[Kip336]

Originally Posted by 20000 Leagues

I believe I'm in the minority here, but I only dive deep if I'm damaged, feeling anti-social, out of/loading eels or in a situation that I know is untenable. This will sound crazy, but I like to attract DD's by letting them see me on the surface. Once they start steaming toward me, I go to periscope depth and take them on, bow to bow. I line up a bow shot, somewhere around 1.2 clicks. It really is a long shot and has less than 50% success. But it's usually far enough out that the DD won't be zig-zagging yet. While I'm waiting for the long shot to play out, I start getting the next eel ready for a close shot, around 600-500m. They're zig-zagging by then, so it can be a challenge to land a good shot, but my success rate is fairly high. If I miss or get a dud (f'ing duds!) I'm now into a dogfight.

The dogfight is where I do my best work. Keep your enemies close and all that. If the 600-500m shot didn't work, flank, periscope down, dive and hard to port/starboard. Guaranteed this move will rattle some dishes! Once I'm about 45° from my original course, I blow ballast to stop my descent. This takes careful timing, because I want to end up near periscope depth again and not on the surface. As soon as I can, I pop the periscope up and get a fix on the DD for a stern shot. Chances of getting a 90° shot are low, so you really have to know your eels. This is another instance where a dud can be a real lunchbox let down. If the stern shot misses, then we dance.

I should add, I only draw them in if I can't get a good line on them from my position or I can't catch up to them.

Very, very daring. I like that