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Originally Posted by gord96
I am heading back from a fairly decent 5th patrol in Febuary 1940. Have six fish left and have sunk 20000 tons of allied shipping. Heading back around the north of Britian. Is there usually anything in Scapa FLow? ... Thanks for any info  |
I play 100% realism and dead-is-dead, no super-mods, but do use SH3Commander and a couple of related mods including Harbour Traffic. Most of my Kaleuns wouldn't go near a place like Scapa (well guarded shallow water)... but, I have one, who started the war in 7th Flotilla and whose first mission was to patrol off Danzig. After sinking all the small craft that came his way, he decided to go look around the harbour. Stumbled across the tin can patrolling the approaches, and sank it. Proceeded to the inner harbour, got his periscope shot at by the armed trawler, surfaced behind it and sank it with gunfire. No more hostiles, so sank the 3 tugs and 2 small merchants at his leisure. This successful raid seems to have had a profound effect on KptLt. Emil Monchau's preferred style of operations.
On his next mission, ordered to patrol off the east coast of Britain, he entered Hartlepool on September 28th , sank the armed trawler that was its only guard, and disposed of 5 merchants.
His 3rd, 4th and 5th patrols were a little more mundane: 16 merchants sunk for 70,000 tons. Then on his 6th patrol he entered Loch Ewe on January 16th 1940, was detected but slipped by the destroyer screen, entered the inner harbour, sank the V&W DD moored there, then proceeded to pick off 2 more destroyers as they entered the inner harbour piecemeal. (Really stupid AI) (Really lucky and stupid Kaleun). He then torpedoed another DD tied up outside the seawall, but was attacked in the process by 2 MTBs, which he also sank. His Type VIIB U-45 was badly damaged in the exchange (HI 42.96) and there were 2 casualities. Having cleared the local seas of enemy warships, he then sank the only merchant in port: a T2. He limped home to receive the Swords to his Knight's Cross.
After 2 months in drydock, U-45 put to sea in late March 1940 with orders to patrol the northern part of the North Sea. After a dull 24 hours in his assigned patrol area (only one coastal merchant) Monchau decides it is time to go to Scapa Flow. On the way there he sinks three merchants for 14,700 tons. After a harrowing approach that lasts nearly 24 hours, Monchau is past the numerous patrolling ships (3 DDs, 2 Cvts, at least 3 other unidentified warships) and into the basin, having only run aground once. Doing a clockwise circuit of the basin, he discovers (to answer OP's question) an Auxilliary Cruiser moored near the north shore. Approaching it for a closer look, he makes out a dim shape anchored a few km further on:
HMS Illustrious, a fleet carrier. It is late afternoon. Monchau manouvers to place
Illustrious between his U-45 and the closest patrolling corvettes, and waits for dark.
Shortly after 2200 on March 30, 1940, Monchau fires a spread of three torpedoes at
Illustrious, then turns towards the Auxilliary Cruiser
HMS Dunvegan Castle at top submerged speed. He can hear at least two warships approaching the sinking carrier while he frantically reloads one of his forward tubes. He skirts past the target ship, and swings back to attack the
Dunvegan Castle from the side away from his pursuers. Two fish sink the
Dunvegan Castle as Monchau sprints for the west end of the basin.
Desperate for fresh air, Monchau surfaces in the SW corner of the basin and skirts the southern shore, moving at slow speed toward the exit passage as he recharges his batteries. Moments before Monchau is about to give the order to submerge to try the exit, the lookouts hear an alarm from a destroyer just across the spit of land separating U-45 from the open sea. They have been detected! A crash dive and a sprint across the mouth of - not into - the exit passage confuse the Brit, and Monchau is able to slowly work his way back out to sea. The trip out is a bit easier than the way in, since several of the patrolling craft seem to be looking for a uboat in the basin near the two sunken ships. Monchau brought the U-45 home safely. He was awarded the
KNIGHT'S CROSS WITH GOLDEN OAK LEAVES, SWORDS, AND DIAMONDS for this exploit.
On his next patrol, Monchau attempted to enter the Firth of Forth, but that's another story.
Would I try this in GWX? Not without several patrols under my belt to see if my techniques for evasion work with that mod. Neither would I try such a raid much later than 1940. None of my other Kaleuns would try such a stunt, and mostly they have been successful (1 dead on his 1st patrol, but 4 retired after 40 patrols between them)