Periscope Attacks at Night

sharkbit · 06-19-09, 12:03 PM

Question:
Did submarines make periscope attacks at night in general?

I was wondering that yesterday while playing. I'm getting late into the war and the allied radar is getting extremely good, making night surface attacks against escorted vessels EXTREMELY difficult.

I'm currently (4/43) stalking a 3 ship convoy near the Canaries, escorted by one American Buckley class escort. I sank one modern tanker out of it, made an end around for another attack and intercepted at midnight. Due to the radar on the escort, I elected to do a submerged attack which would allow me to get close to the target track. The ships were sailing in line astern with the escort at the back. This made it easy to get ahead of the targets and in good position. I torpedoed the lead ship, a medium cargo, and am waiting for the escort to leave the area so I can administer the coup de grace if she won't go down on her own. I'll then do another end around and get the remaining ship, a small tanker.

When I decided to do the attack submerged at night, I just started wondering how realistic this would really be. Visibility was excellent-another strike against a surfaced attack.

It seems that most of the literature I've read concerning U-boats don't go into a lot of detail about attacks late in the war and whether they still attempted to try night surface attacks or not. it just got me wondering.

Thanks.

06-19-09, 12:03 PM	#1
sharkbit The Old Man Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Denver, CO Posts: 1,529 Downloads: 334 Uploads: 0	Periscope Attacks at Night Question: Did submarines make periscope attacks at night in general? I was wondering that yesterday while playing. I'm getting late into the war and the allied radar is getting extremely good, making night surface attacks against escorted vessels EXTREMELY difficult. I'm currently (4/43) stalking a 3 ship convoy near the Canaries, escorted by one American Buckley class escort. I sank one modern tanker out of it, made an end around for another attack and intercepted at midnight. Due to the radar on the escort, I elected to do a submerged attack which would allow me to get close to the target track. The ships were sailing in line astern with the escort at the back. This made it easy to get ahead of the targets and in good position. I torpedoed the lead ship, a medium cargo, and am waiting for the escort to leave the area so I can administer the coup de grace if she won't go down on her own. I'll then do another end around and get the remaining ship, a small tanker. When I decided to do the attack submerged at night, I just started wondering how realistic this would really be. Visibility was excellent-another strike against a surfaced attack. It seems that most of the literature I've read concerning U-boats don't go into a lot of detail about attacks late in the war and whether they still attempted to try night surface attacks or not. it just got me wondering. Thanks. __________________ “Prejudice is blind. There will always be someone who says you aren’t welcome at the table. Stop apologizing for who you are and using all your energy trying to change their minds. Yes, you will lose friends, maybe even family. But you will gain your self-respect. You will know your worth. Once you have that, nothing can stop you.”