My best patrol ever!

[Syxx_Killer]

GWX 2 couldn't have come at a better time today. We are suppose to get about a foot of snow. We already got quite a bit and the winds haven't got strong yet (suppose to get as high as 40 mph). Drifts are going to be huge. Anyway, it is a good day to hunt some convoys. Little did I know that it would be my best ever! I can now join the ranks of the 100k ton club.

The patrol started easy enough. I was tasked with patrolling BE61. I left Wilhelmshaven on October 24, 1939, not really expecting anything to happen this patrol. I enjoyed the scenery while leaving then plotted a course to the patrol grid. I didn't want to go through the English Channel. I have never trusted it. I would rather sail up nort of Scapa Flow. My plotted course took me through BE38. I was traversing it when I got a couple contact reports. Turns out they were some fat, juicy tankers. Both enemy. My first kills. I reached my patrol grid some time later. It was a rather uneventful 24 hours until I received a ship spotted message. Being alone with no DDs nearby, I want to try an attack on the surface. Turns out it was just a coastal freighter. I gave the order to fire a magnetic torpedo. Turns out it was a dud. I did not want to waste another torpedo on such small prey, so I ordered the deck gun crew on deck. Being the first deck gun engagement of the war, it was good practice. The ship took its final plunge at 17:02. After the patrol time was spent, I decided to head northeast. I head back to and reach BE38 a couple days later and stumble upon the convoy of a lifetime. It is earlier in the day. Clear skies, good visibility and the spot of a lifetime - HMS Rodney! There is no way I am going to let a prize such as that get away. I head on a parallel course on the port side of the convoy heading northwest. They are just barely in view when I notice the lead DD making a beeline right for me. "How the hell did he spot me?", I wonder. I could just barely see them,how could he see me? It is a A&B DD. I order periscope depth. I get my rear torpedo ready. I set it for 1m under his keel. I open order the outer door and give the order to fire. Direct hit! Explodes right under the bow. The DD takes a nose dive and is but a memory. I scope out the convoy and notice something - that was the only DD! I really begin to salivate now. I give the order to surface and order ahead flank. I'm racing along at 17 knots - the very most U-46 could give. I felt like saying "Give me 110% on the reactor!", but realized that is a few decades away yet. Anyway, it the Rodney was somehow able to spot me at very long distance. I could still barely make it out. What a rush it is racing along at flank being fire upon by a battleship! She opened up on me with her secondary weapons. Then she turned her primary guns at me. There's nothing like the sound of shells wizzing by over head and splashing nearby. Some misses to close. Too close.






The BB is in the ring of my anntenae in this shot. Just a bit of messing around with the camera.



Once I get into position I order periscope depth much to the relief of everyone else on board! There she is.



The convoy is zig-zagging now and I am not going to risk it. I switch to magnetic contacts. I only have six torpedoes left at this point. My previous encounters really ate up the fish. I have 5 forward torps and 1 rear. I get my four forward torps ready. Ready. Aim. Fire! I originally sent three torpedoes towards the BB. Then I kind of panic at the thought of that might not be enough so I send a fourth. All four are direct hits! She slows to a crawl and eventually stops. The convoy's main source of protection is going down!





Part 2 coming...

[Syxx_Killer]

...Part 2

Some underwater shots:







With the BB gone that means only one thing - surface! This convoy is ripe for the picking! I get my last front torpedo loaded and set about my work.



I fire my last two fish at a lead ship in the convoy - a modern tanker. That left only my deck gun crew to rely on and they did not disappoint. They nail another seven ships. I am now empty of torpedoes and ammo. When I radio in to BdU I am shocked at my totals:



The carnage:



The final tallies:



This patrol was the most fun I have ever had with SH3. Way to go GWX team!

[bigboywooly]

Lucky bar steward

Looking forward to part 2

[papa_smurf]

Congrats all round

[Hanomag]

Congrats Herr Kaluen!!!

[nikbear]

you jammy bugger,I've got 2 trawlers and a damned unsinkable passenger/cargo keep up the good work

[BulSoldier]

Nice work ! Admiralty will think twice about sending nelsons around ....

[T.Von Hogan]

Congrates on a gr8 mission........Balz better watch out

[Kpt. Lehmann]

Regarding "how they spotted you".... you should SEE the optics they've got on big military ships.

Read on "Gunnery" in the GWX manual and you will see pictures of what I mean.

[Syxx_Killer]

Originally Posted by Kpt. Lehmann

Regarding "how they spotted you".... you should SEE the optics they've got on big military ships.

Read on "Gunnery" in the GWX manual and you will see pictures of what I mean.

Now that you mention it, I do remember seeing those optics. I forgot all about that. I downloaded the manual and read through it some when it was released a little while back. No wonder they saw me!

Originally Posted by bigboywooly

Lucky bar steward

Looking forward to part 2

I had to split the original post into two because I had to many images for one post. Part 2 is there.

I'm thinking maybe my Oblivion emblem was good luck. haha

Now watch, I bet every patrol from now on will not produce any results. The moon and stars were lined right on this one.

[Capt. Shark Bait]

sehr gut. have a beer, Herr Kaleun

[Syxx_Killer]

I think I jinxed myself with my earlier comment.

Now watch, I bet every patrol from now on will not produce any results. The moon and stars were lined right on this one.

On my latest patrol, I really stepped into it this time. My task was to patrol AM41. I had just left port a couple days earlier. I was sailing along minding my own business in grid AN45 when all of a sudden I get a warship spotted message. It is a DD. Lucky for me it was night time when I spotted it because it probably would have engaged us if it were day time. He is headed ENE. I am headed NW. I order all stop. I then order a course parallel his and then stop. I sit there watching him go by when I get a merchant spotted message. I had stumbled upon a medium sized convoy. I order silent running and go to PD. I only ever saw this one DD. I see two nice looking medium merchants heading ENE one following the other. I slug a fish into the gut of the leade medium merchant and they turn on their spot lights. I then send two more fish towards the on following. That is when I realize I really stumbled into the hornet's nest. There are at least a half dozen DDs escorting this convoy. Not like my dream convoy in my previous patrol. I lower my periscope and try to slink away. Not gonna happen. They must have spotted it because they all fired starshells above it. Then they started to ping me. I try to sneak under some other ships in the convoy, but they eventually move on. They make their first DC run - and they make it a doosey. I am still pretty shallow. I get hit hard and head towards the bottom. I thought this is it. Ended in 1939. I don't want to see what 1944 is like! Anyway, we hit bottom (138m deep) and sit there. Too bad I was running full ahead when I hit not realizing how close we were. As soon as my crew stops the flooding I decide to sit there awhile.



Look at all the contacts!



I really pissed them off!



They even sent a submarine!



They continue to drop DCs and I figure we're dead if we stay here so I order silent running secured and begin making final repairs. Then I blow some ballast and we're off. I try zig zagging every which way and they still find me. I thought we would never make it out alive. Somehow, someway, we manage to elude our tormenters. Once we did, I repaired topside damage and made a beeline for home. This was a short patrol. I'm just lucky to have survived. Oh well, at least we put two medium merchants on the ocean floor - each worth about 5000 tons.

My deck gun was destroyed so I didn't want to carry on if I needed and I didn't know how bad my hull was after that encounter.



It just goes to show how big of a change that can occur. That convoy was the total antithesis of the other one. This was my nightmare while the other my dream.