Operation Berlin in GWX

[KPII]

Ohoy,

A couple of questions on the "Operation Berlin" scenario in GWX if you don't mind. The situation is as follows:

1. I started a new career with 2nd Flotille in FEB 1941, with the purpose of doing a few sea trials before heading south to the Cap Verde Islands. My plan was to try and intercept Scarnhorst/Gneisenau, U-105/U-106/U-124 and/or BB Malaya and convoy SL-67 on the 7th March 1941.

2. Since there are no LAT/LONG coordinates on the map in SHIII and the map in the GWX manual is very large scale it would probably be a bit difficult to do the intercept, but I was hoping for some good intel out of SH Gen or Radio Reports from BdU. The only info I had was Scarnhorst LAT/LONG and steering course 140 degrees when intercepting SL-67, so I assumed it would be a few hundred NM SE of the Cap Verde islands on the main convoy route from Freetown to GB.
(on the map in the GWX manual it looks like the location is SW of Cap Verde, but this didn't really fit with the fact, that it's off the main convoy route, and Scarnhorst was steering 140 degrees en route from the Canaries).

My back-up plan was to intercept BB Malaya and SL-68 together with the other U-Boats on March 20, since I knew this would be 250 NM NNW of Cap Verde.

3. After 3 weeks of tidious cruising - ignoring a bunch of juicy tagets to conserve fuel - I arrived on station at the Cap Verde islands H-2 days and started a monster search pattern. En route south I had received a huge number of Radio Messages about a couple of Wolf-Pack attacks near the British Isles, so I had high hopes for some udates on "Operation Berlin", since I had received the Radio Message on the kick-off of the operation in an earlier career.

4. An updated Intel Report (100% Intel/100% reliability settings) via SH Gen didn't give me any hint as to where where to start looking and the radio spam about the operation to the north continued without any info on Berlin nor ship/convoy observations in the South Atlantic.
However, since arriving in the area I have received maybe 50 reports on Warships spawning about 500 NM north of Freetown on course south, where they gathered outside Freetown. I was hoping that they were forming the escort for SL-67, but when the 6 March passed and they were still mingling about this was unlikely to happen. I hanged around between Freetown and Cap Verde for another week without a single sighting. I'm now making my way NW at a crusing speed of 8 knts while I write this, in the hope that I'll intercept the Malaya on or around March 20.

Questions:
1. Are the Campaigns/scenarios scripted so that the units are spawned directly at location or are they arriving from the historic starting point i.e. will the BB Malaya be escorting the convoy from Freetown or spawn at the correct location?
2. What's the exact location for the rendez-vous between the subs and the BB's on March 6? and/or the exact location of the intercept of BB Malaya and SL-67?
3. What's the exact location of the intercept of SL-68 and Malaya on March 20 (I might be able to confirm if 250 NM NNW is correct when I arrive in a few hours RL time ).
4. What's the exact location of the intercept of HMS Rodney and Convoy HX-114 in the North-Atlantic on March 16?

Many thanks - I know that I could just follow the task-force from Kiel in January, but without any Milk Cows around I'm unlikely to last for the two months duration of the operation or aquire contact again after a refuelling run to the Canaries.

regards,
KPII


Edit: just a few more questions on second thought - if you read this far you probably won't mind:
5. Will it be possible to re-fuel from the tankers where Scarnhorst/Gneisenau refuelled as indicated on the map?
6. Does SHIII/GWX spawn all new convoys/ships in habours or in mid-ocean?
7. Running SH Gen on max settings I was surprised to see that A. there are very few single merchants in general and B. Convoys and single merchants does not spawn on or near the routes indicated on the SHIII map. Can anyone confirm that this is correct or is the Intel from SH3 Gen incomplete/incorrect?

Thanks a bunch and thanks also for the most amazing Mod I have ever seen!

[bigboywooly]

Well looks to me like the only movements of Op Berlin are the 2 battlecruisers
Who leave Kiel - follow the course taken in RL then dock at Brest

The uboats and convoys are not scripted

As to your other questions
No you cannot refuel from the tankers for the 2 BCs
Convoys spawn near ports not actually in them due to game limitations

The convoy map is a guide
Not the exact location of all convoy routes as in RL convoy routes altered due to intel on uboats or uboat attacks

[KPII]

Thanks for the response BigBoy,

Originally Posted by bigboywooly

Well looks to me like the only movements of Op Berlin are the 2 battlecruisers
Who leave Kiel - follow the course taken in RL then dock at Brest

The uboats and convoys are not scripted

Thanks for the info. The manual is a little misleading, since it does describe and display the actions of the different surface units. I guess I've just wasted a good 8-10 RL hours chasing this scenario.

Originally Posted by bigboywooly

As to your other questions
No you cannot refuel from the tankers for the 2 BCs
Convoys spawn near ports not actually in them due to game limitations

Thanks - it makes sense that they spawn around ports, it makes the intel from SH Gen a little more useful.

Originally Posted by bigboywooly

The convoy map is a guide
Not the exact location of all convoy routes as in RL convoy routes altered due to intel on uboats or uboat attacks

Yes - I'm aware that it's just a general guide and that convoys would of course alter their routes. However, they would not alter them thousands of nautical miles as they would need to follow the currents and weather of the Atlantic. Not following the currents would mean that they would make zero movement over ground, so it's actually inaccurate that convoys are to be found so far off the general Atlantic crossing routes.

[Cezbor]

If you are not 100% sim enthusiast, use 1.03 GWX spy sat. It help's a lot

[KPII]

Cezbor: Thanks for the tip! This is exactly what I have been looking for - too many RL hours spend roaming the seas instead of calculating firing solutions.

Btw. my apologies for all the questions in the long-winded first post. I was just getting a bit frustrated when I couldn't locate any surface units after the long trip.

I have just had a go at the Weserubung scenario and can highly recommend it. The invasion fleet and the allied re-inforcements show up exactly where they should, except that HMS Nelson have replaced the Warspite. Anyway, I got the Nelson with a spread of 3 at 2500 yards and got promptly chased by all 9 DD's in the shallow waters of Vestfjord

[bigboywooly]

Yeah thats one unit we dont have
The Warspite

[Pablo]

Originally Posted by KPII

Thanks for the response BigBoy,

Thanks for the info. The manual is a little misleading, since it does describe and display the actions of the different surface units. I guess I've just wasted a good 8-10 RL hours chasing this scenario.

Hi!

I've altered the manual slightly, as follows:

Operation Berlin was originally included in The Grey Wolves V1.0. The battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau will follow the general path of their historical cruise; however, GWX does not specifically script the convoys or warships that the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau encountered.

Does that better represent how GWX has implemented Operation Berlin?

Thanks!

Pablo

[KPII]

Originally Posted by Pablo

I've altered the manual slightly, as follows:

Does that better represent how GWX has implemented Operation Berlin?

Thanks!

Pablo

That should do the trick - many thanks Pablo.

The manual is excellent by the way - I took it to bed (!) the first time I installed GWX, and didn't sleep before it was time to get up again. I still use it frequently, which is rare for other manuals. Well done.

[KPII]

Just thought I would give a quick update on the next scenario I had a go at. It took two attempts before aquiring contact with the Bismarck task-force in "Operation Rheinubung", but boy was it worth it!

In the first attempt I was placed in the Denmark Strait at the right time, but they must have slipped past my search pattern. Took a wild dash towards the spot where the King George V task-force should be when they launched the Swordfish attack on Bismarck late on the 24th May, but no cigar.

Some time laterI received a MSG from BdU ordering all subs to quardrant BE53 to support the Bismarck - being a few thousand miles out I had no chance of arriving by the 27th, so I packed it in and reloaded the patrol.

This time around I tried to intercept the King George V task force and the Norfolk/Suffolk when leaving Scapa, but again the slipped past my ambush. Full speed ahead towards BE53 placed me on station early on the 26th May, a good 24 hours before the final show-down.

I started a search pattern in the area NE of "BE53", and when it dawned on the 27th without any contacts, I thought this would be another miss. Suddently I get a single warship contact to the SW and it turns out to be the Bismarck. We are now approx. 50 NM NE of "BE53", so I order ahead flank on a NE course in the hope that I'll intercept King George V in time. After a few Swordfish attacks I make contact with HMS Rodney and the King George steering 180 degrees at full steam in the direction of Bismarck. I'm so far out, that the best I can come up with is a spead of 4 at the Rodney from 3000 meters. I'm lucky to get one hit, which slows her down enough so I can finish her off, while the King George pounds the Bismarck back to the stone age.

During and right after the action we were continously being harrassed by Swordfish torpedo-bombers (12 of them made it to the patrol log) so it was quite intense and highly enjoyable.

An excellent scenario! I could really smell the cordit and the saltwater while trying to save the Bismarck.