Quote:
Originally Posted by mookiemookie
I've always been too scared to tackle 1943, but I'm making a stab at it now. It's a whole different animal. I've all but given up on trying to attack convoys. I can't even get close enough to get off a torpedo because of allied radar.
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I have managed quite a few convoy attacks during 1943. In fact, on more than one occaision I was able to attack the same convoy 3 times.
The way I deal with radar and Asdic is to make sure I stay out of range. I try to be at least 10km off the convoy's track when passing it, and to arrive at the interception point at least 45 minutes ahead of the convoy, submerge to periscope depth about 1-2km off the convoy's track, perpendicular to the track, rig for silent and wait for the lead destroyer to pass me. Then I creep forward and am usually able to get within 1km of the juicy targets in the middle.
This approach seems to work for up to 6 escorts. If there were any more, I doubt there would be enough of a gap between the lead escort and the forward flank escort for me to sneak through.
The scope only goes up briefly and at the last moment, three times. The first time is to select targets, usually two forward and one aft. This lets me set torpedo depths, and choose which eels to aim at which target. The second peek is to get range to targets, and is used only if I am not doing a fast 90 attack (if I am, range is not needed). The last one is for bearing to target as I fire.
After firing my torpedoes, and again after torpedo impacts, I do a hydrophone check to see if I am being attacked by an escort coming in from the perimeter. If I am, I go to flank speed, head away from the attacking escort across the path of the convoy a bit, and then, before I reach the edge of the pack of merchants, turn to a parallel course, run for about 300-500 metres, then slow engines to 100 revs, all the while diving to max depth. At the turn, I drop a single Bold.
If I am not being attacked I head slowly towards one edge of the merchant pack, and then turn to the reciprocal course of the convoy, always slowly diving deeper, and head out the back, but off the centerline so as to avoid tail-end Charlie.
Once clear of the convoy, I reload, surface, do an end run, and repeat.
I use hydrophones extensively to adjust my plot of the convoy's track and thereby adjust my location during the move to the interception point, and then to fine tune my distance from convoy track. If the convoy chooses to zig, I miss.
The attack from inside the convoy still seems more effective than standing off outside the convoy and firing from long range. It is easier to get hits, and the presence of ships all around you masks your presence from the enemy escorts. Evasion from within the convoy is easier because the escorts have to dodge the merchants, and (in theory - I don't know if the game engine works this way) the merchants should make it harder for the escorts to hear me or see me. With escorts mounting hedgehogs now, it is more important to stay undetected, or if detected, to leave the spot where you were last seen, but leave a Bold behind so the escorts will have something to keep them occupied.
The method seems to work. I haven't lost a single boat to escorts during my 31 patrols in 1943. In that time I estimate I made close to 40 attempts to attack convoys. Some of my more successful attacks have netted: a Fiji cruiser, or a pair of troop transports, or an ocean liner and a T3, or two T3s or a troop transport and a T3, or a T2 and a C3 and a C2.
One time, after I had fired my initial salvo at a slow Gibralter convoy, I wasn't sure if the warship sounds I heard were actual pursuers, or just escorts doing normal sweeps. I turned parallel to the convoy and found myself right next to a troopship. I used my observation scope underwater to put myself right under the troopship and to match course and speed (which was slower than I had orginally thought - which explained my misses in the first salvo). I stayed there while I reloaded a forward tube, then reduced speed to let the range increase to about 300m, then fired and hit the troopship's props. After the search had given up, I was able to finish off my former cover.
It doesn't always go smoothly. I have been picked up on Asdic a couple of times by the lead escort, when I got too close to his path. I have been picked up on radar during the approach to the interception point. Once this happened in dense fog. The escort had centimetric radar and my boat only had Metox, so I didn't detect his radar signal. He burst out of a fog bank 400 metres away. I don't know which of us was more surprised by the ecounter, as he didn't fire a single shot. I crash dove, and he rammed me, damaging the conning tower. After somehow surviving the first depth charges, I was able to leave a Bold and evade.
Another time, a flank escort picked me up on radar as I was attempting to pass while loading an external torpedo. Fortunately, this time I detected his radar signal. I had to run full speed on the surface for about 12 minutes until the eel was safely inside the hull. He closed to within about 400 metres, but for some reason, never fired his guns. I zigged when he zagged, dove, dodged his first depth charges, then dropped a Bold and made a high speed run away while in his baffles, and lived to tell the tale.