Sinking the Taiho(screen shots)

[Bubblehead1980]

TMO 2.1 RSRD USS Flasher..Gato class.

Finally found the carrier division with the big fleet carriers on 19 June 1944 in the Philippine Sea.I have never been able to find it, always find the other IJN force with escort carriers and BB's.

Around 0600 on 19 June 1944 radar made contact, I was out of position so had to race at flank speed to get ahead of the TF.After racing ahead made a dive and went to 350 feet on silent running, slowly but surely closing in to penetrate the screen.

I came to scope depth just before 0800 and spotted a flat top coming on strong , I ordered back 1/3 so could use bow tubes and went to 100 feet.On next observation I had a good shot but then an explosion went off, I moved the attack scope up to spot a Val dive bomber pulling out of a dive, seems it spotted me and attacked but missed.The carrier began to zig but was still moving on.The next few minutes were tense as the ship made wild, high speed zigs along its base course putting me often too close or then too far.After some guesswork in the plotting, I found myself in a decent firing position and fired all six Mark 14's at the carrier(now identified as the Taiho).The carrier sped up and tried to evade but could not, all six fish hit one after another, holing her from bow to stern.

The carrier soon erupted into a fireball and began to sink , slipping under the waves after about 20 minutes.

For those who are not aware....USS Albacore sank the the Taiho in reality on June 19, 1944 around the same time and in nearly same location I did in the sim.Albacore's TDC malfunctioned and the CO fired by sight, 4 missed, one was detonated by a Japanese aircraft taking off, which intentionally dove into the torpedo when spotted the wake, the other hit, inflicting a crippling blow that lead to a massive explosion several hours later due to build up of fuel vapors. which escaped the aviation fuel tanks damaged by the torpedo.Quite a story.

The other screen shot is of a zero that caught my sub on surface(I had walked away from computer) later that day, bombs missed but my AA gunners lit the Zeke up which flew around and then "ditched" in the water, Never seen this in game, they always crash or fly in, but this time, it ditched.pretty cool