Troop Transports

[H2OsKT]

This is just a note to anyone who is relatively new to this game. Be very afraid of Troop Transports. Last night, I was conducting my 10th patrol off the west coast of Ireland and stumbled onto a large Convoy with a Passanger Liner, two Troop Transports, two or three T3 and T2 Tankers, five or six C2 Cargo ships and a handful of other assorted merchant ships. It is around September 1940 and this convoy was lightly guarded by two V&W Destroyers along with a Tribal Destroyer Escort. I was excited and am sailing in a VIIB with a well seasoned crew, running around 80% realism. (I still let the computer calc my torps.)

I decided that I would run ahead of the convoy, catch the escorts at daybreak and then surface and have a close range target practice with the handy deck gun and flak. I settled in and took out the lead V&W Destroyer with no problem as he was running in a straight line. The left flank V&W steamed right to the spot where I was (I used a gas torp), so I dove to 25 meters and repositioned myself. I noted that the boat was making some kind of a circular search and was pinging me. Back to parascope depth and I lucked out. He was steaming towards me at an angle at about 600 meters. I launched two torps in a spread and nailed him. At this point I was feeling good and noticed the Passenger Liner was floating into my range for the aft torpedo. I took a shot and dove again as the Tribal was now on my higny. One thing I did notice is that all of the ships were traveling in random paterns and blocking one another before I went back down.

I again manuvered around into the middle of the swarm of merchants and rose to parascope depth. I lucked out again. The torp hit the Passenger Liner and the Tribal ended up perpendicular to this ship. I realigned and basted the Destroyer with one torpedo. At this point I was confident that there were no more "warships" on the surface. I ordered my crew to reload all tubes, return to normal running and surface the boat for a little fun. As soon as I hit the surface I was getting blasted as if a Destroyer was right next to me. I conducted an emergency dive and assessed the damage. Every single compartment suffered some form of damage. I set crews to repair and sailed at parascope depth to the flank of the convoy. When I was about three meters out, I resurfaced, only to get blasted again! Back down and off a little further I went. Then I tailed around on the surface and made it to the front of the convoy.

The Troop Transports are heavily armed and will destroy your boat in a heartbeat. They should be handled just like a warship rather than a merchant. By the time the convoy caught up with my, all my tubes were reloaded and all damage had been repaired. I sat submerged and waited for the transports. One took two of three fish and sank, the other had one hit (my aft torp.) I again sleeked out of the convoy underwater and repositioned at the front of the convoy. Fired two more at the remaining transport and destroyed her.

At this point it was three am and I needed some sleep. I had only two torps left (the external reserves). I surfaced to see what would happen and none of the other merchants attacked me, they just ran scared all over the place. I saved at this point and plan on having a little turkey shoot with my deck gun tonight!

I look forward to tonight, but I think you all should be aware that the Troop Transport is not as docile as you may think!

[scrapser]

Take out the Troop Ships with a single keel shot aimed halfway between the stern and the main deck structure (cabin or whatever you want to call it). The ship will wallow and sink by the stern usually in less than 5 minutes. If the torpedo hits too close to the midpoint, the ship will go dead and sit low in the water but not sink. If this happens, make your distance around 3500 meters and you can finish off the troop ship with the deck gun and be reasonably safe from return fire. Only when the seas are rough will a shot to the midpoint blow up a troop ship (at least this has been my experience).

scrapser

[SubChief]

I never attack escorts unless there is no other option, since my primary objective is to sink merchants. When approaching ahead of a convoy i often find myself in a perfect position to attack the escort in front of the convoy, but i usually ignore it.

Any other commanders out there who follows Der Führers orders, or do you attack any warship as soon as you get a chance?

Didnt know all troop ships were armed btw, not been able to attack one yet...thanks for that info.

[VegaBond]

Yep troop ships are armed, I also had the mistake as well, and depending on the waters, waste the torps on Escorts and deck guns on remaining merchants

[Saturn5]

H2OsKT:

From mid 1941 most of the merchants will be armed with guns. So you will not only be shot at from Troop Transports but from smal merchats or coastal merchants as well.

[H2OsKT]

Thanks for the info Saturn5. FYI, I ended up destroying the whole convoy and had 5 AP and 9 HE munitions left. My total haul was twenty ships and I think it was around 180 tons.

I have never made it to 1941 in the game, so I realize that I am going to need to modify my aproach to plucking these little merchants off. None the less, this last patrol was my most successful even though I never made it to my assigned patrol destination as I had nothing left to fire with and I wanted to reload and get back out for another possible turkey shoot.

If in fact all the merchants get deck guns, then from here on out I can see why the XXI boat would be useful as you have more torps and can remain submerged for all of your attacks.

I still don't see why you would not want to take out the armed escorts on a convoy to make it a little easier to wipe out the whole bunch without being harrassed.

Another question for all: Which engine upgrade should you go with, the turbo charger (exhaust driven) or supercharger? Any sugestions and comments are most welcome. :hmm:

[fargel]

Originally Posted by H2OsKT

Thanks for the info Saturn5. FYI, I ended up destroying the whole convoy and had 5 AP and 9 HE munitions left. My total haul was twenty ships and I think it was around 180 tons.

Those must have been some very "heavy" ships :rotfl:

[bookworm_020]

Go for the supercharger upgrade. You can go for the escorts in the early years but as time goes on you will want to save them for bigger targets.
I'm in 1943, and still use my deck gun when the oppertunity arises, but it's fire torp's most of the time (except when I'm sinking England's fishing fleet!)

Missing you kippers, Churchill?, Try some steel eel instead!

[Trav_R]

Originally Posted by bookworm_020

Go for the supercharger upgrade.

Why does the turbocharger cost so much more renown and come out later if the supercharger is better?

I still don't see why you would not want to take out the armed escorts on a convoy to make it a little easier to wipe out the whole bunch without being harrassed.

Because it's unrealistic. If a real sub decided (and actually managed) to take out all the escorts of a real convoy, the convoy would probably not stay all bunched up for you to pick off. They'd more than likely head in all different directions to maximise their chances of surviving.

Everyone has a different idea of what a good realism balance is, and those who prefer a more real game would really dislike this method.

I attack the destroyers if I have a deck gun and there's not more than 4-5 ships can "adequately" return fire in the convoy. The deck gun is very fun, and I usually can sink them pesky C2s with it. Then once I'm out of ammo, I let the eels out and have some fun

[VegaBond]

I love shooting at tug and fishing boats

[Von Scheerbach]

I usually ignore the escorts as well, unless there is only one. Then I'll take it out and work on the rest of the convoy afterwards...of course, you only see convoys with 1 escort in 1939....

The only other time I will take out destroyers is if I am down to 1 or 2 torps and on my way back to base. Then I'll shoot at them just so I don't take any eels home with me!

[Kalach]

I avoid escorts that are with convoys, but will sink lone warships I find at sea. Making it a safer place for my fellow u-boat captains