On my first patrol of my new career...

cawimmer430 · 11-03-09, 01:02 PM

So I started a new career with a VIIB in 1939. My home base is Kiel and on my first mission I was sent to patrol grid AM18 which is west of Ireland a short way into the Atlantic. I sunk a few small merchants on the way there with the deck gun, reach my assigned grid, patrol for 24 hours and then go hunting for more. Sadly, I was then plagued with bad weather throughout the patrol. Heavy rains and winds and zero visibility. I also didn't detect any merchants when I went down to 25 meters to listen.

So I figured I'd head home because I will probably encounter some enemy vessels off the coast of Northern England. My route home took me north of Scapa Flow. The weather was still miserable but visibility had improved thanks to no rain (oddly enough there was a light fog but you could see through it).

Suddenly, my lookouts detect a V&W Destroyer, distance about 4.5 km. I am aching for some action so I head towards it at full speed and submerge to periscope depth at about 2 km and go to low speed. The destroyer has still not spotted me and I am in perfect firing position.

Now here's the good part.

I'm viewing the destroyer through my attack periscope preparing to fire a torpedo when all of sudden I spot a convoy behind the destroyer. Holy cow! Finally I am being rewarded. But when I magnify the convoy I nearly make my pants dirty. Revenge Class Battleship and Nelson Class Battleship as well as several Fiji and Dido Cruisers and a two J-Class destroyers. There were a bunch of other warships in the convoy but I couldn't identify them.

I have to act quickly! I fire a salvo of three torpedoes at the Revenge Class Battleship and then fire my last torpedo at the destroyer near me.

The fourth torpedo sinks the V&W Destroyer in half. It sinks but its bow stands out above the water. The depth under keel is 60 meters. I immediately set up my position near the sunk vessel so that I can't be attacked from the now alerted enemy task force. A J-Class destroyers heads my way. He's close and he's not zigzagging. I'm about to fire a torpedo when he makes a course correction and ends up going behind me pinging away. No problem, I fire a fish at him from my stern torpedo and he goes down.

At this moment I also hear three explosions. Using my periscope I see that my torpedoes have stopped the Revenge battleship which is now dead in the water heavily listing to its port side. Meanwhile my three forward torpedo tubes have been reloaded. I am about 2 km away from the task force and still in perfect firing position for attacking the Nelson! My weapons officers does the calculations and I fire away a salvo of three torpedoes at the Nelson. I found it strange that none of the ships was zigzagging making them easy targets.

Two of them impact near the rear of the Nelson, one of them misses. Thankfully the Nelson is also dead in the water so my attack has most likely disabled its engines. I am still near the sunk V&W destroyer and I wait for the remaining task force to perform their search and move away. To my amazement no destroyer comes after me. At my hydrophone station I detect no pinging noises. It's like they don't care!

So after a few minutes the task force is out of visual distance leaving behind the Nelson and the Revenge class battleship. I fire my last two forward torpedoes at the Nelson. It sinks.

Then I fire another torpedo at the Revenge class battleship using my stern torpedo. It's a solid hit but the ship doesn't go down. The weather is still foggy and the waves are rough so I move out of visual range. Surface, reload the stern torpedo with my last exterior reserve torpedo. Double back and fire away at the battleship. She goes down.

Then I proceed to get the hell out of here at max speed. I made it safely back to Kiel encountering two large enemy cargo ships on the way but being unable to sink them because of a lack of torpedoes and rough weather (no use of the deck gun).

Still, it was a great first patrol!

Kriegsmarine 1 : Royal Navy 0

Dissaray · 11-03-09, 01:45 PM

Well that is a nice notch to have in your hat. When ever I am near angry war ships I useualy have to dive deep and hide just to survive. I have only ever made it out of one attack, a real nice co-ordinated 4 distroyer effort, using the mask of depth charge explosions to blast flank speed and snuck away. They ended up killing me when I got greedy and tryed to get a stern shot and was seen and couldn't get deep enuf in time to get away again.

Did the kills count for your renown or was it befor the war had started? If it was befor September 9, I think, England isn't in the war and might account for why the distroyers payed you no mind. If it was befor the war you will end up in a hole renown wise.

Zilch · 11-03-09, 02:06 PM

Two BB's in one task force? Lucky find. I've only seen two, and I "cheated" to find thses by putting myself in the right place, historically, to intercept the Rodney and King George V on their way to wreck the Bismarck. Finding two, randomly, is quite fortunate.

Rothwell white · 11-03-09, 04:06 PM

Thats what i call a good piece of luck two battleships on your first patrol

Commander Gizmo · 11-03-09, 05:57 PM

Wow! Great work! When I caught two battleships, I couldn't even scratch them despite being in a ship designed for the task. I envy your first patrol.

Weiss Pinguin · 11-03-09, 07:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cawimmer430

Two of them impact near the rear of the Nelson, one of them misses. Thankfully the Nelson is also dead in the water so my attack has most likely disabled its engines. I am still near the sunk V&W destroyer and I wait for the remaining task force to perform their search and move away. To my amazement no destroyer comes after me. At my hydrophone station I detect no pinging noises. It's like they don't care!

Had the same thing happen to me when I encountered the Warspite, and I had taken out destroyer at least 2-3 minutes earlier. The entire time I was expecting frigates and destroyers to come down on me furiously, but not a peep out of any of them, although the convoy did start to take evasive action.

Very odd, but hey, I wasn't complaining.

Brag · 11-03-09, 07:46 PM

Excellent report, Cawimer. Keep up the good work!

U-46 Commander · 11-03-09, 07:50 PM

Be More Agressive!

cawimmer430 · 11-03-09, 09:33 PM

Hi guys,

Thanks for all the replies.

I have to admit that I was really lucky. Lucky in the sense that I came across this task force and also from a very suitable attack position. At first I thought the V&W Destroyer was a loner on patrol. Only when I got nearer did I really see the "good stuff" behind him.

Also, the fact that I didn't encounter any merchants in terrible weather meant I basically had my full compliment of torpedoes. Man, this would have been really great if I had those Falke and Zaunkonig torpedoes available in 1939!

Oh, and the two sunk battleships did count for renown. I started my patrol well past September 9 so those ships were fair game. Yahoo!

Falkirion · 11-03-09, 11:53 PM

Caw I too am a part of the first patrol down a BB club. Found the Nelson in the middle of a convoy in BF16 or near about there on Sep 3rd or 4th. I'd check but I haven't got my home pc handy.

Iranon · 11-04-09, 06:51 AM

These are the moments that make the game truly rewarding

I never got anything nice in my first patrol, and I seem to have terrible luck catching capital ships in open water... but in my current career I decided to take a peek at Scapa Flow in my 2nd.

'Wow, that's big. Wait a minute... that's the Hood!'

Having the pride of the Royal Navy sunk at home 1 month into the war must have made a lot of Brits very unhappy...

cawimmer430 · 11-04-09, 08:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Falkirion

Caw I too am a part of the first patrol down a BB club. Found the Nelson in the middle of a convoy in BF16 or near about there on Sep 3rd or 4th. I'd check but I haven't got my home pc handy.

I wish you all the best of luck with sinking her. Make the score Kriegsmarine 2 : Royal Navy 0!

cawimmer430 · 11-04-09, 08:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iranon

These are the moments that make the game truly rewarding

I never got anything nice in my first patrol, and I seem to have terrible luck catching capital ships in open water... but in my current career I decided to take a peek at Scapa Flow in my 2nd.

'Wow, that's big. Wait a minute... that's the Hood!'

Having the pride of the Royal Navy sunk at home 1 month into the war must have made a lot of Brits very unhappy...

Sweet!

I guess I should try Scapa Flow in my next mission. Sneaking in is never a problem and sneaking out is also "easy" once the destroyers begin settling down and listening. The problem is that I've done this numerous times and I've only ever come across the a light cruiser. No battleships.

By the way: are passenger liners valid targets?

Kapt Z · 11-04-09, 11:30 AM

The crew of U-207 salute you!

Just bagged my first BB last patrol. Similiar situation. 500 km W of Vigo. Sound reported a single warship. When I put the scope up I found a BB TF heading right at us! A Revenge, KGV, a cruiser and 4 DDs. I managed to hit Revenge with two of four fish meant for KGV and hit somebody with a third torpedo. Expected a heavy DD response, but only one stayed behind to search for me. No depth charges. After 40 minutes or so I cautiously came up to persicope depth and saw him about 5000 m away and saw Revenge listing heavily to starboard about 8000 m at 5 kts. Didn't dare surface to pursue until the DD finally gave up and headed off at high speed. I was able to surface and shadow Revenge(overcast, light fog) and perform a end-around finally sinking her with three more torpedoes several hours later.

cawimmer430 · 11-07-09, 10:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kapt Z

The crew of U-207 salute you!

Just bagged my first BB last patrol. Similiar situation. 500 km W of Vigo. Sound reported a single warship. When I put the scope up I found a BB TF heading right at us! A Revenge, KGV, a cruiser and 4 DDs. I managed to hit Revenge with two of four fish meant for KGV and hit somebody with a third torpedo. Expected a heavy DD response, but only one stayed behind to search for me. No depth charges. After 40 minutes or so I cautiously came up to persicope depth and saw him about 5000 m away and saw Revenge listing heavily to starboard about 8000 m at 5 kts. Didn't dare surface to pursue until the DD finally gave up and headed off at high speed. I was able to surface and shadow Revenge(overcast, light fog) and perform a end-around finally sinking her with three more torpedoes several hours later.

Nice work!

I love it when the escorts "abandon" the big battleships after a few hits. It's like they've become outcasts!

11-03-09, 01:02 PM	#1
cawimmer430 Torpedoman Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 114 Downloads: 3 Uploads: 0	On my first patrol of my new career... So I started a new career with a VIIB in 1939. My home base is Kiel and on my first mission I was sent to patrol grid AM18 which is west of Ireland a short way into the Atlantic. I sunk a few small merchants on the way there with the deck gun, reach my assigned grid, patrol for 24 hours and then go hunting for more. Sadly, I was then plagued with bad weather throughout the patrol. Heavy rains and winds and zero visibility. I also didn't detect any merchants when I went down to 25 meters to listen. So I figured I'd head home because I will probably encounter some enemy vessels off the coast of Northern England. My route home took me north of Scapa Flow. The weather was still miserable but visibility had improved thanks to no rain (oddly enough there was a light fog but you could see through it). Suddenly, my lookouts detect a V&W Destroyer, distance about 4.5 km. I am aching for some action so I head towards it at full speed and submerge to periscope depth at about 2 km and go to low speed. The destroyer has still not spotted me and I am in perfect firing position. Now here's the good part. I'm viewing the destroyer through my attack periscope preparing to fire a torpedo when all of sudden I spot a convoy behind the destroyer. Holy cow! Finally I am being rewarded. But when I magnify the convoy I nearly make my pants dirty. Revenge Class Battleship and Nelson Class Battleship as well as several Fiji and Dido Cruisers and a two J-Class destroyers. There were a bunch of other warships in the convoy but I couldn't identify them. I have to act quickly! I fire a salvo of three torpedoes at the Revenge Class Battleship and then fire my last torpedo at the destroyer near me. The fourth torpedo sinks the V&W Destroyer in half. It sinks but its bow stands out above the water. The depth under keel is 60 meters. I immediately set up my position near the sunk vessel so that I can't be attacked from the now alerted enemy task force. A J-Class destroyers heads my way. He's close and he's not zigzagging. I'm about to fire a torpedo when he makes a course correction and ends up going behind me pinging away. No problem, I fire a fish at him from my stern torpedo and he goes down. At this moment I also hear three explosions. Using my periscope I see that my torpedoes have stopped the Revenge battleship which is now dead in the water heavily listing to its port side. Meanwhile my three forward torpedo tubes have been reloaded. I am about 2 km away from the task force and still in perfect firing position for attacking the Nelson! My weapons officers does the calculations and I fire away a salvo of three torpedoes at the Nelson. I found it strange that none of the ships was zigzagging making them easy targets. Two of them impact near the rear of the Nelson, one of them misses. Thankfully the Nelson is also dead in the water so my attack has most likely disabled its engines. I am still near the sunk V&W destroyer and I wait for the remaining task force to perform their search and move away. To my amazement no destroyer comes after me. At my hydrophone station I detect no pinging noises. It's like they don't care! So after a few minutes the task force is out of visual distance leaving behind the Nelson and the Revenge class battleship. I fire my last two forward torpedoes at the Nelson. It sinks. Then I fire another torpedo at the Revenge class battleship using my stern torpedo. It's a solid hit but the ship doesn't go down. The weather is still foggy and the waves are rough so I move out of visual range. Surface, reload the stern torpedo with my last exterior reserve torpedo. Double back and fire away at the battleship. She goes down. Then I proceed to get the hell out of here at max speed. I made it safely back to Kiel encountering two large enemy cargo ships on the way but being unable to sink them because of a lack of torpedoes and rough weather (no use of the deck gun). Still, it was a great first patrol! Kriegsmarine 1 : Royal Navy 0

11-03-09, 02:06 PM	#3
Zilch Torpedoman Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Florida Posts: 118 Downloads: 35 Uploads: 0	Two BB's in one task force? Lucky find. I've only seen two, and I "cheated" to find thses by putting myself in the right place, historically, to intercept the Rodney and King George V on their way to wreck the Bismarck. Finding two, randomly, is quite fortunate. __________________ Depth charges pounding your flanges loose? Hedgehogs dislodging your precious bulkheads? Use Beemans Gum! Freshens breath and doubles as an adhesive in a pinch. The gum of choice aboard U-54!

11-03-09, 07:46 PM	#7
Brag Navy Seal Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Docked on a Russian pond Posts: 7,072 Downloads: 2 Uploads: 0	Excellent report, Cawimer. Keep up the good work! __________________ Espionage, adventure, suspense, are just a click away Click here to look inside Brag's book: Amazon.com: Kingmaker: Alexey Braguine: Books Order Kingmaker here: http://www.subsim.com/store.html For Tactics visit:http://www.freewebs.com/kielman/

11-03-09, 07:50 PM	#8
U-46 Commander Lieutenant Join Date: May 2008 Location: The absolutely most exciting state!! Iowa! Posts: 251 Downloads: 53 Uploads: 0	Be More Agressive! __________________ "Loved By Few, Hated By Many, Respected By All."-The U-boats.

11-03-09, 01:45 PM	#2
Dissaray 中国水兵 Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 280 Downloads: 35 Uploads: 0	Well that is a nice notch to have in your hat. When ever I am near angry war ships I useualy have to dive deep and hide just to survive. I have only ever made it out of one attack, a real nice co-ordinated 4 distroyer effort, using the mask of depth charge explosions to blast flank speed and snuck away. They ended up killing me when I got greedy and tryed to get a stern shot and was seen and couldn't get deep enuf in time to get away again. Did the kills count for your renown or was it befor the war had started? If it was befor September 9, I think, England isn't in the war and might account for why the distroyers payed you no mind. If it was befor the war you will end up in a hole renown wise.

11-03-09, 04:06 PM	#4
Rothwell white Gunner Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Leeds (England) Posts: 91 Downloads: 75 Uploads: 0	Thats what i call a good piece of luck two battleships on your first patrol

11-03-09, 05:57 PM	#5
Commander Gizmo Watch Officer Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 339 Downloads: 76 Uploads: 4	Wow! Great work! When I caught two battleships, I couldn't even scratch them despite being in a ship designed for the task. I envy your first patrol.

11-03-09, 09:33 PM	#9
cawimmer430 Torpedoman Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 114 Downloads: 3 Uploads: 0	Hi guys, Thanks for all the replies. I have to admit that I was really lucky. Lucky in the sense that I came across this task force and also from a very suitable attack position. At first I thought the V&W Destroyer was a loner on patrol. Only when I got nearer did I really see the "good stuff" behind him. Also, the fact that I didn't encounter any merchants in terrible weather meant I basically had my full compliment of torpedoes. Man, this would have been really great if I had those Falke and Zaunkonig torpedoes available in 1939! Oh, and the two sunk battleships did count for renown. I started my patrol well past September 9 so those ships were fair game. Yahoo!

11-03-09, 11:53 PM	#10
Falkirion Ace of the Deep Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Melbourne, AUS Posts: 1,043 Downloads: 34 Uploads: 0	Caw I too am a part of the first patrol down a BB club. Found the Nelson in the middle of a convoy in BF16 or near about there on Sep 3rd or 4th. I'd check but I haven't got my home pc handy.

11-04-09, 06:51 AM	#11
Iranon Loader Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 89 Downloads: 19 Uploads: 0	These are the moments that make the game truly rewarding I never got anything nice in my first patrol, and I seem to have terrible luck catching capital ships in open water... but in my current career I decided to take a peek at Scapa Flow in my 2nd. 'Wow, that's big. Wait a minute... that's the Hood!' Having the pride of the Royal Navy sunk at home 1 month into the war must have made a lot of Brits very unhappy...

11-04-09, 11:30 AM	#14
Kapt Z Grey Wolf Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: ...somewhere in the swamps of Jersey. Posts: 909 Downloads: 157 Uploads: 0	The crew of U-207 salute you! Just bagged my first BB last patrol. Similiar situation. 500 km W of Vigo. Sound reported a single warship. When I put the scope up I found a BB TF heading right at us! A Revenge, KGV, a cruiser and 4 DDs. I managed to hit Revenge with two of four fish meant for KGV and hit somebody with a third torpedo. Expected a heavy DD response, but only one stayed behind to search for me. No depth charges. After 40 minutes or so I cautiously came up to persicope depth and saw him about 5000 m away and saw Revenge listing heavily to starboard about 8000 m at 5 kts. Didn't dare surface to pursue until the DD finally gave up and headed off at high speed. I was able to surface and shadow Revenge(overcast, light fog) and perform a end-around finally sinking her with three more torpedoes several hours later.