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Originally Posted by Wulfmann
The allied counter offense began in April/May and from that point on convoys had rings in layers. They also had three or more sweepers well in front.
I hardly think making the norm for the later war based on an exceptionally weak escort for one convoy makes sense.
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OK, how about
- Convoy HX 255 (sailed September 2, 1943): 55 ships, 8 escorts
- Convoy HX 276 (sailed January 21, 1944): 69 ships, 9 escorts
- Convoy ON 270 (sailed December 3, 1944): 49 ships, 5 escorts
- etc.
Perhaps if you provided some data and sources to back up your assertions? I suggest the site I identified in my previous post (
http://www.warsailors.com) as a starting point.
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That is fine if that is your choice for fun but I am striving for a closer realism for my U-Boat.
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Not
this again....
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Having a realistic number of escorts means there are too many to even play a sink them, reload and pick off merchants which is very unreal. This way no matter how good you are at sinking escorts there is no point in doing it as there are always more so the idea is to find a way to get at the merchant ships and survive.
That is what real U-Boats did and I am trying to force myself to act like they did by making the situation more like they faced.
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Well, actually the Germans did try a "sink the escorts first" strategy starting in September, 1943, when they attacked two convoys (ON-202 and ONS-18), with a
combined total of 12 escorts (about six from each convoy). The U-boats sank four escorts, but only a few merchant ships since their operations were severely hampered by air cover in the form of B-24 bombers.
Based on this historical example, perhaps the answer is not in the number of escorts, but in creating a combination of multiple escorts and air cover over/near convoys. Once the escorts drive you deep, you can't surface and run ahead of the convoy without running into lots of allied air cover. If the planes are suitably modelled it shouldn't be too hard for them to either keep you down or sink you if you try to duke it out with them.
One could also create hunter-killer task forces (escort carriers with large numbers of escort vessels) on patrol that would respond to the position of your attacks.
Pablo