Phew, I got hammered!

[Frank0001]

I just limped back to Lorient after one of my most horrifying patrols ever!
Got caught by a destroyer which held me down for over two hours, when his friend appeared.
After a terrible beating, I menaged to slip away, here's the damage:

Hull entigrity: 63%
Observation scope: destroyed
Attack periscope: destroyed
Radio antenna: destroyed
Sonar: destroyed
Deck gun: destroyed
Flack gun 1: destroyed
Flack gun 3: destroyed
Top ranking officer: wounded

There was just no way that I could carry on the patrol!
Fact is, I didn't menage to sink (or even attack) a single ship! All torpedoes and ammo were still on board...
After we menaged to surface, my crew must've been grateful for my decision to head home, because when we docked, I got decorated a shiny Knight's Cross with Golden Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds!

Ha, beat that Balz! Decorated for sinking no ship!

[jpm1]

surviving and bringing back home the uboat during world war II was enought difficult to deserve medals

[Frank0001]

Well it sure was difficult, on the way home I had to be carefull, diving at the first sign of a ship (even freighter). Such a shame I couldn't launch a fish at one!

[Myxale]

Those patrols will stay with you forever...oh, one more thing...It will get worser!

Muahahaha

[Frank0001]

Thank you for the warning! I can surely use all the tips from the more experienced kaleuns.
It has thought me to take less risks though.

At times like this I envy the great kaleun Balz!

[Sailor Steve]

I'm with Myxale: surviving an experience like that is what makes the game truly memorable. You feel as if you've really accomplished something. The next time you come home with one ship worth 4000 tons you'll feel proud, rather than disappointed.

[Frank0001]

I'm beginning to understand that now. I actually was really happy to make it back! (with so many compartments damaged). Well, there we no casualties (except for wounded Johan Wilde-Stier) so that gives us something to talk about in the bar!
Although I'm sure the dockworkers weren't too happy with it, it took them more than a month, hehe.

[predavolk]

Wow, nice work!

My tips vs. destroyers:

1- Avoid detection - duh.
2- Heavy seas are fantastic for #1. Calm seas can literally be a killer for #1.
3- You have a decent chance of dodging endless attack runs at periscope depth. Only dive deep after you've dodged an attack, and do it fast for a little bit to make sure you give yourself some distance.
4- If all else fails, run flank, then full reverse when they are in the final stages.
5- The final stages of a depth charge are almost always preceeded by a break in the pinging (as they get too close I imagine). Use that as your cue to take action if you can't spot the ship visually. If you're being pinged heavily (i.e., you're pretty sure they're locked on to you), go to flank speed early. They will estimate your higher speed and make greater errors because of it when you change course and/or speed (e.g., drop to slow).

I've taken to making attacks on convoys running in at flank at periscope depth. Done properly, in heavy seas, you can usually dodge an attack or two, then get into the convoy. Of course, it's preferable to lay quietly in ambush, but sometimes you can't get there or your cover gets blown early. I bagged another Fiji cruiser doing just that, then racked up another 40K of tonnage sinking large merchants, ore carriers, and empire freighters in subsequent attacks. My only regret is that due to all the attention of dodging attack runs, I twice forgot to update my TDC settings (clicking the box) between targets, and so I missed a couple of choice shots- including an enemy sub! The good news is that my errant torps hit home on other targets . The bad news is that they failed to sink those targets .

[Teh_Diplomat]

I damaged my hull sneaking into Portland, England today and this was just a periscope depth in a Type II-A. Real shallow waters there.

I now have to escape on surface after not sinking the T2 Tanker which took my three remaining eels and did not sink.

The good thing is that I seem to have made it through the Channel unscathed as I've moved bases from Wilhemshaven to Brest.


I doubt I'll be this gutsy again, but since I was given no patrol grid I just figured I would attack what ever I encountered. Then I decided to stop along the harbour for some Fish and Chips.

[Tessa]

Once they start to damage the attack periscope then it gets personal. After that the gloves come off and I take on the offensive running around at flank trying to box him into a trap, or if he's been at it for over a hour wait a bit longer till he's outta fireworks and then send him to the bottom

[Frank0001]

Well, the problem in my situation is that BOTH periscopes were destroyed, as well as the deck gun.
The destroyer eventually did run out of depthcharges, but there was no way I could attack him!
And shortly after, he was joined by another friend...

[Kpt. Lehmann]

Its something i've been saying for ages now...

Sometimes, the simple act of limping home on one engine... with the crap beaten out of your sub... is worth more in terms of immersion... than sinking a battleship.

[predavolk]

Originally Posted by Kpt. Lehmann

Its something i've been saying for ages now...

Sometimes, the simple act of limping home on one engine... with the crap beaten out of your sub... is worth more in terms of immersion... than sinking a battleship.

I've never been that badly beaten up (thankfully!), although my hull integrity has been worse. For me, the immersion comes in slowly testing how deep your wounded boat can go. Being prepared to blow balast and emergency surface at the first sound of those popping valves and "Taking damage Sir!" is an awful lot of awful fun. Although I'd take a battleship any day. :p

[Frank0001]

A battleship would be nice! But as Cpt. Lehmann pointed out nicely, I'd rather limp back home instead.
Survive today, fight again tomorrow!