Critique my tactics

predavolk · 03-08-08, 10:51 PM

So it's 1939, 2nd or 3rd patrol (don't remember), and I'm off the West coast of England/Scotland intercepting a convoy. I don't really have to nail it, and could almost certainly find better pickings in solo ships. Which I am tempted to do. But I tried to go in any how. It's about 6 AM (dark, but not pitch), the water is glass, and the sky is clear. I've read several threads/articles on convoy attack, and the advice is varied. But the most frequent tactic is what I did in my last attack (I mainly wanted to try other types first for my own learning's sake)- go in slow, attack, go really deep.

I pick up the convoy, run in on the surface to 4500M, get spotted by a Black Flower Corvette, lucky gun hit ends me quickly.

OK, don't go in on the surface. Make a run in, speed up to ahead 1/3 at periscope depth to line up a shot, get detected, DC'd to death by escorts.

OK, don't go above ahead slow. Make a run in, nail 3 or 4 ships (not sure, but get 4 hits on 5 torps), one confirmed kill before I go under (coal ship- 1 2M impact torp). Descend slowly to 100M. At 60 M, rear escort starts to ping. I turn towards him to get bow-on so as to reduce sound reflection signal. As soon as I start turning, his pinging picks up. At 90 M, get reports that we're being pinged, 100M get nailed by depth charges and sink into the depths- implosion.

So, what did I do wrong? Should I have immediately gone to flank and tried to get deep faster? I did linger to fire all my torps- do you really have to be on your way down before the first impact? Should I avoid turning at all when trying to be silent? Is there anything you can do when being pinged deep other than go deeper and pray? Forget convoys and just pick off the easier solo targets?

And finally, if I get this right, do you have to surface to record kills, or are unseen kills still recorded? What if the ship sinks unseen-any credit?

03-08-08, 10:51 PM	#1
predavolk Weps Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 369 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	Critique my tactics So it's 1939, 2nd or 3rd patrol (don't remember), and I'm off the West coast of England/Scotland intercepting a convoy. I don't really have to nail it, and could almost certainly find better pickings in solo ships. Which I am tempted to do. But I tried to go in any how. It's about 6 AM (dark, but not pitch), the water is glass, and the sky is clear. I've read several threads/articles on convoy attack, and the advice is varied. But the most frequent tactic is what I did in my last attack (I mainly wanted to try other types first for my own learning's sake)- go in slow, attack, go really deep. I pick up the convoy, run in on the surface to 4500M, get spotted by a Black Flower Corvette, lucky gun hit ends me quickly. OK, don't go in on the surface. Make a run in, speed up to ahead 1/3 at periscope depth to line up a shot, get detected, DC'd to death by escorts. OK, don't go above ahead slow. Make a run in, nail 3 or 4 ships (not sure, but get 4 hits on 5 torps), one confirmed kill before I go under (coal ship- 1 2M impact torp). Descend slowly to 100M. At 60 M, rear escort starts to ping. I turn towards him to get bow-on so as to reduce sound reflection signal. As soon as I start turning, his pinging picks up. At 90 M, get reports that we're being pinged, 100M get nailed by depth charges and sink into the depths- implosion. So, what did I do wrong? Should I have immediately gone to flank and tried to get deep faster? I did linger to fire all my torps- do you really have to be on your way down before the first impact? Should I avoid turning at all when trying to be silent? Is there anything you can do when being pinged deep other than go deeper and pray? Forget convoys and just pick off the easier solo targets? And finally, if I get this right, do you have to surface to record kills, or are unseen kills still recorded? What if the ship sinks unseen-any credit?