Tried a suicide mission and all I got was this crappy t-shirt!

The last patrol I had I was sent to grid BF13, patrolled it for 24 hours and headed north between the coast of Ireland and Great Britain...Needless to say this was a hasty and careless mistake to plot a course for home through the North Channel and back around to the North Sea.
Just as soon as I made it to the mouth of the North Channel I came across a large convoy in heavy seas and near zero visibility, close to 20 ships in the convoy were picked up by my sonarman and the majority were destroyers.
I pulled up my periscope to take aim at a merchant 200 yards off my stern so I waited until she was 395 yards away to fire a torpedo. I fired and watched my torpedo hit its target with a few tense moments of being pinged. Merchant sunk, problem over, right?
Wrong!!!
Swung my periscope around to the bow and here comes another ship. It was so close I couldn't tell what it was, and it was almost ontop of me! So here I was, running at 11 meters below the surface with another ship about to collide, the inevitable happens but my sub is merely pushed aside.
By this time I had just about enough of this. I was being pinged, visibily was crappy at best and the waves and rain made it difficult to locate my next target. I wasn't in the best of moods so I sulked back through St. George's Channel and headed home.

I just wish I hadn't deleted the save I made during that game because now I have to do this patrol all over again Sorry for the rant, just had to vent...

Does anyone else go out of their way to try going through the English or North Channels for a little extra fun or is this seen as being careless?

[johnm]

BdU sent me to patrol by the Isle of Man once. Sailed around Scotland and down past the Mull of Kintyre.

Picked up a couple of singletons, including a nosy trawler. Did my 24 hours and ducked out through St Georges' channel.

No real problems but it was early in the war.

Too cramped to go for a vacation, I prefer the North Atlantic, much more room!

[Hanomag]

Unless they contain my patrol grid I stay out of AM, AN, and BF.

To me, the juice is not worth the squeeze. I'd rather head down to the Gulf of Mexico, specifically the Yucatan Strait and sink merchant vessels with impunity, unmolested by escort ships.

When you see 2 Large Tankers and a Modern Medium....alone, it's quite the pleasure shoot. Ducks in a row. If I wasnt so impatient, I could probably have sunk all Large Tankers ....the whole patrol. But in my haste I was forced to shoot small and mediums!

Its usually a quiet cruise the whole way there....just long, as well as the return journey.

Its nice, I give Bernard time to work on his tan.

[flag4]

hi SWcowboy

sounds like fun. i was up near where Paul McCartney lives and managed 3-4 small destroyers and a few merchants....

boy, did i pay for that - got home with about 30% damage, from that run in alone.

keep kickin' over the tables and smashin' the glasses..

I re-tried that mission since my original was deleted Boy was I steamed! All of my torpedoes went to merchants, no destroyers or anything else worth any value. I ran out of defenses before I even got to the BF grid, and then the game wanted to throw a wrench in my path and restrict me from my deck and flak guns in calm waters. Added 15,500+ tons to my record though, guess I have no room to complain.

My next mission has me going for BF11 so maybe this will fare out better for me and my crew, I'm thinking of taking the English Channel if possible...I haven't found out if the game shows the cliffs of Dover yet, that would be something to see.

Has anyone tried steaming for New York or Halifax during the early war around 1939-1940? I'm wondering what kind of trouble I can stir up in there :hmm: Another question; in the early war do you open fire on any neutral ships like the trawlers, merchants, and fishing boats or do you let them slip away?

[bigboywooly]

No the white cliffs of Dover arent in
There are about 9 lighthouses there though most buried


Halifax is always busy early war
Plenty of convoys coming from there

The Channel can be easy or impossible
Depends on your luck
IF I go through I hug the French coast esp when under German control

I always let neutrals go unless I mistake them as leads to negative renown

[Jimbuna]

Allow me to replicate something that was introduced especially for this forum a long while back

STAY OUT OF THE ENGLISH CHANNEL!!

[KeptinCranky]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, Jim :p The channel is not for the fainthearted but the Irish sea and the water between the Hebrides and Scotland is worth a visit. AM36 is also a good place to be

[floundericiousWA]

Originally Posted by -SWCowboy.

My next mission has me going for BF11 so maybe this will fare out better for me and my crew, I'm thinking of taking the English Channel if possible...I haven't found out if the game shows the cliffs of Dover yet, that would be something to see.

I had an EXCITING damn time in my first cruise when I stepped from a type II to a type VII! I had to patrol right off the S coast of Ireland...and made a couple of attacks on a convoy...

Then decided, with my last 4 torps, to go poke around near Port(land?) on the south coast of England...

On the way in, I got frisky and surfaced near an elco (PT) boat... 3 rounds from the deck gun, and he went BLAMMO! Then, got buzzed by A/C...

Submerged, evaded them...then saw a DD heading for where I'd engaged the Elco boat..so I put a fish into her port beam, sinking her...

The RAF was out in force looking for us, but lost 3 or 4 Hurricanes to my skilled gunners...then got all the way to the harbor, ran into an ASW net oops...then said, ah the hell with it...and lobbed my fish into the harbor, crippling one T2, sinking one small merchant, and sinking a C2... then made the run for home. On the way out, got shot at by shore batteries that I couldn't hurt with the deck gun...and got strafed by some A/C a few times... shot down another one...

I think they were po'ed that I'd sunk ships IN a harbor, dropped a DD, shot down multiple hurricane fighters, and smashed a PT boat...

I'm gonna have to try Halifax for my next mission. Not much to say about my last one except for it sucked - only two cargo ships... They start carrying deck guns around 1943 right? I'm still in early 1940 on this campaign. Haven't dared boost up the realism yet, it's at 45% while I get the feel for slight increases here and there.

Shame those cliffs aren't there...would certainly add to the imagery of this game.

Gonna have to try AM36 on my way back, KeptinCranky, I'm lacking in the tonnage department

Which of the English bases is most dangerous to enter? I've thought of infiltrating one of them but I don't feel like getting blown out of the water just yet :hmm:

[baggygreen]

Deck guns in 43? Definately. Deck guns in 41? yep. Be careful!

[floundericiousWA]

Originally Posted by baggygreen

Deck guns in 43? Definately. Deck guns in 41? yep. Be careful!

Yeah, it makes bringing down a merchant a lot more dangerous... If you dare surface alongside, make sure you're johnny on the spot with the deck gun and plink your first shot right into that damned deck gun (usually on the fo'c'sle, occasionally one also on the after deck)...

Alternately, surface off the ship's stern and start pounding her with rounds (hit the smoke stack right off so you slow her down)...in either case, forewarned is forearmed...after mid 1940, approach any lone merchant with care and scope her out before rushing in!

I've been lucky so far...numerous merchants hit the sea floor because of my guns and none of them have been armed - yet

I imagine it would be more than stupid to surface in the middle of a convoy since I did it and didn't come out alive Oh well....

[Turm]

I was patrolling BF21 earlier today, just north of the Isles of Scilly. I was quite tempted to go through the Irish Sea on the way home to save time, but in the end returned the same way I arrived, around the western side of Ireland. I might only be playing stock SH3 (at full realism minus external cam) but I'm being really careful, in preparation for GWX. I saw enough destroyers south of Ireland that in the end I didn't even want to think about the North Channel in the end!

After reading your first post I'm glad I took the long way around

[floundericiousWA]

Originally Posted by -SWCowboy.

I've been lucky so far...numerous merchants hit the sea floor because of my guns and none of them have been armed - yet

I imagine it would be more than stupid to surface in the middle of a convoy since I did it and didn't come out alive Oh well....

Well, it's not stupid to surface in the midst of a convoy...if you've sunk the armed ships! That's more like "FREE FIRE ZONE!!!!" Set the deck gun to firing and start blasting crap off decks with your flak guns