I hope to see a differece in the behaviour of Escorts depending on wheather -
1) They are alone or in an Hunter killer group
2) They are escorting a convoy (early war)
Reason being is that while the current set of behavior is fine for 1)
its not good for 2)
Convoy escorts job/ orders in the early to mid war was to:
a) Stay with the convoy at all times
b) Attack & Harrass Surfaced U-boats with gun fire to ruin their attacks
c) Force U-boats to dive where they were slower and less able to get into a good attack position
They only time they'd really attempt to destroy a Uboat was when they caught one surfaced (guns) - or while it was diving (DCs - if they were close enough)
But once the Uboat was under - THEY LEFT IT ALONE.
They did NOT break away from the convoy to spend hours DepthCharging the U-Boat until it was destroyed, surrendered or until they lost contact with it.
All the while leaving the merchents to sail off without them.
They simply did not have the luxury of being able to do this. This was especially true when under attack from a wolf pack.
|