Sub pens are useless!

[Khayman]

My base, St. Nazaire, got attacked by aircraft again (see "Strategic bombing" thread). I was taking some pics of my U-boat in the sub pen when radar signals were detected;



I left my sub in the safety (hah!) of the pen and took some pics of the action;



Then I heard I was taking damage. Sure enough;



Next time I'm getting the hell out of there and going to persicope depth. I did feel quite smug sitting in my pen though, so I suppose I deserved to get damage

[Hartmann]

Well.. a bit of damage.

Perhaps a big piece of concrete of the bunker failing in the boat .
it´s better this that a bomb direct hit .

[STEED]

In WW2 not a single U-Boat was lost in it's pen.

[Subnuts]

In SH2 bombs would go right through the pen!

In SHIII RAIN goes right through the pen! :rotfl:

[Seeadler]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

In SHIII RAIN goes right through the pen! :rotfl:

...and seaguls too, so why should the roof of the pen stop a falling bomb in SH3?

[Greenpencil]

Wow, where were you and what time was it when it happened?

[Khayman]

Originally Posted by Greenpencil

Wow, where were you and what time was it when it happened?

St. Nazaire, May 2nd 1944 about 5:20am. I should point out I use the airpower mod that comes with the harbour traffic one. I don't think your base gets bombed in the stock game - though I could be wrong. Oh and if you're wondering why I'm in a Type IXC at a base that uses VII's it's because I transferred from the 2nd to the 7th Flotilla to get a Type XXI - which isn't available quite yet.

If I'd known about the seagulls and the rain then I'd definitely have taken some action, rather than sitting there like a twit taking pictures.

[theluckyone17]

I just finished reading "Iron Coffins" (by Herbert A. Werner). Apparently, U-953 (his command), was in port and under a sub pen during an air attack on August 13th 1944. Apparently a bomb detonated 50 meters outside the pen, and the shock wave damaged a bow torpedo tube. The outer doors had been left open, and the blast blew the inner door off.

"That," said the Chief, "is from the shock wave of a bomb that exploded in the basin some fifty meters away. I am sure that we have lost some of our boats this way. With their outer tube doors open and a faulty inner door, a single depth charge would do it. They never lived to tell what happened." (p. 241)

[Khayman]

Originally Posted by STEED

In WW2 not a single U-Boat was lost in it's pen.

You wouldn't believe that if you watched a documentary I saw on the History Channel (I think). It said bombs did penetrate the pens (none ever did) and gave the impression boats were destroyed there. It also said the Germans fought a very dirty U-boat war, and called Reinhard Hardegen of U-123 Reinhard Harding

I suppose it could have been damage from the blast wave of a bomb that got me, or indeed some concrete falling down onto the deck. Either way they aren't as safe as I thought they would be

[Carotio]

Originally Posted by Seeadler

...and seaguls too, so why should the roof of the pen stop a falling bomb in SH3?

I once saw a seagul flying through my u-boat!
I think I have a screencap somewhere, if nobody else has seen this!

About the subpen and rain! Yeah, that's just too ridiculous! That's something the devs should have solved!

[Drebbel]

It said bombs did penetrate the pens (none ever did)

None ???? Probably depends on what you call a pen.



"Tallboy" bomb, specially designed to penetrate the pens



Aug 1945 Brest, three Tallboys penetrated the pens.

[irish1958]

The Big boys could penetrate the pens, but unfortunately for the British, the war was over in April. Too little, too late.
As for the Germans fighting a "dirty Submarine War", the Royal Navy didn't want the war trials to touch on this, as they were afraid that they would be tatooed.
irish1958

[Khayman]

Originally Posted by Drebbel

None ???? Probably depends on what you call a pen.

Interesting. I looked up one book, "Second U-Boat Flotilla" which mentioned a raid on Lorient round about 1st August 1945 using "1,000lb 'Grand Slam'" bombs specifically designed to penetrate them. Two hits were scored with "cataclysmic" explosions but "the massive concrete shelters shrugged off the renewed assault with barely a mark".

But then I looked up "Grand Slam" bombs and found out Tallboys were 12,000lb and Grand Slam ones were 22,000lb. Where the author got 1,000lb for a Grand Slam in my book is beyond me

I know I've read elsewhere that the pens were never penetrated, but based on your pic and further online reading about the bombs I have to say those books were wrong, and so was I. Thanks for the info.

[badhat17]

Brest was raided in August 1944, I suspect the picture has been dated incorrectly. The comment that no bomb completely penetrated the concrete is most likely true as post war analysis found that the deepest a Tallboy went into the concrete was 16 ft but of course the explosion then blew the remaining four ft or so in.