SUBSIM Radio Room Forums - View Single Post

AS · 12-03-06, 06:36 PM

Hi all, I´ve been reading about GWX making Destroyers even more deadly

and I´ve been reading pages and pages about "evasive tactics" ... now I´ve also read MANY books on real U-Boat warfare (as I´m sure many of you did as well), and here´s what I conclude from my reading:

Authentic U-Boat diaries and reports say little or nothing about "evasive tactics" - it doesn´t seem to be an important issue. Real U-Boat men like Buchheim and Hirschfeld describe being chased and depth-charged like a very ordinary thing. Unlike in Das Boot the crew stayed very calm and wouldn´t freak out and scream and shout etc. (Buchheim, the author of Das Boot, was very angry about these scenes and called them "Hollywood Nonsense"
There´s some historical footage confirming how quietly the crew reacted under attack, too.

What´s more interesting is that real Commanders didn´t have any super-clever evasive "tactics", on the contrary, when you read Buchheim, Hirschfeld, Topp or other eye-witnesses, you are surprised how NAIVE the commanders and the crew often were.

When under attack, they usually ran silent and just WAITED while keeping the course. Reportedly, commanders very often just lay on their bed, reading (or at least pretending) or slumbering and nothing much happened. Every now and then they would ask for sonar contacts or dive a little deeper when they were pinged. Destroyers, on the other hand, were very inefficient especially in early war, partly because the crews were not well trained, partly because ASDIC was easily disturbed and inaccurate sometimes.

So what am I getting at? Profound evasive tactics may add to gameplay, but do not really seem to reflect the real thing. In real life being depth charged was a bit like playing Hide and Seek with a lot of good/bad luck involved on both sides. It was a common "tactic" to just sit and wait and keep running silent in one direction. Considering how SLOW U-Boats were at silent running, it wouldn´t have made much sense to change course too often because they would end up staying at the same place forever instead of getting away.

Just something to think about....

Cheers, AS

12-03-06, 06:36 PM	#1
AS 中国水兵 Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Germany Posts: 275 Downloads: 135 Uploads: 0	Evasive tactics: easier in real life??? Hi all, I´ve been reading about GWX making Destroyers even more deadly and I´ve been reading pages and pages about "evasive tactics" ... now I´ve also read MANY books on real U-Boat warfare (as I´m sure many of you did as well), and here´s what I conclude from my reading: Authentic U-Boat diaries and reports say little or nothing about "evasive tactics" - it doesn´t seem to be an important issue. Real U-Boat men like Buchheim and Hirschfeld describe being chased and depth-charged like a very ordinary thing. Unlike in Das Boot the crew stayed very calm and wouldn´t freak out and scream and shout etc. (Buchheim, the author of Das Boot, was very angry about these scenes and called them "Hollywood Nonsense" There´s some historical footage confirming how quietly the crew reacted under attack, too. What´s more interesting is that real Commanders didn´t have any super-clever evasive "tactics", on the contrary, when you read Buchheim, Hirschfeld, Topp or other eye-witnesses, you are surprised how NAIVE the commanders and the crew often were. When under attack, they usually ran silent and just WAITED while keeping the course. Reportedly, commanders very often just lay on their bed, reading (or at least pretending) or slumbering and nothing much happened. Every now and then they would ask for sonar contacts or dive a little deeper when they were pinged. Destroyers, on the other hand, were very inefficient especially in early war, partly because the crews were not well trained, partly because ASDIC was easily disturbed and inaccurate sometimes. So what am I getting at? Profound evasive tactics may add to gameplay, but do not really seem to reflect the real thing. In real life being depth charged was a bit like playing Hide and Seek with a lot of good/bad luck involved on both sides. It was a common "tactic" to just sit and wait and keep running silent in one direction. Considering how SLOW U-Boats were at silent running, it wouldn´t have made much sense to change course too often because they would end up staying at the same place forever instead of getting away. Just something to think about.... Cheers, AS __________________ Whenever people agree with me I always feel I must be wrong. (Oscar Wilde)