Deck Gun. Keep it or not?

[KeybdFlyer]

I know there have been quite a few posts on this subject, but I thought I'd share the method I'm currently using - seems to work for me and lets me keep the "fun" of using the deck gun. Assuming that in the earlier war years you've used the gun fairly frequently, you'll have at least one crewmember who is proficient in its use. By the time the merchants are armed though, it becomes pretty risky to surface and shoot it out. However, if you aim for (and knock out) a ship's engine with a torpedo, such that it becomes dead in the water, or down to 1-2 kts, I have found that I can head away from the ship to a range of about 5000 metres or so, surface & man the deck gun and then head back towards the ship as near as possible to a 90° AoB, without being spotted. Opening fire with the deck gun at about 4500 metres whilst going ahead at 4-5 kts gives you plenty of time to get a fair number of hits before the merchant even starts to fire back. Sometimes they never fire back as your gun team sinks them first. If things start getting too hot (near misses), I simply go to slow astern and continue firing. It certainly save torps, but can occasionally use-up all the ammo on board.

[Hybris]

Sounds good but I like my way pull up at short short 250 to 500m and blast right at the water line!

[Warmonger]

As much as I like the gun for damaged ships I rarely use it against the later armed merchants, especially liberties and such. But still I don't see a reason to remove it altogether as you can never know what good it could be some time.

I also don't believe that it's modeled in SH3 as I read somewhere that the deck gun increases underwater noise produced by the sub. Concerning all the flaws and bugs of the stock game I just cannot believe this detail would have been implemented.

[GT182]

If you can get away from escorts after sinking or crippling a merchant, the best way to hide is Silent running and 1kt. Depth is up to you but 60 meters is good. In my last 4 patrols I've always slipped away undetected.... and that with deckgun onboard.

Tho in 1943 I don't use the deckgun as much as I did in the earlier years. But then again, you can still run across convoys occasionally with all merchants unarmed. It's the escorts and the number of them in a convoy that's the problem, lately I've been seeing 4 up to and 6 even.

Originally Posted by Hybris

Sounds good but I like my way pull up at short short 250 to 500m and blast right at the water line!

I don't see how you manage to do that. I cannot depress my gun elevation below 500 meters, and if I'm 700 meters or closer I never hit the waterline. I've always needed to be at least 700 - 800 meters out before my fire hits waterline.

My method of 'deck-gun-ology' is using it to engage either crippled merchant ships (4 knots or less) or small merchant ships (tugs, trawlers, fishing boats, etc). Forget warships of any class or type (although once I did engage an armed trawler on the surface, having surprised it and closed to 900 meters). I realize that the game does (potentially) enable successfully engaging warships with a deck gun (quite a few posts have bragged about just that) but that just doesn't seem realistic to me and so I don't do it.

I manuever to position myself between 30 - 150 AoB (optimally 60 - 120) and around 1,200 meters out, with my boat parallel to them at dead stop. I avoid bow-on as much as possible, as it seems to make a less stable gun platform that way. Distance is adjusted based upon circumstances, primarily weather (and thus wave height and intensity) and armed condition of the merchant. The more intense the waves, the closer I'll manuever; in calm water I might even begin engaging at 2,500 meters. If the merchant is armed, I'll manuever to block the majority of their weapons from engaging me, then fire to knock out the engaging platform.

I do the firing manually. I do not, and will not, have my crew fire. Forgive my language, but my deck gun crews have always been drunk, blind retards that couldn't hit a duck stuck down the barrel (inbred cousins of Bernard perhaps?)

With any wave action at all patience is required. I use high magnification, which means I can just barely see the tip of the barrel, and I pick a target point on the waterline, then wait and watch the rolling waves, timing them and waiting until the barrel settles down from any lift and/or rolling before firing. I have about a 70% - 80% on-target success that way.

(Tip: the sign of a good waterline shot is a subdued but noticable explosive flash followed by a plume of water rising up)

I start aiming at the bow (or stern) and 'walk' my way down the ship, avoiding targeting areas I've already torpedoed, then return the other way, continuing until I've Swiss-cheesed it enough to head to Davy Jones locker.

[GT182]

AVH, I believe the more you use the deckgun and are proficient with it, the better your gunners will be. I've let mine fire at shipping and they seem to do just fine..... but you need to thell them what range, long medium or short and where to aim. It seems to me it works kind of like B17 TM8th in some respects. They learn from you.

[Warmonger]

Originally Posted by Albrecht Von Hesse

(Tip: the sign of a good waterline shot is a subdued but noticable explosive flash followed by a plume of water rising up)

Hmm, isn't it actually the other way around? First plume, then flash/noise of a hit?

Originally Posted by Warmonger

Hmm, isn't it actually the other way around? First plume, then flash/noise of a hit?

I've always seemed to have a better effect with flash first with a plume either right after or almost at the same time. That doesn't mean I'm right, of course. :p

[HunterICX]

I actually like it when an enemy shell hits close by ur sub in the water...heheh it makes urself angry and start to return fire...

Man...I would like to battle like an Pirate ship...2 ships next to eachother shooting the boats to shreds Yarr and then boarding party!

[_Seth_]

Originally Posted by HunterICX

I actually like it when an enemy shell hits close by ur sub in the water...heheh it makes urself angry and start to return fire...

Man...I would like to battle like an Pirate ship...2 ships next to eachother shooting the boats to shreds Yarr and then boarding party!

What about "skeleton crews"? Is this possible to mod? Just fire a torp at a cargovessel or something, and let it blow off the propellers. When its dead in the water, you approach it, and select "take over ship" or something like that. Then you loose some crewmembers from your sub, but the cargovessel plots a course to the nearest german harbour. And you get good renown...

[abel29a]

Yes, bring back the good ole days of WW1 with subs taking prizes and whatnot Imagine steaming back to Brest with a little convoy of captured ships behind you - that would get the Frauleins hearts beating with admiration for your daring Corsairness and Swashbuckling skills

[Pants]

I used to Love my DG..you never know when you will need it, However when 1941 comes, I say Buhbye to me DG and i go U-Flak baby
1941 merchie arn't as "toothless" as they once were.

[Ducimus]

Having twice seen a depth charge or hedge hog land on the main deck where the deck gun is located, and the deck gun subsquently abosrbing the damage on what otherwise had been a fatal hit, has convinced me that i will NEVER remove the deck gun, even if i dont use it anymore.

[Incubus]

I was a big fan of it, because it meant in favorable conditions I could hoard torpedoes. Nothing worse than sailing on your way back, finding a vulnerable convoy and only having 1-2 eels left. I've also had a few patrols where I ran out of torpedoes, but had enough shells to sink one last ship.

From 39-42 it is good. After 1942 even merchants start to get decently armed and using the deck gun (particularly in good visibility) becomes risky since you start to trade damage instead of simply inflicting it. some people have said you can use the gun to knock off enemy guns, but that hasn't happened to me (all the surface damage I've seen is cosmetic- crates on fire, cranes collapsing, etc). Never blown off enemy guns with my gun.

On my type VIIC I traded in the deck gun for a U-flak configuration. Surface action against ships has now become a foregone conclusion, though I'd love to hear of ballsy Kaleuns engaging in surface gun battles in 1945

Originally Posted by Incubus

some people have said you can use the gun to knock off enemy guns, but that hasn't happened to me (all the surface damage I've seen is cosmetic- crates on fire, cranes collapsing, etc). Never blown off enemy guns with my gun.

I manage that on a fairly regular basis, but only when engaging a crippled or dead-in-the-water merchant. I don't get into gunslinging with healthy ones.

It takes a direct hit to take out a gun mount. You can pepper all around it, setting cargo and crates ablaze and exploding, and still have the sucker fire back. But there's no mistaking when you do hit it: an explosion seemingly out-of-proportion, much bigger than just the round going off, and a big whitish fireball with debris fanning out.

Keep in mind I'm speaking of gun mounts on merchants. I've no experience (and don't foresee ever gaining any :p ) about targeting and engaging warship gun mounts.