SUBSIM Radio Room Forums - View Single Post - First war patrol in LSH2015

K-61 · 10-14-15, 07:50 AM

Returning to base from my first career patrol in a VIIB out of Kiel. Was assigned to AM39. Rounding the top of the British Isles, cutting close to the Orkneys, I pounced on a single freighter. I gave it one eel and surfaced to finish it off with the deck gun. While I am in this engagement, my watch crew calls out multiple contacts coming down on us from the north.

This was weird, but LSH is proving to be an interesting mod... a small fishing fleet consisting of two large trawlers and three or four crab cutters. What could I do? They had already seen me, and aside of that, they were flying the British flag. We must be hard in this war... if the British have to be starved into peace, then so be it. No seafood in Scotland tonight, I am afraid.

I decided to take a shortcut to my patrol zone by going through the channel of the Hebrides. What a target-rich environment and lightly guarded. The only ASW vessel I saw was a trawler, which I evaded in time to avoid. Unusually for me, the sea was glassy calm and visibility was excellent. Rather than waste an eel on such a paltry target, I dove and proceeded for several hours to the southwest. While under, my hydrophones picked up a merchantman coming up the channel. When far enough away from the trawler, I surfaced and closed the distance. One eel into a freighter then finish with the deck gun... but running as fast as it can [but not faster than me] comes that trawler.

I was making a clean get away, but in the meantime, visibility began to be reduced by a light fog. But heavy enough for a plane to make a run on me. Broke a few things and forced me down... which allowed the trawler to get close enough to sniff around for a bit. No permanent damage to subsystems but knocked my hull integrity down to 76%. Had to be more careful after that.

Towards nightfall we surface and complete repairs. Several more targets and I am out of torpedoes, and running low on deck gun ammo. I was even firing star shells at small stuff. My last HE and most of my remaining rounds of AP were used to engage a large merchant, successfully. Exiting the Hebrides I decided to take the 24 hours through my patrol zone, around the top of the British Isles [no way am I going back up that channel with empty tubes and deck gun] and am now in the North Sea getting close to the Heimat. Thought I would inform my fellow Kaleunen before returning to base and give them a tip about this juicy hunting ground. One word of caution: it is not very deep through there in many spots. Mind your depth under keel in case of the need to crash dive. It is all too easy to hit the bottom at speed in a moment of panic. Keep asking the nav for the depth and study your charts. There are deeper parts; just look for the darker shades of blue on your charts. Although Loch Ewe is close to the eastern entrance to the channel, ASW patrols early-war are light. You should be alright as long as you are prudent. I would not try this area later in the war. I can't say from experience, but I would imagine being that close to land your odds of being jumped from the air go up.

10-14-15, 07:50 AM	#11
K-61 Grey Wolf Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Ontario Posts: 795 Downloads: 39 Uploads: 0	Returning to base from my first career patrol in a VIIB out of Kiel. Was assigned to AM39. Rounding the top of the British Isles, cutting close to the Orkneys, I pounced on a single freighter. I gave it one eel and surfaced to finish it off with the deck gun. While I am in this engagement, my watch crew calls out multiple contacts coming down on us from the north. This was weird, but LSH is proving to be an interesting mod... a small fishing fleet consisting of two large trawlers and three or four crab cutters. What could I do? They had already seen me, and aside of that, they were flying the British flag. We must be hard in this war... if the British have to be starved into peace, then so be it. No seafood in Scotland tonight, I am afraid. I decided to take a shortcut to my patrol zone by going through the channel of the Hebrides. What a target-rich environment and lightly guarded. The only ASW vessel I saw was a trawler, which I evaded in time to avoid. Unusually for me, the sea was glassy calm and visibility was excellent. Rather than waste an eel on such a paltry target, I dove and proceeded for several hours to the southwest. While under, my hydrophones picked up a merchantman coming up the channel. When far enough away from the trawler, I surfaced and closed the distance. One eel into a freighter then finish with the deck gun... but running as fast as it can [but not faster than me] comes that trawler. I was making a clean get away, but in the meantime, visibility began to be reduced by a light fog. But heavy enough for a plane to make a run on me. Broke a few things and forced me down... which allowed the trawler to get close enough to sniff around for a bit. No permanent damage to subsystems but knocked my hull integrity down to 76%. Had to be more careful after that. Towards nightfall we surface and complete repairs. Several more targets and I am out of torpedoes, and running low on deck gun ammo. I was even firing star shells at small stuff. My last HE and most of my remaining rounds of AP were used to engage a large merchant, successfully. Exiting the Hebrides I decided to take the 24 hours through my patrol zone, around the top of the British Isles [no way am I going back up that channel with empty tubes and deck gun] and am now in the North Sea getting close to the Heimat. Thought I would inform my fellow Kaleunen before returning to base and give them a tip about this juicy hunting ground. One word of caution: it is not very deep through there in many spots. Mind your depth under keel in case of the need to crash dive. It is all too easy to hit the bottom at speed in a moment of panic. Keep asking the nav for the depth and study your charts. There are deeper parts; just look for the darker shades of blue on your charts. Although Loch Ewe is close to the eastern entrance to the channel, ASW patrols early-war are light. You should be alright as long as you are prudent. I would not try this area later in the war. I can't say from experience, but I would imagine being that close to land your odds of being jumped from the air go up. __________________ Last edited by K-61; 10-14-15 at 07:59 AM.