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Originally Posted by RawRecruit
Yeah, I've never made it past early 1943 (starting from 1941), at which point Metox is no use against centimetric radar. 
Maybe I'll start a new career in '44 just to see what it's like!  |
At that point, if you sink just one ship per patrol, and survive, you are doing excellent.
I started a career in 1943, at Bergen (I wanted a Type XXI when they become available). I made it all the way to December, 1944. Aircraft harass you day and night. You have to schnorkel most of the time, otherwise you will get killed.
Here are my tips for survival:
1. As soon as you can, get a schnorkel, and use it religiously.
2. Get every radar detector you can, as soon as it becomes available (Metox, Wanze, Naxos, etc.)
3. When you get an indication of radar signals, dive immediately, or lower your schnorkel if you are schnorkeling.
4. Do not, under any circumstances, transmit status reports or contact reports to BdU.
5. Avoid convoys. They are bad Ju-ju.
6. Attack lone destroyers, frigates, corvettes, etc. only when the conditions are absolutely favorable.
7. Concentrate on lone merchants. There are still a few of them out there.
8. Attack submerged, always. You probably won't have a deck gun anyway, but if you do, ignore it.
9. If you *MUST* attack a convoy, do it from long range. Fire the bow tubes, turn 180 degrees away from the convoy, fire the stern tubes, then either go very deep or stay at periscope depth, silent running at 2 knots or less.
These hints won't rack up a lot of tonnage, but they will keep you alive for as long as possible.