Questions for Old Timers

[kkentopanga]

Morning Mates.

I am in my 14th mission with GWX and just received bold decoys. I have been able to get 14 missions in because I am reluctent to go after convoys and have sunk mostly single merchants. I have sunk two Flower Class warships but usually run like He--. I want to go after convoys and need your help. I am in mid 1942 out of Brest.

How should I use the decoys?
How should I use Radar, if at all?
How deep have you gone in game with a VIIC? When I enter the red zone on the gauge I get verbal warnings, How long can I ignore these?
I am getting a lot of enemy aircraft. What is their maximum range out from an airfield before they have to turn back?

Appreciate any advise you can give me.

[Morts]

if you havent been damaged at all you should be able to go to 250-260 meters

[Patboot]

Use the decoys as soon as you make the break for depth and silence- dump one, haul for the deep, then go silent.

I never go past 130m. Why agravate it?

Aircraft in 42 have almost the entire ocean to play with- and some convoys have their own Carrier escort.

[seafarer]

Radar doesn't do you any good unless you turn it on. And don't worry about giving yourself away by your radar emmissions - the Allies pretty much always had the lead in radar technoloby, and the radar equiped escorts are going to find you with theirs anyway. Very few merchants were ever equiped with radar detection equipment.

From mid 1942 on, the air bases being added to the Azores, Iceland, Greenland, and the emerging use of escort carriers (really takes off in late 1942, early 1943) means aircraft will always be a threat.

[papa_smurf]

How should I use the decoys?

Use these to give DD's the slip - they give a false contact for about 2-5 mins. Plenty of time to go deep and escape.

How should I use Radar, if at all?

Use sparingly, as warships/aircraft can home in on you. Very useful tho when the weather is bad.

How deep have you gone in game with a VIIC? When I enter the red zone on the gauge I get verbal warnings, How long can I ignore these?

I go no deeper than 150 m

I am getting a lot of enemy aircraft. What is their maximum range out from an airfield before they have to turn back?

Get used to it, by 1943 things get a whole lot worse.

[seafarer]

Also note that by mid 1942, coastal command's aircraft were getting radar, so they can find you night or day, clouds or not.

Sounds like you need Metox Radar Detection (Biscay Cross). If you do not already have, I'd get as soon as possible. You will not survive 1943 without it.

Metox will give you enough time to determine aircraft bearing and course, then dive. Stay down for a couple of hours then surface. Recharge batteries and air, then you'll do all over again, and again and again. You'll only be free of aircraft in extremely bad weather or in an air gap.

It does not pay to shoot down aircraft. You'll suffer minor damage and hull integrity; eventually, one of the planes will get you with a well placed stick!

[U-96]

1- Bold Decoys shoots a metal canister that contains a mineral that reacts with salt water, the effect lasts 2 to 5 minutes but don't rely on them too much. Basically use one to dive deeper at full speed, and do a quick course change before bringing the engines down to slow again and stay quiet.

2- Radar should only be used when the weather is really bad, (High fog and rain), You'll have a hard time seeing a boat even when it's only a couple hundred of meters away away from you, Your only hope of making a shot in these conditions are mastery of manual torpedo targeting and guessing where the target will be at any given time cause you certainly won't see it long enough. In decent weather. Your watch crew and hydrophones work well enough and they have the added bonus of being passive, so don't rely on radar too much.

3- I've tested my type VIIC's depth to 270 meters, But that's at 100% hull integrity, And getting hit with a depth charge at this depth is certain death. So you can take her deep, But keep in mind, it also scares the crap out of your crew and you'll have to manage the huge morale hit.

4- By late 1943 to the end of the war, Aircraft rule the atlantic. Nothing you can do about it except stay down often. a Schnorkel is a good investment as it raises your survivability exponentially. By late 1943, Patrols become an exercise of survival, and not a hunt. In order to stand any chance of sinkings at this point. try to transfer to a Flotilla that uses the type XXI and get one as soon as you can. By this time, if you lack a schnorkel or a type XXI boat. all you can do is pray.

[KeptinCranky]

hmm, 220 meters is still reasonably safe when undamaged, if strafed by a plane once (some hull damage) I wouldn't go below 200, but if you feel your boat can take it always go as deep as possible when evading escorts

all the VII boats can go to 200, it's just a little nerve-wracking

Originally Posted by U-96

4- By late 1943 to the end of the war, Aircraft rule the atlantic. Nothing you can do about it except stay down often. a Schnorkel is a good investment as it raises your survivability exponentially. By late 1943, Patrols become an exercise of survival, and not a hunt. In order to stand any chance of sinkings at this point. try to transfer to a Flotilla that uses the type XXI and get one as soon as you can. By this time, if you lack a schnorkel or a type XXI boat. all you can do is pray.

All good advice!

But in real life the XXI was NOT available for frontline patrol until the very end of April 1945. Definitely one, maybe two, Type XXIs left Norway for patrol. U-boat Commander Shnee heading for the North Atlantic was the first XXI to sail and made it only to the Shetlands when he received the order of surrender from Donitz. Before returning to Norway, he made a successful trial attack on a British Cruiser Task Force. Docked in Norway, the XXI was right next to the very same British Cruiser that could easily have been sunk. The British officers could believe the XXI went undetected by them until they compared logs and determined they were in the same place at the same time.

[minute]

To add to previous posts:

Originally Posted by kkentopanga

Morning Mates.

I am in my 14th mission with GWX and just received bold decoys. I have been able to get 14 missions in because I am reluctent to go after convoys and have sunk mostly single merchants. I have sunk two Flower Class warships but usually run like He--. I want to go after convoys and need your help. I am in mid 1942 out of Brest.

Don't be lead to think that having Bold will make it easier to go after convoys. Bold is just a small help against an increasing range of ASW toys the other guys will be getting. Wait until you see the first Hedgehog! Not much use of Bold against that...

How should I use Radar, if at all?

Only in very bad weather or low visibility, when you know you are within 2km of a target and you can't see it. Only works in the front 60 degrees arc. Never use against escorted targets - destroyers have radar detectors by now. Don't leave it on for too long

When I enter the red zone on the gauge I get verbal warnings, How long can I ignore these?

You can ignore them until you hear bad noises and things start leaking. Then you may have a chance to go back up. But then again, maybe not.

I am getting a lot of enemy aircraft. What is their maximum range out from an airfield before they have to turn back?

See the drag-down map in the F5 screen