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Originally Posted by RAM
But if the same U-boat pops out of the water 1500-to-2000 metres from the same corvette, facing it directly (small target profile), that same 20mm gun will have some trouble hitting anything, giving enough time to the sub crew to open accurate enough fire with the 88mm. At longer ranges you will have problems with the wave motion ruining your fire solution. At shorter ranges, light cannon and MGs will kill your crew. But at 1500-2000 you're out of the light cannon range (they fire and can hit your sub but with no accuracy at all, so they can't purposely kill crewmen), and the range is small enough for you to be able to hit with a high degree of accuracy.
"so much for game mechanics"...well, as I already said in my opening post, I'm not making this out of air. British subs did just this with their 3 inch deck gun against light escorts, taking them by surprise, and in multiple escorts-vs-one sub engagements. Go read Capt. Young's book if you don't believe me. Maybe they were also gaming a "real life mechanics" loophole? 
This tactic WAS used in WW2. Not sure if by any U-boat but it was by allied subs. And very succesfully, if I might add.
AVGWarhawk, sorry it didn't work for you. In which circunstances did you try to do it?. As I said avobe you must be careful of the range at which you blow ballast. Too far and you can't hit the escort's main gun with accuracy. Too near and it's light weapons will get crewmen killed. But done at the right range and when directly facing the enemy (a well trained crew won't hurt either because that means higher rate of fire), it works...or at least it does for me :O |
If a submarine surfaces bow-in to a destroyers broadside, it's not that hard for the DD to move around to the side. It still takes more than a minute to ready a deck gun that's been waterproofed. I'll find the book, but this is the first time I've ever heard of anyone using a tactic like this, and I've heard a lot. Don't forget that the escort only has to get one hit on a submarine's pressure hull and it's no longer a submarine.
Saying it works, at least for you, indicates that again you're talking about the game, not something you've done in real life.