Who-HOO!! --happy dance-- What an attack!!

OK, it's mid-June 1941, and I'm driving a VIIC (using GWX ). For the three days going to, and then patrolling, my assigned area, it's been as boring as watching mold grow on our hanging hams. :p

I finally get one convoy contact, but as it's roughly 300km away and heading away from me I sadly give it the nod and keep patrolling. Several hours later . . . !!

I get a second contact report. Large enemy convoy, moving slow, and it's only 40km out!

I could reach it fairly quickly, but I want to set up a decent approach at no risk of twigging the escorts to my presence (man, soon as they even think you might be around, the escorts get frisky and even the convoy starts zigzagging!) so I set up an intercept point for three hours ahead.

Halfway there I re-plot the intercept for four and a half hours out. Why? Because after examining things along the way I decided an intercept at that point and time had two things going for me: one was that it would then be late evening-early dusk, and that the sun would be behind them helpfully outlining them for me.

Once I spotted smoke on the horizon I submerged, trimming tanks to hold me at 14 meters when running at 2 knot. The sea was glass-smooth, dead calm and the sky crystal clear. I was about 2.500 meters to the starboard side of their track, running a little less than parallel towards them. When the lead escort reached 7km from me I went to 1 knot, re-trimmed to keep me at 14 meters, and went to silent running.

It was very nerve-wracking waiting as the convoy approached. It took almost 30 - 40 minutes for the lead escort to finally pass me by, only 1.200 meters away. I'd track her by sound, then periodically pop the scope up (already set to her bearing from the sound check) and visually track for 2 -3 seconds before dropping the scope.

Once the escort had passed, and I was definitely in her baffle area, I made a hard turn to starboard and accelerated to 4 knots, in order to close the range to the now-quickly closing convoy. Within 10 minutes I was in very close, and my palms started sweating as I saw the two targets I badly wanted: a whale factory ship at 3.400 meters and a large tanker at 1.500 meters!

I dropped the scope and started prepping the torpedoes:

tubes 2 & 4 were electric, set for 7m depth and impact detonation, and set for salvo firing with a narrow spread angle;

tube 1 was steam, set for 7m depth and impact detonation.

(Considering there is no salvo setting for tubes 1 & 2, or 3 & 4, I find it extrememly vexing that the base loadout for the tubes stick one type in tubes 1 & 2 and another in 3 & 4; for example, I get steam in the first two tubes and electric in the second two tubes. Very frustrating for setting salvo firing of same types if I forget to move them before departing on a partol)

I kept popping the scope up and down range-checking the whale factory ship, and when it reached 2.800 meters I fired.

Down scope, watched the stopwatch and when remaining time was less than 40 seconds popped the scope up again and locked onto the large tanker which, by now, was only 700 meters away!! I manually fired tube 1, aiming for the fuel bunkers, then turned the scope to track behind me. 1.400 meters at 210 degrees . . . a large merchant!

I flushed tube 5 at her, and heard three consecutive torpedo impacts. Turning back to my first two targets neither were visibly damaged (i.e. no fires, listing, etc.). I was positive they were damaged, but I couldn't be sure they'd go under. With my one remaining torpedo I locked back onto the tanker, still within 1.000 meters, set depth for 6 meters and impact, and again manually aimed for where its fuel bunkers should be. This time . . .








The impact of the stern torpedo was picked up by sounds: a solid smack, but no detonation. Verdamnt dud!

All tubes flushed, I quickly descended at flank speed to 180 meters then went to 1 knot. The convoy was directly overhead, which made it difficult for the escorts who swarmed after me. They never got close, even with pinging, and after 40 minutes they finally gave up, returning to the convoy. I slowly turned to follow, still at depth, dropping silent and reloading tubes. Half an hour later I slowly started rising to periscope depth and, while doing so, my soundman picked up the sounds of collapsing bulkheads. Yes!!

For a total of 5 torpedoes I got 2 two ships for over 26,000 tonnes of shipping, with an approach that, ever since GWX :p , feels so nerve-wracking, tense and spine-chilling and tingling!

Who-HOO!! Start painting our victory pennants boys!

[Falcon666]

Damned good, and tough luck on that last torp... gotta hate duds. And the fuel bunkers are diffinetly the place to go for. Curious is, I never get the hull cracking in two from a torp right under the keel in GWX. I got it ALL the time with vanilla SH3. I guess they changed it, but did it never happen in real-life, like it currently works for me?

[E.B. Fluckey]

Great report! A few n00b questions

• When you say you 'manually fired' and 'aimed for the fuel bunkers' how did you achieve this? Are you using manual TDC?
• Where are the bunkers located on the ship?

Thanks!!

[LeafsFan]

Nicely done!!

HB

[Brag]

Good show!
Good approach choice pays off,

[GT182]

Great attack.

As to the salvo selection, can the cfg file be changed to 1&2, and 3&4 without problems? I thought of doing it once but figured I might screw things up. I agree that it's crazy the way the game loads torpedos in the bow. You have to manually move them while "In Base" in anticipation of making salvo shots.

[Abd_von_Mumit]

Thanks for the report, very interesting and educating. You gave me some ideas. Or better to say - I hereby take some ideas from you. Steal.

[Iron Budokan]

Good job! This is what the game and GWX does best, imo. Good immersion.

[GT182]

No problem AvM, I hope it helps you out. I couldn't figure out what was causing all the lag for 2 months. Tried what I did and it surprised that heck out of me. I was even going to do a reformat figuring I had a hidden virus or spyware that nothing could find. Fix I did saved me alot of headaches. And the possible cost of a new HDD, as I figured mine was on it's last leg.

[Corsair]

Originally Posted by GT182

Great attack.

As to the salvo selection, can the cfg file be changed to 1&2, and 3&4 without problems? I thought of doing it once but figured I might screw things up. I agree that it's crazy the way the game loads torpedos in the bow. You have to manually move them while "In Base" in anticipation of making salvo shots.

I thought about the same thing as I noticed in NYGM I have 1+2 and 3+4 which is reflected in the submarine cfg file. However I am not sure if the salvo graphics of TDC needs change to reflect this selection ?

[bigboywooly]

Yep you can change the cfg for 1 and 2 tubes etc but the Salvo dial will need altering too

[Abd_von_Mumit]

Don't you think it would be quite unrealistic to shoot two torpedoes on the same side of your boat? It would start listing because of that.

I don't remember name of the Kaleun that sunk Royal Ark, but he reported that immediately after firing his 4 bow torpedoes the boat almost surfaced because of sudden loss in weight (happily they managed to keep it submerged).

[Jimbuna]

Gunther Prien...U-47...Royal Oak

[Corsair]

@BBW

That's what I thought, thks for reply. Guess I'll leave it and make a note that in GWX I must remember to change order of torps before leaving. As I use manual reload, no problem for the reserves.

Originally Posted by E.B. Fluckey

Great report! A few n00b questions

• When you say you 'manually fired' and 'aimed for the fuel bunkers' how did you achieve this? Are you using manual TDC?
• Where are the bunkers located on the ship?

Thanks!!

When I say 'manually fired' what I actually mean is I have the 'scope unlocked and select my own point of impact. I suppose I should say 'manually aim' instead. I use auto TDC mostly; when I use manual TDC I'll refer to that with 'manually target and compute'. Just my own personal quirk when writing after-action reports.

As to aiming for the fuel bunkers and knowing where they are located, for the older vessels (original/stock) I've pretty much memorized the locations of their engine rooms, propulsion and steering, fuel bunkers, etc. As to the newer ones, at the moment that's a hit-or-miss (yes, pun intended :p ) learning curve.

It seems to me (correct me if I'm in error, oh-more-knowledgeable Kaleuns) that a good rule of thumb for the bunker locations for merchants is to first locate the funnel/stack. The engine room should be just under and slightly forward of there. Immediately forward of the engine room is the fuel bunker.

Some of the bunkers are above waterline as well as below, and some are below and deep under the waterline. Which ones are which is part of a Kaleun's experience. :p

Thanks everyone for your kind words and congratulations. So far this approach technique still works, but then again I'm only in August '41. But the six approaches I've done this with has worked like a charm each time, enabling me to actually penetrate the convoy, running parallel to the convoy 180 degrees to their path, right down the middle (where all the fat juicy targets are! ). One convoy I attacked over two days this way, three successive attacks each time, and going deep whilst still in the middle of the convoy, and the escorts never even came close to finding me, let alone dc-ing me. They dropped a lot of ashcans, yes, but none closer than 500 meters. (I think they were really ticked off and had to drop some just to feel like they were doing something )

@Abd_von_Mumit: Nah, tis isn't stealing. Just consider it swapping war-stories together at our local watering hole between patrols. (p.s. You owe me a couple of shots of schnapps)