Why bother attacking convoys???

[Tessa]

Originally Posted by desirableroasted

Until the technology shifts (radar, etc), I like nothing better than a convoy. It's like a great pot roast: main course on Sunday and leftovers most of the rest of the week. Spotted far enough out in the Atlantic, you can pick the thing clean before it ever reaches England.

Yes, the escorts can be pesky -- or worse -- but patience, care, then depth, silence and more patience pretty much make convoy attacks a more-than-acceptable risk.

It has often occurred to me, reading posts here, that newer players wildly underestimate the patience required to make a successful convoy attack. There is little room for TC (maybe up to 16x in the beginning, and once the escorts are largely evaded) and a great need for concentration.

If you can't set aside two hours of real time to do a convoy attack, you are going to miss a lot of targets; you are also going to miss a lot of the sim's inner beauty.

There's a fine line between wild and aggressive. Long as you know the basics to evading escorts time is largely the biggest factor. Some battles may last 4-6 hours real time, you have to be prepared to reap what you sow.

The more aggresive you are the harder (generally speaking) it will be to escape the escorts. If you stumble upon a tanker convoy or a 40+ ship one with large warships it can become an all you can eat buffet. You could play it safe attacking from a distance and immediately heading away from the convoy so that when the torpedoes hit you're far enough away that the escorts have a much lower chance of locating you being 5000-7000m away. Then shadow the convoy and repeat.

One tactic I like to use (personally I'm not fond of shadowing convoys, I will if there are still major targets in there or for one reason or another they pissed me off) is the merchant shield. Can be done if attacking head on or close range (1000m ish) once the torpedoes hit you slam the engines to flank decrease depth to 25-30 meters (depends on the weather) and then get under a large tanker/merchant or any other big ship while you reload. Once ready you'll be in perfect position for a 5 target salvo and duck back under a merchant. You need to find a disabled ship, or one only moving at 1 or 2 knots and head straight at it. Once under it the escorts may circle but won't risk dropping charge to close to a merchant ship. Eventually the escorts will be forced to leave in order to join the convoy.

While being a very aggressive method (you'll always be making so much noise all the escorts will know you are there) it hinges on disabling a ship enough that doesn't sink. If you did manage to sink every target you aimed at it almost makes the situation worse. If you hadn't fired any eels yet you should have 2 stren left over that you can use to aim at merchants aft in hopes of disabling the motors or causing it to slow down enough the you can safely hide under it. OTHERWISE you are in major trouble. Now you're going to have to work on evading anywhere from 2-6 escorts after the battle. It is possible to do so but will take many hours real time to do so. Have had several times where I stopped to have dinner during my escape, longest I've personally been underwater and succeded in evading 3 or more escorts is 6 hours. It takes a lot of patience but the rewards you get once your safe make it worthwhile. You can easily get 60,000-80,000 tons this way if you're aiming was good and you didn't have many duds.

Several Kaleun's that did have 50,000+ patrols were generally awarded a RK for that feat alone (even if that didn't put them above 100,000 tons), it was like coming home with from a hunting trip with a 20 point buck or a sniper picking off someone from 1700 yards. The feat itself is so noteworthy that it deserves special recognition.