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frau kaleun · 04-28-10, 02:37 PM

Most of my patrols in fall/winter 1939 have ended up bagging between 25-50K GRT each. All in a VIIB running out of Wilhelmshaven.

I still play at a very low realism level which makes most things having to do with sinking ships much easier. I don't do manual targeting, so really all I have to worry about once I'm setting up to attack is being in range and getting a good enough AOB to make things go BOOM. I use magnetic fuses whenever possible, and even in rougher weather when the target is tossing around a bit I've still had good luck with them by setting the depth 1-2 meters *above* the ship's listed draft. If it actually runs into the ship, it still goes off, and that's good enough for me.

The overwhelming majority of my kills have been lone merchants, so I haven't spent a lot of time or fuel running away from escorts or dodging depth charges. With one-on-one attacks I try to stick to the "1 ship, 1 torpedo" rule unless it's a large merchant or something that size or bigger. As long as I can use the guns to finish off what the torpedo started, there's no sense in sending another eel to do the job.

I've gotten most of my tonnage in the AM grids already mentioned, NW of Ireland, and in the BF "teens" in the lower Western Approaches. I've also sunk several ships while running north or south off the west coast of Ireland in between those two areas. Usually coastal freighters but once or twice a large merchant in the 10K range. Overall I've seen a pretty good variety of ships - large merchants, ore carriers, Granville freighters. But I don't turn my nose up at anything that's out there. I used to cringe every time I'd get a contact and it would turn out to be yet another 2K coastal freighter... but I've found they do add up, especially if you're using one eel a piece on 'em. Which means when the large merchant does show up, I've usually got more than enough ammo on board to take it out as well.

My normal cruising around speed is 8 knots - this seems to give the best range figures when I inquire of my navigator. I have never had to end a patrol that early in the war with leftover eels because my fuel ran low. Sometimes I've still had half a tank when I got back to base.

04-28-10, 02:37 PM	#7
frau kaleun Rear Admiral Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Skyri--oh who are we kidding, I'm probably at Lowe's. Again. Posts: 12,706 Downloads: 168 Uploads: 0	Most of my patrols in fall/winter 1939 have ended up bagging between 25-50K GRT each. All in a VIIB running out of Wilhelmshaven. I still play at a very low realism level which makes most things having to do with sinking ships much easier. I don't do manual targeting, so really all I have to worry about once I'm setting up to attack is being in range and getting a good enough AOB to make things go BOOM. I use magnetic fuses whenever possible, and even in rougher weather when the target is tossing around a bit I've still had good luck with them by setting the depth 1-2 meters above the ship's listed draft. If it actually runs into the ship, it still goes off, and that's good enough for me. The overwhelming majority of my kills have been lone merchants, so I haven't spent a lot of time or fuel running away from escorts or dodging depth charges. With one-on-one attacks I try to stick to the "1 ship, 1 torpedo" rule unless it's a large merchant or something that size or bigger. As long as I can use the guns to finish off what the torpedo started, there's no sense in sending another eel to do the job. I've gotten most of my tonnage in the AM grids already mentioned, NW of Ireland, and in the BF "teens" in the lower Western Approaches. I've also sunk several ships while running north or south off the west coast of Ireland in between those two areas. Usually coastal freighters but once or twice a large merchant in the 10K range. Overall I've seen a pretty good variety of ships - large merchants, ore carriers, Granville freighters. But I don't turn my nose up at anything that's out there. I used to cringe every time I'd get a contact and it would turn out to be yet another 2K coastal freighter... but I've found they do add up, especially if you're using one eel a piece on 'em. Which means when the large merchant does show up, I've usually got more than enough ammo on board to take it out as well. My normal cruising around speed is 8 knots - this seems to give the best range figures when I inquire of my navigator. I have never had to end a patrol that early in the war with leftover eels because my fuel ran low. Sometimes I've still had half a tank when I got back to base.