What speed should I cross the Atlantic?

[FeatsOfStrength]

I'm playing with GWX. It's February 1942 and I'm on my second Atlantic patrol in a Type IXB, I crossed the Atlantic at two thirds ahead, though have already used up nearly 50% of my fuel, the weather had been atrocious for the entire journey and i'm worried I might use up too much to make it back (haven't fired a single torpedo yet). I always return to port rather than using the "return to base" menu option, if that's used does it take remaining fuel into account?

So basically Is there a standard speed to travel at to cross the Atlantic? was there a historical standard cruising speed? and does Weather effect fuel consumption (either in the base game or due to GWX)? I seem to have used more than in my previous patrol.

Hopefully I can upgrade to a IXC after this one so it shouldn't be too much an issue, on my last patrol I was down to about 3% fuel by the time I pulled up in Lorient.

[blackswan40]

Hi FeatsOfStrength Cruising speed 7knots if weathers bad and your not making much headway dive n use you battery to supliment your Fuel then surface to recharge them.
Also from April 10th 1942 theres U-461 Milkcow Availble in Grid CC 61-62
or some where near.
You dont want tobe heading back to port just to rearm n refuel trying to avoid the Allied air patrols over the bay of Biscay would be a suicide mission.
Dont be in a rush to win the battle of the atlantic in two patrols slowly slowly catchy monkey so to speak.

[xouftalo]

Well, I always travel ahead one third. It is the most fuel economic speed, even better than ahead slow. I never had any trouble crossing the Atlantic. I reached Boston harbor and made it back to Lorient with fuel to spare. Even to South Africa or Brazil, fuel is more than enough. I use a IXc. Normally you shouldn't have a range problem.

[FeatsOfStrength]

Originally Posted by blackswan40

Hi FeatsOfStrength Cruising speed 7knots if weathers bad and your not making much headway dive n use you battery to supliment your Fuel then surface to recharge them.
Also from April 10th 1942 theres U-461 Milkcow Availble in Grid CC 61-62
or some where near.
You dont want tobe heading back to port just to rearm n refuel trying to avoid the Allied air patrols over the bay of Biscay would be a suicide mission.
Dont be in a rush to win the battle of the atlantic in two patrols slowly slowly catchy monkey so to speak.

I should have been a bit clearer, my 2nd patrol to the East Coast of the USA I should have said, my campaign started in 1939. I'm having nearly as bad fuel issues with the IXB as I did with the IIA

Yes I think i'll try travelling at 1/3, I'll just put an audiobook on or something to pass the time

[K-61]

In some mods there are charts aboard your sub that tell you ranges at certain speeds. I consult the chart for the boat I am piloting and set the telegraph manually to the most fuel efficient speed for cruising. Such charts are available in the mod I am currently using, LSH2015. I cannot recall as it has been a very long time ago, but they may be available in GWX Gold, too.

If your mod does not have such charts, you can experiment. For best results, conduct the range test on a glassy smooth ocean and then make notes. Set a knot speed manually by sliding the needle on your telegraph dial. Click the little button at the lower right to switch the view from the "speed zones" to where you see only little black lines and numbers. Let the boat settle down to the new speed and then ask the navigator what your range is at this speed.

Rough weather will slow your boat down. If you have your dial set at say 10, the rough water may slow you down to 8. Just leave your speed setting to where it is and the speed will come back up as the water calms down. Or do a dive and run on electric for a while. If you have seen the film "Das Boot" there is a scene where the navigator tells the Kaleun they are burning fuel to go basically too slow. The Kaleun reluctantly orders a dive.

[Pisces]

In GWX you can ask your navigator, (or engineer, not sure) what the endurance at current speed is. So if you settle on different speed settings and ask the officer you can make a table of the values. From flankspeed to slow you get increasing distances. But at some point it becomes pointless to go slow. It will take more time to reach the same distance. There is a sweet spot somewhere around 7-8 knots. But this may vary between uboat types. (maybe even other mods used)

Weather does slow you down and affect the fuel-consumption. You could submerge and go slow (longest distance on batteries) or simply trod on hoping the storm passes. Better not do any save and reloads during this as this might endure the storm. (reset weather timers)

Once you have the sweetspot speed you can alter the config file in your particular Uboat type folder:

SilentHunterIII\data\Submarine\NSS_Uboat#TYPE#\NSS _Uboat#TYPE#.cfg

Under the [EngineProperties] section you can enter a decimal value, as a proportion to max speed, for a throttle setting. I think AheadOneThird is the appropriate level for economy speed. (I got this from a mod called Fuel Economy mod 1.2; I can't remember who made this)

[bstanko6]

Here is a video I did a awhile back. Good luck!