, look up the keel let's say it's 5, I set the torpedo depth to 3,5 and.... it goes under. Annoyed I let loose another eel this time and a depth of 1. It goes under.
Flummoxed I surface and just deck gun the poor trader until it sinks.


But what on Earth is going on?

What is the distance to the target? What kind of fuse, what the hell year? What mod? Do you use a patch?

500m, T1, Impact, 1940, GWX, SH3 Commander & ARB Wodegui.

Do you know about the "torpedo crisis"?
Patch H.sie's and Stiebler's?

I would like to know the actual wind speed. A ship raising in a swell can allow a torp to go under.

In this latest case, 4.

If you are using Hsie Patch, you should try to deactivate the torpedo fix box.

I guess it's the depth problem of the eels if you were playing it before the Norweigian Campaign. After the NC the Kriegsmarine definitely solve the torpedo problems and the fascinating Happy Times begins.

I don't know if this is confirmation bias or something but post Norway things have gotten a lot better.

Norway is April 40, torpedoes problems still present in 41...i believe by the end of 41 beginning of 42 they are almost solved.

Actually the infamous torpedo problems were solved before late June 1940 and according to lots of historical readings it was right after the Norwegian Campaign. As we all know in the NC the ubootewaffe fired numerous torpedos to the British naval vessels but almost all missed their targets. Otherwise some big capital warships definitely were sunken in the bottom of the chilly fjords.

Welcome to the U-boat captains's experience with torpedoes in 1940. Pre-WW2 T1 torpedoes are generally more reliable, but T2s are crapshoots until the Norwegian campaign. You can have the perfect solution for a perfect shot and still, in the end, it detonates early, bounces, or passes under without exploding. Such is life. Even passed 1940, you will have duds. Torpedoes are much more performant but still, mishaps and faulty pieces happen.

Also, always be mindful of the wind speed. Rule of thumb : Wind speed x 0.4 = minimum depth to set your torpedoes.

In rough seas (13-15 m/s) if the target doesn't have a shallow draft (6 meters and under), I set it exactly at her draft in the manual, at Slow/Magnetic, and cross my fingers... if she has a shallow draft (less than 6 meters), I do not attack at all.

Yes, I've come to the conclusion that if it's in rough seas I'll either shadow the ship and hope for better weather or leave them be, that is unless they are extremely tempting targets.