North Sea Action

[flag4]

hi hunters,

i'm wondering how to get more action in the north sea, circa 1939-40.

thing is, i seem to float round and round and not get alot, an occasional merchantman here and there; wich is nice, i'm not complaining...

is there a map or convoy route for this early part of the war; you see, once i've done my 24hrs i can go off and have fun somewhere else. i've sussed out my fuel consumption so i can go anywhere - virtually, in this area.

i have an idea the action may be very north or very south.
i'd like to sit it out on the east coast, but at the moment i aint having alot of luck.

cheers...

[Lzs von swe]

In GWX2 you could go for AN16-AN41. I had my first ever 0 tons patrol in Aug -40, 4 and a half weeks of nothing. That was the case for many Uboat captains IRL.

[KeptinCranky]

Gosh, nothing in the North Sea ??

I usually have trouble navigating anywhere because there's merchants contstanly obstructing me...

My suggestion, find Aberdeen and loiter while listening to your hydrophone about 50km ENE from there...

Or you could find one of those estuaries and patrol those, Firth of Forth is OK, so is the Thames estuary

generally the closer you are to the British coast the more shipping, the only downside is spiky boom-balls as demonstrated in the screenshots thread at the moment, oh and shallow water...

[von hally]

lo mate

i too am currently patroling similar areas to you and ive found quite a dangerous but busy area to the west of scapa flow...in shallower waters granted ....right round to the north west point of scotland...seems to be a steady stream of freighters for me...and a couple of warships too mind!!
thing is this early in the war the british arent at their best in anti submarine tactics so its possible to evade.

hope this helps

p.s you asked about maps showing convoys.....you do know there is a map hiding at the top of your F5 screen in game showing common convoy routes around the british isles and elsewhere??

[3Jane]

I normaly find the Scottish coast from the tip above Aberdeen down to the Fith of Forth to be worthwhile. I have never found much along the English east coast except armed trawlers and torpedo boats. Also, beware of the new mine fields off Scotland.

[Jimbuna]

200km east of the Humber Estuary is generally productive

[Tool]

Just north of scapa, in the straight below the sub base islands, west from there then SW down the west side of GB.. real nice hunting

Also just ran into 2 convoys in the North end of the Denmark straight in March '40, 55k tons and counting with 8 fish left.
Tool.

[bigboywooly]

Hmmmm
A tip

ON and HN convoys

[Oberon]

Yeah, I can only echo, what I call the Scapa straight, the area north of Scapa Flow but south of Lerwick, through there and west of that position should net you a few merchies. Failing that, linger as close to the entrance of the Channel as you dare. This will either get you a merchie or twenty tonnes of Depth Charges or a mine.

[flag4]

thanks all for responding,

sorry bbw, dont know what ON and HN convoys means.

tried sneaking into dunkirk a couple of weeks ago and made a good hit on the big tanker parked on the inside of the main harbor wall....about 11ooo tns

....was doing alright too, as i left. got about half a klm out and got lazy. i surfaced and ran. then i nipped downstairs for the loo - got side tracked in the kitchen filling my glass, and when i came back up to my boat it was gone. just the solemn music of defeat beating in my chest.

that crew was coming on nicely too....what a fool, Guiness FE ruined me, but what comfort in defeat !!


p.s for Von Hally: is this the map that comes with the game, coz if it is it does'nt have much between scapa flow and southend.

cheers all

[bigboywooly]

ON\HN convoys

Example Feb\March 1940

Convoy ON.16 departed Methil with six British, nineteen Norwegian, eleven Swedish, two Danish, three Finnish, two Estonian ships escorted by destroyers ESCAPADE, ESCORT, ENCOUNTER

Convoy HN.12 three British, fifteen Norwegian, eight Swedish, one Danish, two Finnish, one Estonian ship departed Bergen escorted by destroyers INGLEFIELD, ILEX, IMOGEN, DELIGHT and submarine THISTLE. The convoy was given anti-aircraft support by anti-aircraft cruiser CALCUTTA and near support by light cruisers EDINBURGH and ARETHUSA

Convoy ON.18 of ten British, thirteen Norwegian, twelve Swedish, two Danish, four Finnish, two Estonian ships departed Methil at 1700 escorted by destroyers COSSACK (D.4), ESCORT, ECLIPSE, ELECTRA, ENCOUNTER

ON=Methil to Bergen
HN=Bergen to Methil

[FIREWALL]

Ahoy flag4

I won't give you a " shooting fish in a barrel grid " but, since i'm currently in 1- 40 out of Wilmshaven in a VIIB I give you this advice.

Go to SE coast of England and proceed on NE course towards Scarpa Flow. Staying about 75 nm offshore and about 50m under keel. Every 2hrs or if in bad weather drop to 25m at slow speed and cruise till you use up at least 1/2 your batteries. you'll find targets. Move in close and get tonnage.

I have been averageing about 8,000 per last 3 patrols.

Realistic I think IMHO.

[bigboywooly]

Totally realistic

[FIREWALL]

Thx BBW

I'm dieing slowly reading all the patrol threads while my Gameing rig is down.


I want to be on patrol too !

[Ula Jolly]

Bigboy: Those months are coming right up for me! Thanks for the heads-up.
What I need now is to get into the Norwegian action in April. Too bad the scenery around Narvik isn't anywhere near the splendorous landscape it actually is. Puts a whole new dimension to the fighting, when the steel grey behemoths are battled in size only by white and black mountains that suddenly rise where none'd think they would.

So, yes, Norwegische Küste Mod, bitte!