My watch crew are useless in bad weather

toryu · 08-30-05, 01:10 PM

U49, VIIC
August 13th, 1940
KL J. Steiner commanding.

So I'm off the Donegal coast again. In true Irish summer style, it's been windy, raining and overcast. For days and days. It's my 9th patrol, and I've noticed a couple of odd things.

The base is now Brest. I know this for a fact, because BDU keeps radioing it out every few hours. I found the North Sea to be full of British destroyers. No commercial traffic near the coast, but plenty of dangerous enemies. I managed to sink one of them with a stern shot about 100km off Hartlepool in bad weather. I thought I missed him, but a big orange fireball erupted from his stern, and he sailed under the waves, in a slow turn to port. A patch of burning oil remained for some minutes at the spot where he was hit. The odd thing was that I didn't see a sunk ship marking on the map. I've been credited for a sunk destroyer though in my log.

I've sunk two merchants in very bad weather off Donegal. One of them was a C2, and the other was a coastal merchant. I got soundings of them a few kilometers out, and set up an attack. In the storming weather, I attacked on the surface. On both occasions, I could see the ships passing my bow in the fog, three hundred meters away, and my watch crew were struck dumb. Nobody said a word. No warnings, no sightings. I keep waiting for Schiff Gesichte! and nobody said nada. The visibilty was bad, I'll admit. The C2 was barely visible as shadows, but the Uzo locked on ok, and it took one torpedo to blow it in half. We were practically on top of it as it sank. The stern of the wreck was bobbing around right on top of us as it went under.

The coastal merchant was a similar story. I knew what to expect though, and kept watch myself. Nobody said Schiff Gesichte! until the Uzo was locked on and the torpedo was streaking away. Uh, thanks guys. You're a great help.

I think this is how the destroyers get on top of you with time compression. The watch crew sucks in bad weather. I had that happen to me also, a few trips ago. In bad weather, running with TC64. My first attack ever from a destroyer consisted of a Flower Class putting two rounds into my conning tower from 100meters away. My useless watch crew didn't spot him until we were under attack. I crashdove, and just barely got submerged while he ran over me.

So far on this trip, I'm up to about 5 merchants and one destroyer. Lots of destroyers in the North Sea, but nothing so far off Donegal. I'm in something of a sweet spot.

SmokinTep · 08-30-05, 01:37 PM

Sometimes I wonder what the hell they do up there..........

Col7777 · 08-30-05, 02:32 PM

@ toryu,

I just had a similar mission, I too spotted the ship well before the crew, it got to the stage of being clearly visible and I'm waiting for one of them to shout... but nothing.
On this occasion, I could see the ship OK but I couldn't lock on it, I fired a couple of torps in it's direction but missed, I eventually did lock on and sink it.

_alphaBeta_ · 08-30-05, 02:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SmokinTep

Sometimes I wonder what the hell they do up there..........

I'll steal this from my own post in the screenshots thread:

hakkikt · 08-30-05, 03:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by _alphaBeta_

Quote:

Originally Posted by SmokinTep

Sometimes I wonder what the hell they do up there..........

I'll steal this from my own post in the screenshots thread:

ROFL!

gordonmull · 08-30-05, 03:19 PM

To alphaBeta:
:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

08-30-05, 01:10 PM	#1
toryu Sailor man Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: NYC Posts: 47 Downloads: 1 Uploads: 0	My watch crew are useless in bad weather U49, VIIC August 13th, 1940 KL J. Steiner commanding. So I'm off the Donegal coast again. In true Irish summer style, it's been windy, raining and overcast. For days and days. It's my 9th patrol, and I've noticed a couple of odd things. The base is now Brest. I know this for a fact, because BDU keeps radioing it out every few hours. I found the North Sea to be full of British destroyers. No commercial traffic near the coast, but plenty of dangerous enemies. I managed to sink one of them with a stern shot about 100km off Hartlepool in bad weather. I thought I missed him, but a big orange fireball erupted from his stern, and he sailed under the waves, in a slow turn to port. A patch of burning oil remained for some minutes at the spot where he was hit. The odd thing was that I didn't see a sunk ship marking on the map. I've been credited for a sunk destroyer though in my log. I've sunk two merchants in very bad weather off Donegal. One of them was a C2, and the other was a coastal merchant. I got soundings of them a few kilometers out, and set up an attack. In the storming weather, I attacked on the surface. On both occasions, I could see the ships passing my bow in the fog, three hundred meters away, and my watch crew were struck dumb. Nobody said a word. No warnings, no sightings. I keep waiting for Schiff Gesichte! and nobody said nada. The visibilty was bad, I'll admit. The C2 was barely visible as shadows, but the Uzo locked on ok, and it took one torpedo to blow it in half. We were practically on top of it as it sank. The stern of the wreck was bobbing around right on top of us as it went under. The coastal merchant was a similar story. I knew what to expect though, and kept watch myself. Nobody said Schiff Gesichte! until the Uzo was locked on and the torpedo was streaking away. Uh, thanks guys. You're a great help. I think this is how the destroyers get on top of you with time compression. The watch crew sucks in bad weather. I had that happen to me also, a few trips ago. In bad weather, running with TC64. My first attack ever from a destroyer consisted of a Flower Class putting two rounds into my conning tower from 100meters away. My useless watch crew didn't spot him until we were under attack. I crashdove, and just barely got submerged while he ran over me. So far on this trip, I'm up to about 5 merchants and one destroyer. Lots of destroyers in the North Sea, but nothing so far off Donegal. I'm in something of a sweet spot. __________________ Pain against unfair odds

08-30-05, 02:32 PM	#3
Col7777 Grey Wolf Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Manchester UK Posts: 944 Downloads: 260 Uploads: 0	@ toryu, I just had a similar mission, I too spotted the ship well before the crew, it got to the stage of being clearly visible and I'm waiting for one of them to shout... but nothing. On this occasion, I could see the ship OK but I couldn't lock on it, I fired a couple of torps in it's direction but missed, I eventually did lock on and sink it. __________________ Silent and Violent

08-30-05, 01:37 PM	#2
SmokinTep Ace of the Deep Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Suffolk, Virginia Posts: 1,027 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	Sometimes I wonder what the hell they do up there..........

08-30-05, 03:19 PM	#6
gordonmull Lieutenant Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Scotland Posts: 269 Downloads: 20 Uploads: 0	To alphaBeta: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: