What would you do?

[the.terrabyte.pirate]

Heading NNW up the east coast of England in my type IIB when hydophones pick up a merchant, long range, slow speed, heading away. I plot it's direction, pop up to the surface, and gun it towards an intercept point.

Turns out to be an ore carrier, 8580 tonnes, and I'm in prime position for the attack.

I'm patched up to V4, using GWX gold, manual targetting etc. My only "cheats" are the map contact updates (I'm new to manual targetting) and the event camera.

I've set up at 90 degrees off her bow, about 750 meters away from her plotted path.

My IIB only has five torps, so I don't want to be reckless and "spend them all" so to speak.

So, do I
A) fire one torp, and aim for the bow for a sloooooow sinking, or engine room/fuel bunker and hope she explodes,
B) fire two torps, and hope she goes down before the tommies arrive,
or
C) fire three torps to guarantee a quick sink, but feel rotten about possibly wasting that third eel.

What would you guys do?

[klh]

My standard practice is B. Always fire two torpedoes. Increases your chances of a sinking. Save the third just in case she doesn't go down. A damaged merchant that makes it to port is not much help to the Fatherland.

[Mopy]

I'm with B. Two is standard practice for me too. One thing I would consider though is getting to 400m so it doesn't have any time to react if it sees your T1 bubble trails. It won't have much of an effect, but enough to throw off your shot so that it misses the important part.

Also, as it's an ore carrier, I would certainly consider using only one as they do have a habit of exploding into a ball of flames more than other ships (along with Granvilles). I would probably go this route in a type II due to torpedo limits. In a VIIB, I'd certainly fire two.

Three is overkill either way though, so I'd eliminate that option entirely.

[the.terrabyte.pirate]

Originally Posted by Mopy

I'm with B. Two is standard practice for me too. One thing I would consider though is getting to 400m so it doesn't have any time to react if it sees your T1 bubble trails. It won't have much of an effect, but enough to throw off your shot so that it misses the important part.

Also, as it's an ore carrier, I would certainly consider using only one as they do have a habit of exploding into a ball of flames more than other ships (along with Granvilles). I would probably go this route in a type II due to torpedo limits. In a VIIB, I'd certainly fire two.

Three is overkill either way though, so I'd eliminate that option entirely.

Okay, so using just one torpedo, where would you be aiming?

I just ran across a small merchant, less than 2k tonnes. My general rule of thumb is 0-3k tonnes, 1 torp. 3k-6k 2 torps. 6k+ gets three torps.

I hit aimed, and hit, directly under the smokestack. Engine room flooded (smoke stopped) and she settled low in the water. Then... nothing. 3 hours I waiting, then emptied my flack ammo into her. No result. Had to spend a second torp to send her down. Not happy.

Back in my easy-going days of auto targetting and no dud torps, I'd have sent a magnetic eel under the front mast, as 9 times out of 10 she'd eventually go under. Next time, I'll try aiming an impact in the same place to see if I get the same result.

Anyway, back to the point... where would you be aiming for your one shot, one kill.

[Jimbuna]

Seeing as how you don't have a deck gun to finish her off if you stop her, I'd give her one in the bow and the other in the engine room.

[Mopy]

Just in front of the bridge, about 25% of the way to the first mast pole usually causes big explosions for me (50% of the time). Then again, at 400m range using fast T1's, if you fire a little earlier you'll have plenty of time to get another one off after the impact of the first (assuming <~8 knots speed merchant)

What did you go for in the end? Be interesting to know what happened

[the.terrabyte.pirate]

Originally Posted by Mopy

Just in front of the bridge, about 25% of the way to the first mast pole usually causes big explosions for me (50% of the time). Then again, at 400m range using fast T1's, if you fire a little earlier you'll have plenty of time to get another one off after the impact of the first (assuming <~8 knots speed merchant)

What did you go for in the end? Be interesting to know what happened

I sent her down with a spread of three, center aimed just in front of the funnel, and two about 4 degrees either side. Depth set at 3 meters.

She went down quickly, and after reading the above opinions I feel I wasted that third eel.

If I come across the situation again, I'll go for two individual torps rather than a salvo. One aimed at the bow, and one aimed for the funnel.

[sergei]

I tend too do the same. Always start the war in a IIA (man I love that boat).
For a target of that size I would definitely give her all 3 tubes, in case of duds.
I wouldn't worry about wasting the third eel, I'm sure BDU has plenty more for you.

[KeptinCranky]

Originally Posted by Mopy

I'm with B. Two is standard practice for me too. One thing I would consider though is getting to 400m so it doesn't have any time to react if it sees your T1 bubble trails. It won't have much of an effect, but enough to throw off your shot so that it misses the important part.

Also, as it's an ore carrier, I would certainly consider using only one as they do have a habit of exploding into a ball of flames more than other ships (along with Granvilles). I would probably go this route in a type II due to torpedo limits. In a VIIB, I'd certainly fire two.

Three is overkill either way though, so I'd eliminate that option entirely.

yep, ore carrier is an easy sinker, if you hit it somewhere it the bow with 1 eel it'll almost certainly sink in 15 to 30 minutes, I never fire 2 for those

I would have done exactly what was done. Type II usualy implies coastal waters.
Therefor (sp?) (Derfor !), get the job done and dissappear undetected. Better too many than not enough, especialy in a coastal grid within range of enemy aircraft. 2700 GRT per torpedo ain't chicken feed. "Keep up the good work" says BDU.