[H2OsKT]

I was going to begin a new discussion on this topic tonight. I always like starting a career at the beginning. Therefore, I am starting in 1939. At first, I could not wait to get a bigger boat and off the IIa with it's limitted range. I upgraded to Rub 1.45 and enjoyed launching my carreer in the 2nd Flotilla with the VIIb. So far, I have had five seperate carreers.

I am starting to think that the IIa is a better boat to start off with now because your tours at sea are short and sweet. If handled properly, you may upgrade your crew far quicker on the IIa. Most importantly, I find myself going to sea for one to two weeks and having an opportunity to "specialize," another crewman. That means in two months, I can have two to three tours complete and add a valuable sonar man, engine man and gunner or another torpedo guy to my crew. When you start with the bigger VII boats, your time at sea is drawn out by having to travel further distances for missions and finding targets to unload all your munitions into. Granted, you get more tonage at first, have the handy deck gun to amuse yourself with and what not, but, after two months, you can upgrade one guy rather than two or three. I just finished my second patrol last night after a month in the water with mostly stormy weather. I sunk twelve ships for fourty some odd thousand tons. It was a rather successful tour even with my fustration with the weather. Unfortunately, I am about to go into 1940 with only two additional "specialized" guys on the bigger boat.

What are your thoughts on this matter? As I said, I think when I have to start another career, I am going to go back to the 1st Flotilla so I am able to upgrade my crew quickly. :hmm: