Should I attack?

[Seaveins]

You are the only people that can understand...I am playing SHIII, GW's, SH Commander 2.6, in AM73, 9/26/39, 2nd patrol, Type VIIB, locked and loaded. My First Watch crew let be down BIG TIME. I happened upon a big, juicy, convoy 20km away. The seas were picking up steam, 1300 in the afternoon, and I was heading right for them at X1. I was adjusting torpedoes, planning my attack, etc., when I heard the faint sound of someone shooting at me? I climbed up to the tower and found the convoy right in front of me, two destroyers/flower corvettes next to me and firing! All of my watch were looking around aimlessly with their binocs. I submerged as fast as possible, got DC'd immediately with heavy flooding damage, and started the long, depressing, sink to the bottom of 1,000 meters+. The damage team worked well but it was tough. I had to blow ballast several times, reached 300 meters, reversed engines, and prayed. SLOWLY she began her ascent 1 meter at a time. The crew had a hell of a flood in the forward compartment...17 minutes to fix! DC's raining down all around us as we were at emergency power and had to continue repairs so we were very NOISY. Somehow we made it to the surface, repaired what we could, and are currently chasing the convoy. The forward batteries and hydrophones are completely destroyed. All else works and I haven't fired a shot of anything. My hull integrity is 87%. It is now 1700, getting dark, and I am right behind the convoy. Is it it time to "cut and run" or should I call it a day and head home for repairs? You guys are the vets...

[bigboywooly]

Originally Posted by Seaveins

You are the only people that can understand...I am playing SHIII, GW's, SH Commander 2.6, in AM73, 9/26/39, 2nd patrol, Type VIIB, locked and loaded. My First Watch crew let be down BIG TIME. I happened upon a big, juicy, convoy 20km away. The seas were picking up steam, 1300 in the afternoon, and I was heading right for them at X1. I was adjusting torpedoes, planning my attack, etc., when I heard the faint sound of someone shooting at me? I climbed up to the tower and found the convoy right in front of me, two destroyers/flower corvettes next to me and firing! All of my watch were looking around aimlessly with their binocs. I submerged as fast as possible, got DC'd immediately with heavy flooding damage, and started the long, depressing, sink to the bottom of 1,000 meters+. The damage team worked well but it was tough. I had to blow ballast several times, reached 300 meters, reversed engines, and prayed. SLOWLY she began her ascent 1 meter at a time. The crew had a hell of a flood in the forward compartment...17 minutes to fix! DC's raining down all around us as we were at emergency power and had to continue repairs so we were very NOISY. Somehow we made it to the surface, repaired what we could, and are currently chasing the convoy. The forward batteries and hydrophones are completely destroyed. All else works and I haven't fired a shot of anything. My hull integrity is 87%. It is now 1700, getting dark, and I am right behind the convoy. Is it it time to "cut and run" or should I call it a day and head home for repairs? You guys are the vets...

Do you play dead is dead ?

Well personally I would leave the convoy and head back to port
No hydraphones is not good if gonna attack the convoy
And no forward batteries will severely limit your time underwater if the escorts do find you
Put it down to experiance and head home
Keelhaul the watch crew and hopefully their replacements will find you some lone merchants on the way back
At least you live again to fight another day

[U-104]

[Pants]

i would suggest cut and run..and hopefully you'll see easy targets on the way home...i hate having to return home with fish still onboard

[gabeeg]

you are extremely lucky to get away with as little damage as you did. You will be greatly handicaped now with no forward batteries and no hydrophone...cut your loses and go home.

[HunterICX]

I found an juicy big Convoy, with an Raider in it...hell yeah!
I aproached carefully....and nailed 3 fish in her on the Front, Middle and the Back. she caught fire and sank.

but as soon I sank her...the DDs detected me I orderd an crash dive...but got a little beatin that I could fully repair. well...at least I blasted 13.000 tons to the bottom...pitty...coz I was hungry for more...but you can have everything So I went back to port..

[theluckyone17]

When Lady Luck gives you a present, it's generally considered bad form to ignore it. Head home

[Seaveins]

Thank you for your input my friends. We are turning around and heading home and will look forward to our 3rd patrol. I had to ask...it was just too inviting...a touch of Galaxy Quest's "Never give up; Never Surrender".

[Schpeedy]

You are behind the convoy... I'm not sure which way it is heading... and I'm not sure how far you are from your home port.

Up sun and down moon is the rule of thumb.

The very least I would do is turn to either the right or the left, which ever gets you more 'down moon' and then fire a surfaced long range attack, all forward torpedoes and then turn for any rear.

I would fire on the nearest / largest / leading ship that is on the same flank that you are, the theory being that if you miss, you atleast have a chance to hit anything on the other side of it or behind it.

The next thing you do is two things at the same time... reload and check to see if any destroyers are on the way to you.
If any destroyers come towards you, turn the boat and high tail it directly away from the convoy, or slightly to the left or right such that you would be heading slightly in the direction of the convoy.

Torpedoes are precious, but not on the way home. Fire as many of them as you can, as accurately as you can, balancing risk with the status of your boat.
I.E. You don't want squander your boat; however, bringing a torpedo home would be frowned uppon by the high command?

This is when the max range of the torpedo is looked at.

[P_Funk]

Schpeedy is right. It's 1939 so the DDs aren't as godly as they start to be around 41. A long range attack would be your best bet. Also if you can identify the escorts see if they are faster than you or not. Many escorts used in the earlier part of the war were slower than a surfaced U-boat. If you can likely outrun them then get back at least 5000 at night and fire a good spread at the convoy then turn and use your aft torps too and then gun it for home. If the DDs don't even get close to chasing you you could try it again. In 39 they have no radar and you should be able to evade easily on the surface and since you don't need batts for that you aren't entirely screwed if you get into trouble.

[Ducimus]

Originally Posted by Seaveins

..in AM73, 9/26/39,

...snip...

currently chasing the convoy. The forward batteries and hydrophones are completely destroyed. All else works and I haven't fired a shot of anything. My hull integrity is 87%. It is now 1700, getting dark, and I am right behind the convoy. Is it it time to "cut and run" or should I call it a day and head home for repairs? You guys are the vets...

In other words, your submerged endurance is 50% of what it used to be, and your boat is now utterly blind underwater. I would say you can't afford any submerged engagement. Your entirely reliant on periscope observations and if you get under another depth charge attack, your odds of getting sunk just skyrocketed being deaf, with a half dead battery.

If you weren't already incontact with a convoy id say return to base. However, you can still prosocute a night surface attack, and in 1939 YOU own the night. You wont have radar to deal with. I would say plot the convoys course, do an end round, and come up along the convoys broadside on the surface at night. Personnaly id give it a go once shoot what fish you have in the tubes, then desengage and go home. Maybe go at it twice if the escorts feel clueless, but realize you can't afford to be forced to submerge. If you submerge, they will have you in their pocket. All you can do is go very deep and pray if they do.

Another factor is the wind conditions, if its a calm sea, your chances of getting spoted on the surface increase. Id shoot at like 3500 meters, turn tail , shoot your aft tube, and run.

[TarJak]

Schpeedy and Ducimus have got it right I think. Depending on time of day weather etc. If you can get to within torp range then why not give them a salvo or even two?

It is afterall only a game! (Yeh yeh I know; don't kill me for it).

[HunterICX]

The best weather condition for an Convoy attack is

**** weather with 15ms wind and 800 meters sight because of the fog.

[P_Funk]

Originally Posted by HunterICX

The best weather condition for an Convoy attack is

**** weather with 15ms wind and 800 meters sight because of the fog.

In 1939 the best conditions for a convoy attack are anything after dark!:rotfl: