Spearfish didn't make it :(

CCIP · 04-18-07, 09:24 PM

My first complete SHIV career ended with the loss of my boat. That said, she didn't go down without a hard and valiant fight

In late September '42, on her 4th patrol, the Spearfish was stalking enemy ships hugging the coast at Palau. Finally, after many night hours of following a juicy tanker and a freighter, she got into a position to strike, sinking the freighter and seriously damaging the tanker - and that's when the torpedoes run out.

But who lets a juicy target go just miles off the enemy coast where it could get towed in, right? So, the captain ordered a battle surface and gunfire commenced.

After a number of successful shots, the boat was spotted by coastal artillery. That's when things started to go wrong. The boat submerged, but not before taking at least two serious hits from the well-aimed guns. Once underwater, repairs commenced; at the same time, the tanker she hit went down.

The systems damaged was repaired, but soon something started going even more wrong - the boat began sinking uncontrollably. Only blowing ballast got her back up. Shortly after that it was discovered that the boat was down by the bows and nothing could be done to bring her back to a stable position (I wonder what did happen - I roleplayed through as a punctured ballast tank!). All further attempts to dive the boat proved to be near-disastrous - the boat would lose all control and take a severe nose-down angle, and only blowing ballast brought her back up.

(Spearfish down by the bows due to damage)

That meant that the Spearfish was stuck unable to dive, thousands of miles from nearest friendly units. Her speed also dropped about 5 knots because of the damage.

It was decided to make a run for it anyway - what other choice was there? For 5 days, the boat had to dodge every ship encountered, and was harassed by aircraft - even shooting down a single divebomber. Finally, and unfortunately, she came in the vicinity of a carrier task force off Celebes. Valiantly fighting back 4 waves of enemy air attacks, her luck finally ran out; a pair of bombs struck the bridge and conning tower, destroying the main pump and leaving the boat flooding. Soon after, the boat sunk in rough seas. No survivors were located.

***

I got a nice screen with a monument at the end and posthumous rewards for the crew. A fitting end to an aggressive skipper's career - if only I hadn't made that mistake and let the coastal guns hit me...

04-18-07, 09:24 PM	#1
CCIP Navy Seal Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Waterloo, Canada Posts: 8,700 Downloads: 29 Uploads: 2	Spearfish didn't make it :( My first complete SHIV career ended with the loss of my boat. That said, she didn't go down without a hard and valiant fight In late September '42, on her 4th patrol, the Spearfish was stalking enemy ships hugging the coast at Palau. Finally, after many night hours of following a juicy tanker and a freighter, she got into a position to strike, sinking the freighter and seriously damaging the tanker - and that's when the torpedoes run out. But who lets a juicy target go just miles off the enemy coast where it could get towed in, right? So, the captain ordered a battle surface and gunfire commenced. After a number of successful shots, the boat was spotted by coastal artillery. That's when things started to go wrong. The boat submerged, but not before taking at least two serious hits from the well-aimed guns. Once underwater, repairs commenced; at the same time, the tanker she hit went down. The systems damaged was repaired, but soon something started going even more wrong - the boat began sinking uncontrollably. Only blowing ballast got her back up. Shortly after that it was discovered that the boat was down by the bows and nothing could be done to bring her back to a stable position (I wonder what did happen - I roleplayed through as a punctured ballast tank!). All further attempts to dive the boat proved to be near-disastrous - the boat would lose all control and take a severe nose-down angle, and only blowing ballast brought her back up. (Spearfish down by the bows due to damage) That meant that the Spearfish was stuck unable to dive, thousands of miles from nearest friendly units. Her speed also dropped about 5 knots because of the damage. It was decided to make a run for it anyway - what other choice was there? For 5 days, the boat had to dodge every ship encountered, and was harassed by aircraft - even shooting down a single divebomber. Finally, and unfortunately, she came in the vicinity of a carrier task force off Celebes. Valiantly fighting back 4 waves of enemy air attacks, her luck finally ran out; a pair of bombs struck the bridge and conning tower, destroying the main pump and leaving the boat flooding. Soon after, the boat sunk in rough seas. No survivors were located. * I got a nice screen with a monument at the end and posthumous rewards for the crew. A fitting end to an aggressive skipper's career - if only I hadn't made that mistake and let the coastal guns hit me... __________________ There are only forty people in the world and five of them are hamburgers. -Don Van Vliet** (aka Captain Beefheart)