I'm beginning to appreciate the frustration that skippers felt...

Vaux · 09-17-10, 02:52 PM

...over the whole Mark14 fiasco. I won't say "I know how they must have felt", because I can always save the darn game and go to bed when I reach the point of wanting to punch my monitor, but I think I can now empathize in some small way.

9 December '41. I depart Manila on my first patrol in my Salmon class (using dud torps in the realism settings for the first time) and proceed to my designated patrol area off the NW coast of the Phillipines, entering the area late in the afternoon. Shortly after entering my 108-mile-radius patrol zone, my WO calls out "Ship spotted!"

I look in the indicated direction and see a DD... but wait, there's more. If I'm seeing this right, there's at least 10 smoke columns on the horizon behind the DD. I lock on to the DD and see something strange. He's making only 1-2 knots and just kind of aimlessly cruising around. I order a course to take us towards the forest of smoke columns. The DD is about 20* off my starboard bow.

A couple minutes later I hear "Ship spotted!" 3 times in quick succession. 2 of them are light cruisers and the third is a Maru of some type. All three of these are either stationary or making 1 knot. None of them are on the same heading. Hmmmm.... maybe a TF forming up and waiting on other vessels to join the party? Lucky me!

It looks like we're about 12,000 yards from the nearest light cruiser. I mark the location of the cruisers on the chart, call Battle Stations, order a dive to 300, and go to silent running. I then set my RPMs to about 75 with the idea of sneaking up on them below the thermal layer.

After a couple hours, I start getting close to the area. The DDs must have picked up something because they're pinging every now an then and making runs, but no DCs. I think they believe something's out there, but they're not sure exactly where. My sonar indicates the bulk of the TF has moved slightly, but is still within a couple hundred yards of where I first marked them.

When I get about 1,000 yards from where I think the cruisers are, and I'm pretty sure no DDs are close, I order 80 feet depth. As I'm approaching that depth, I raise the night scope, angle it up and do a 360 to make sure I'm not coming up directly under a stationary vessel. It looks clear, so I order periscope depth.

It's dark now, but I can clearly see the 2 cruisers along with 6 Marus and a bunch of DDs. One cruiser is about 800 yards off my port bow, and the other is about 1,200 yards off my starboard. I call hard-a-starboard to line my bow up with the farther cruiser, make the settings adjustments to my torps and open all bow doors.

Both cruisers are in acceptable positions and I fire all 8 torps.... the DDs seem none the wiser.....

"Torpedo was a dud, sir"
"Torpedo was a dud, sir"
"Torpedo was a dud, sir"
"Torpedo was a dud, sir"
"Torpedo miss, sir"
"Torpedo was a dud, sir"
"Torpedo impact!"
"Torpedo was a dud, sir"

Yep, out of 8 torps, one was a hit, one was a miss, and the rest were duds. AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGG!!!!

Sirens start wailing, the searchlights come on, and the pinging begins. I'm still at silent running and I order 300 feet and double back the way I came in. The DDs make several runs on me, drop several DCs (some fairly close), but I manage to sneak away with no damage.

I get several thousand yards away from the DDs and they seem to have given up on me. It's a little after midnight, no moon, so I surface and secure from silent running to reload my tubes.

Unbelievably, the TF still isn't moving....

To shorten an already long story, I reload, sneak back in the way I did before, and line up both cruisers again. The DDs seemed to be on me earlier and more tenaciously than before, but I was able to get firing solutions on both cruisers and let fly with all 8 torps. 3 misses, 4 duds, and one impact... neither cruiser shows any visible damage or list, so I think I hit the other one this time.

I sneak back out again and, by the time, I get away it's daylight. The TF is still right there!! I have 6 torps left forward. I decided to call it a night and go to bed. Next time I play, I'm considering hanging out until late afternoon and trying to sneak back in if they're still there. Current condititons are clear and a 5 knot wind. I'd rather not try that again in broad daylight.

The torp situatoin is definitely frustrating, but I understand the historical accuracy of this. Also, isn't it weird to find a small TF like this just hanging around off the NW coast of the Phillipines?

09-17-10, 02:52 PM	#1
Vaux Torpedoman Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Florida Posts: 116 Downloads: 26 Uploads: 0	I'm beginning to appreciate the frustration that skippers felt... ...over the whole Mark14 fiasco. I won't say "I know how they must have felt", because I can always save the darn game and go to bed when I reach the point of wanting to punch my monitor, but I think I can now empathize in some small way. 9 December '41. I depart Manila on my first patrol in my Salmon class (using dud torps in the realism settings for the first time) and proceed to my designated patrol area off the NW coast of the Phillipines, entering the area late in the afternoon. Shortly after entering my 108-mile-radius patrol zone, my WO calls out "Ship spotted!" I look in the indicated direction and see a DD... but wait, there's more. If I'm seeing this right, there's at least 10 smoke columns on the horizon behind the DD. I lock on to the DD and see something strange. He's making only 1-2 knots and just kind of aimlessly cruising around. I order a course to take us towards the forest of smoke columns. The DD is about 20* off my starboard bow. A couple minutes later I hear "Ship spotted!" 3 times in quick succession. 2 of them are light cruisers and the third is a Maru of some type. All three of these are either stationary or making 1 knot. None of them are on the same heading. Hmmmm.... maybe a TF forming up and waiting on other vessels to join the party? Lucky me! It looks like we're about 12,000 yards from the nearest light cruiser. I mark the location of the cruisers on the chart, call Battle Stations, order a dive to 300, and go to silent running. I then set my RPMs to about 75 with the idea of sneaking up on them below the thermal layer. After a couple hours, I start getting close to the area. The DDs must have picked up something because they're pinging every now an then and making runs, but no DCs. I think they believe something's out there, but they're not sure exactly where. My sonar indicates the bulk of the TF has moved slightly, but is still within a couple hundred yards of where I first marked them. When I get about 1,000 yards from where I think the cruisers are, and I'm pretty sure no DDs are close, I order 80 feet depth. As I'm approaching that depth, I raise the night scope, angle it up and do a 360 to make sure I'm not coming up directly under a stationary vessel. It looks clear, so I order periscope depth. It's dark now, but I can clearly see the 2 cruisers along with 6 Marus and a bunch of DDs. One cruiser is about 800 yards off my port bow, and the other is about 1,200 yards off my starboard. I call hard-a-starboard to line my bow up with the farther cruiser, make the settings adjustments to my torps and open all bow doors. Both cruisers are in acceptable positions and I fire all 8 torps.... the DDs seem none the wiser..... "Torpedo was a dud, sir" "Torpedo was a dud, sir" "Torpedo was a dud, sir" "Torpedo was a dud, sir" "Torpedo miss, sir" "Torpedo was a dud, sir" "Torpedo impact!" "Torpedo was a dud, sir" Yep, out of 8 torps, one was a hit, one was a miss, and the rest were duds. AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGG!!!! Sirens start wailing, the searchlights come on, and the pinging begins. I'm still at silent running and I order 300 feet and double back the way I came in. The DDs make several runs on me, drop several DCs (some fairly close), but I manage to sneak away with no damage. I get several thousand yards away from the DDs and they seem to have given up on me. It's a little after midnight, no moon, so I surface and secure from silent running to reload my tubes. Unbelievably, the TF still isn't moving.... To shorten an already long story, I reload, sneak back in the way I did before, and line up both cruisers again. The DDs seemed to be on me earlier and more tenaciously than before, but I was able to get firing solutions on both cruisers and let fly with all 8 torps. 3 misses, 4 duds, and one impact... neither cruiser shows any visible damage or list, so I think I hit the other one this time. I sneak back out again and, by the time, I get away it's daylight. The TF is still right there!! I have 6 torps left forward. I decided to call it a night and go to bed. Next time I play, I'm considering hanging out until late afternoon and trying to sneak back in if they're still there. Current condititons are clear and a 5 knot wind. I'd rather not try that again in broad daylight. The torp situatoin is definitely frustrating, but I understand the historical accuracy of this. Also, isn't it weird to find a small TF like this just hanging around off the NW coast of the Phillipines?