[Brag]

Originally Posted by jimbuna

You must educate us all in the error of our ways/claims

No way I can match your illustrious scores....and I'm playing on 110%

I need to finish this patrol to dig and post the evidence.

Balz's secret is no secret at all but a matter of strategy. If one looks at his tonnage per patrol, twice, he failed to sink 100 K. These were patrols where U-53 sustained enough damage to warrant cutting the patrol short.

Balz always goes to his assigned patrol grid. He operates under the principle of one ship, one torpedo. He won't bother with ships under 5,000 tons, unless his patrol tonnage has surpased 100 K.

When attacking convoys, he seldom attempts to hit more than two ships. Very often, he does one bow and one stern shot. just a few seconds appart. If the target is not in perfect position, he uses a magnetic torpedo.

He considers the first penetration of a convoy as a reconnaisance run and attacks only well placed targets. Once he knows the composition of a convoy, he plans his approach to zonk two fat ships. This way, a large convoy can yield 100 K after 5 attacks (2-3 day's work). Usually, it takes 2 convoys to reach the 100k goal.

Transiting to the patrol area, Balz uses known shipping lanes, and often, finds lone merchies worth zapping.

He also prowls known single merchie spawning areas like Tanker Alley and the Gibraltar-Cape Sao Vicente route. In the first half of 1940, Balz pretty much made Cadiz his base, expending torpedoes and deck gun ammunition only a few hours away from his supplies, thus achieving lots of patrols in a short period of time.

Now being September 1941, Balz is on his 14th patrol, bellowing and moaning about his low tonnage (88,000) and only 12 torpedoes left. He just missed attacking a fast moving liner, which would have given him a tonnage cushion.

Oh yes, keeping Bernard in check also helps. Nevertheless that bastard fired tube 2 when Balz was aiming a stern shot during a convoy attack yesterday.