To whom it may concern over at RFB HQ
Dear sirs,
after fitting our brand new boat with RFB2.0, patch and sonar lines restoration, we departed Brisbane in march 1943 for our first patrol in enemy controlled waters. Destination: Solomons
A previous career with RSRD under RFB1.52 went on for years without ever encountering any convoys at all and after being somewhat bored by encountering only lone merchants we decided to give this one a try without RSRD; we were in for quite a ride.
Late March, arrived on station in the Bismarck sea. One small freighter sunk without any drama, 2 torpedoes fired, hits for both at a 45 degree AOB shot. Convoy encountered and engaged, 7 torpedoes fired at various targets, 2 misses, 5 duds at angles between 70 and 90 degrees.
March 25th, 22:00. Crew exhausted after the action and reloading the torpedoes, radar reports multiple contacts heading our way. Visual confirmation small fast convoy: 2 great big liners with heavy escort. Surface attack, it was a dark night. Barely managed to line up the stern tubes for a spreadshot, torpedoes fired at slow speeds to ensure enough range and to buy some getaway-time. Runtime over 4 minutes, sneaking away from escorts during torpedo runs. 5 minutes later gunfire heard and seen from Destroyer, starshells all over the place. Gunfire sounded phenomenally impressive!
Sonar reports 2 duds and 2 misses. Dammit! 1 minute later: explosion. Destroyer observed to be on fire and sinking fast by the stern. Extremely lucky residue hit from one of the missed shots! No trouble from other escorts, they never saw us. Extremely pleased about the sensor balance in night conditions! Surface night attacks at long last!
March 29, another convoy encountered, moving ahead of us just before sunrise, flank ahead to get into attack position during the last minutes of darkness. Periscope depth at first light, stern tubes lined up on acceptable solution at 07:00. Fired 2 torpedoes each at 2 large freighters, 7000 and 8000 tons resp.
Dived deep after firing but boats takes a long time to reach 200 ft, slow torpedoes to buy some time, again.
Sonar reports escort coming too close for comfort, silent running, detected nonetheless! Evasive manouvers, sonar reports convoy slowing down and changing course.
Sonar reports one miss and one hit on target #1, and one dud, one hit on target #2. Pleased about hitting both ships but not certain if it will be enough to sink either, assuming hits to the bow due to slowing down and zigzags.
7:20 pinged by escort, depthcharges. Very close! minor flooding and light system damage all across the board. Priority repairs for flooding, flooding contained 7:30. Thermal layer found at 220 feet, silent running.
8:49 escorts never found us again after that initial attack, sinking noises heard way aft, convoy is sailing away over the horizon but we got at least one of them, maybe even both!
stayed submerged for the rest of the day, most damage repaired, all tubes reloaded, total 7 torpedoes remaining: 3 fwd, 4 aft. Surfaced during night, remaining damage repaired over the course of the next 2 days, boat still operational, status report sent
New orders received: photo recon of the Carrier taskforce in Rabaul. Damn, that'll be risky.
March 30th, 21:00. It's a very dark night indeed, perfect conditions for a surface run into Rabaul. Hugging the shore at 12 knots, decks awash.
Destroyer ahead, coming straight at us. Reverse speed ordered, destroyer getting very close but turning away. All stop, destroyer passing 1000 yards on starboard bow. Damn! Resumed forward speed 12 knots, creeping closer into Rabaul base. Shore battery spotted, 1200 yards off our starboard bow. More escorts ahead and port. We are willingly sneaking right in the middle of all their guns. Keep going nonetheless.
22:00 Two flattops spotted at 3000 yards, barely visible in the darkness. No escorts currently near us. Moving closer, photographs taken although they won't show much except blackness. Turning around to get the hell out of there.
22:15 New plan: still no escorts near us, while we are here, we might as well use those last torpedoes. 4 aft tubes fired for spreadshot on nearest flattop. Diving to periscope depth on minimum speed, we don't want to be caught on the surface if all the lights are turned on.
all 4 torpedoes are observed to hit! Carrier keels over, burning all over, we'll count it as beyond repair.
No trouble from escorts or shore batteries, we decide to go for it and run the hell out of the bay on the surface at 16 knots. We make it.
Return trip without incident, docked at Brisbane April 5th.
29.000 tons in the log.
Conclusions: without RSRD it's a way too crowded of course, but I like the whole 'convoy attack / escort evasion' thing so I'll keep things like this for a while.
As for RFB 2.0: Never in my SH4 experience have I come across a mod which is so well balanced on every single front. I consider myself lucky on that patrol: getting relatively few duds and sinking both freighters with bow hits. But I was extremely pleased with the night surface action, the sounds, the looks, the depthcharges, the damage models, everything!
Fantastic work, you have my thanks!
Bosje out
