[Bosje]

Good morning Kaleuns

first of all: Hey everyone, great forum. I've been reading it for a couple months now while playing SH3 stock. loving it.

I too had a career in U-47, starting in Kiel sept. '39.
Sunk 1 C2 and hurried back just to be able to have a new patrol start in the first week of october. succeeded in this, even though it meant not being able to do any upgrades on the boat. So there I was, just east off Kirk Sound, watching the sunset, preparing to do it. date: october 9th. I saved the game, against my principle but it has crashed on me before and also i wanted to be able to replay it.

zooming in on the map didnt show any ship barriers, just solid landmass on the historic approach (holm sound iirc). having a look around with the free camera revealed solid landmass too. being disappointed by this i just snuffed it there and then. i thought it might be a bug or glitch so i just ran the sub through it and, of course, died.

reloaded at sunset, sailed all the way around the orkneys for a western approach. spotted by the shore batteries, bit of damage but nothing serious, all those sleeping DDs were on my sterntube though. i may sound like a nubje but i've played all the silent hunter games for a bit, so between 23:00 and 03:00 i sunk 5 destroyers, using about 8 torpedoes. (best thing to happen was the moored DDs searching for a bit, then going back to sleep wherever they were. 2 hunts and a tribal were easy prey on 2 kilometer shots).

after clearing the searchlights i surfaced inside the mooring. keeping at least 2,5k between myself and the remaining Hunt(ed). 4 bow shots at 3 km into the Royal Oak, close to abeam. still on the surface with the hunt now behind me. As soon as the first fish hit, and i am talking the very second, those 6 or so 5inch? guns opened up on me. they didnt hit me but i was still annoyed. I heard 3 torps hit, possibly a 4th. 2 hunts on my tail. I ran, was spotted, had half a minute of gun battle (very bad idea), was down to 12% hull but still alive and after some dodgy minutes they had given up on the hunt. So there I was. somewhere in between the heavily listing, but still apparently operational, Battleship and the shore batteries. one hunt laying still between me and the BB, the other back on his patrol round. I saved the game again, successfully slipped out (using a bit of submerged time compression, i was alarmed when it suddenly went to 4x, glanced through the obs. periscope, gave a hard right and missed the wreck of a hunt by about 1 metre). Made it back to Kiel eventually after venting my frustrations on a tugboat off scapa. Using the free camera, the last I saw of the Royal Oak, it was listing to the point where her keel was about 1 meter away from hitting the bottom. those secondary guns were still manned by guys sitting about 2 meters below the waves. I didnt get credit for it, in fact i only got a couple hundred renown for sinking some DDs, and 2 silly iron cross 2nd class.

I loaded the last save, went back in, submerged in front of the sitting DD while running 1/2 speed. while not being spotted even at 2kilometers, i was instantly heard when submerged. Dead.

All this had taken me an entire day. A very interesting and exciting day but I still have to actually officially sink the Royal Oak.