advice

[cobalt]

Any advice on convoy attacks during bad weather?

[Schani]

Use the inclimate weather to your advantage. With the u-boats low profile, your harder to see. The escorts also have a harder time detecting your position in foul weather. If the wind is 15kts and your at periscope depth you may need to get 1 maybe 2 meters closer to the surface. But then you risk broaching the surface and give away your position to some sharp eyed lookout. Other than that for me anyway, hammer away.

I'm sure I haven't covered many other points. But these work for me.

[Keelbuster]

Fog is risky. Especially if they have radar. Fear the fog in late war.

Kb

[Ducimus]

Heavy fog sucks, visibity is reduced to 500 meters. You have to get REAL close to even see them. And if the wind is whipping the right way, to make those waves just right, you'll suddenly find yourself completely broached. with your entire main deck breaking surface at 7 meters.

[squigian]

I recommend that you play the multiplayer mission 'Storm'. Gives you training in dealing in bad weather, and you can learn from other people's tactics.

[andy_311]

I would take on a convoy in fog in the early war years but noway would I try it in later war years.I think you have to get as close as 375m to see the target but each to there own.

[Ducimus]

Originally Posted by cobalt

Any advice on convoy attacks during bad weather?

As myself and everyons said its risky, but if your very patient, plot your positiions very carefuly, and recheck them, and after you done checking, recheck them again, and generaly being very deliberate, its doable.

But the reality is, your chances of gettting anymore then 1 ship out of that convoy is very remote.

If its clear skys, and only rough seas, you can take a shot at 2000 meters and score a hit. But you'd do yourself alot of favours by setting your torpedo depth to 0, or 1 meters, and using only an impact pistol. Waves in general can trigger a magnetic warhead, so don't use them in rough seas. Whats more the draft on every ship is constantly changing. So if your shooting a fish at 5 depth at a liberty, it could go right under the liberty if he rides up on a wave. So run your fish in on the surface. (not you, your torpedo's)

In poor vislibity, your chances of scoring a hit are really low. I pulled it off once, (see pick below) but only because i had 2 other ships pass through my periscope to get a good estimate on their course. In bad weather, a ship comes in and out of view at 500 meters in about 5 to 10 seconds.

This ship in the picture below was the third ship in a column, and was also the last ship in that column. and i was about 400 meters away. There was a very real risk of being rammed. Espeically after i hit that ship, as the whole convoy is going to go evasive. In this situationi i immediatly crash dived. Even if he was the first or second ship, once the convoy knows your there, they start going evasive, so your chances of hitting another ship are nill.

[Yahoshua]

I tried hunting convoys in bad weather but never seemd to be able to see one precisely enough to hit it, an exception was in the Mid-Atlantic (during my first patrol, September of 1944) I heard a convoy on hydrophone and just happened to be in their path.

Spotted a liner and sank her with a spread of 4 fish and scored 3 hits.

that was about the ONLY time I ever actually got anything in a convoy in a heavy storm.

[Keelbuster]

Would have been a bit different if I had been using man targetting when I took these. I've yet to try a fog convoy attack with man targetting.

Kb

[Ducimus]

Originally Posted by Keelbuster

Would have been a bit different if I had been using man targetting when I took these. I've yet to try a fog convoy attack with man targetting.

Kb

This looks familiar: Little hard to miss at that range if you have their speed right. I was using radar to locate him, and get in a firing position. I was watching my radar very closely so i knew about when hed come into view.

Heh... I was patrolling the AM53 grid area (north of Ireland) in the worst storm imaginable. See the TC jump down to 8x with the stealth meter go to red (yes, I still use that...); jump to the tower to see if I can see what's up (down to 1x, of course); at first I see nothing; then, from astern, I see this searchlight...CRAP!!

PD dive; the warship doesn't shoot me too much, but as soon as I dive, I start getting all sorts of hydrophone contacts (20+ merchants)... it seems, in the middle of the worst storm possible (<300m visbility) I manage to not only have a convoy stumble across me, but the escort from it as well.

I shot all four fish in the tubes blind in the general direction of the convoy (no time to even try to set up a target with that warship almost literally on my a$$); dive deep(ish), go to silent running... he didn't get me, but neither did I get any of the merchies as well, so I'd call that a minor victory for him.

[andy_311]

Played a patrol last night I was ordered to do a patrol in the AM grid the one were the Isle of Man is got there eventually it poured down and heavy fog for the duration of my 24 hrs. got to BF13 and there's still heavy fog my sonarman shouts out merchantman closeing up pd and there was a C2 at 395m and closeing fired a fish at her and missed fjust fired a anouther in time before she started to vanish.and while am consentrating on the C2 a C3 comes from the other direction and runs me over.that's how hairy it could get. and I don't want someinthing like that happening in 43 onwards.