I had a somewhat similar experience yesterday. Ended a bit different though
Enter my second-latest pseudonym, KptLtn. Markus Von Blixt - a salty, brave and sour geezer from Tientsin, China with some 60kts sunk already. Well, we had just received an order to patrol a grid some 500kms west of Vigo, and our intention was of course to sink as many of the fat beauties sailing in convoys towards Gibraltar as possible. And why the devil not: the boat was freshly overhauled, the crew rested - or, at least, still breathing, having spent the best part of their shore leave in assorted dives and bordellos around Wilhelmshaven
- and we were all raring to go and pwnZ0r some Engländer shipping, massively hangoverish or not!
So, being the real men that we were (yes, WERE, as it turns out) we of course chose the most direct southbound route. And yes, ladies and gents, as you know that route goes through the English Channel - this God-forsaken, pitiful, diseased, murky, muddy, oily and shallow excuse of a waterway swarming with all kinds of troublesome Navy-grey tincans and whatnot!
But none-the-less, off on our merry way we went! All went well first and we even managed to slip through the Dover Strait unnoticed, but then all of a sudden there was this destroyer approaching out of nowhere while we were submerged already and running silent at 30ms, having just evaded his mate literally seconds ago! Well, the bugger started pinging of course and found us straightaway, and then as those pesky critters do slipped a carp-load of DCs onto us while passing directly overhead
We suffered massive damage but managed to fix everything, apart from the conning tower (badly damaged) and the periscopes (both destroyed). Well, there was precious little left to do except trying to avoid the devil as best we could then, so that's exactly what we did - shallow waters notwithstanding!
It all started to look very dire indeed, but then all of a sudden a strangest thing happened. I ordered a new depth of 15ms... and lo and behold, the bugger lost us!!! He just went around in circles and pinged as he chugged along, but had no more contacts and dropped no DCs anymore...
Could've ended well, but as I said this Von Blixt character perceived himself as a brave man. The posterity has, however, rather seen him as a foolhardy idiot; and for a good reason too, for it so transpired that the man, with his walrus moustache shaking with rage and everything, ordered his best ship-mate Bernard to surface the boat and slug it out with the Briton using that mighty 88 mounted on the foredeck!
Notes to self:
* The English Channel:
1) Shallow
2) Dangerous
3) Don't go
* Kaleuns:
1) Old
2) Bold
3) Points 1 & 2 seem to be mutually exclusive
Ah well - exit Marcus Von Blixt, enter Marc Salamowsky...
PS / EDIT -
Quote:
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...I could blow ballast and save the crew if nothing else.
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Sorry for the newbie question, but how does one surrender in this game???