Quote:
Originally Posted by Flyingrodent
Despite trying all the helpful tips you've all given I've still not been able to shake off a pursuing escort. I can dodge the D/C and other nasties but once the escort has run out of these it continuously circles my tin can until I have to surface.
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Hi Mike,
This is historically accurate and is why U-boats had approximately 80% losses in WWII. During the last year of the war, anti-submarine warfare was really perfected, and the escorts were absolutely tenacious. If they didn't destroy it outright with depth charges / hedgehogs, they prosecuted the U-boat until it was forced to surface due to lack of oxygen. Escorts would work in packs, with some drifting and listening, functionally invisible to the U-boat below, while others ran depth charge patterns.
In short, it was close to suicide to be aboard a U-boat in 1944. If you go to sites like
http://www.uboat.net/fates/, you can get a good idea of what it must have been like for the U-boatmen.
I hope this helps.
David
PS - U-boats are never referred to as "Tin Cans", as that was the term for Destroyers.
