What is a "neutral convoy"?

[RoaldLarsen]

What exactly is a "neutral convoy"?

It is March 4, 1941, and I'm in BE33, SW of Ireland. I am about to head home, since I've used up all but one of my torpedoes, and most of my deck gun ammunition and am getting low on fuel, when I get a contact report of a "neutral large convoy" a couple of grid squares away. I have seen such contacts before but ignored them. What's the point in wasting time on neutrals? This time, I decide to go have a look. Maybe I'll see an American escort ship for the first time.

I intercept the convoy and find 17 merchants escorted by a lone Royal Navy corvette, which fires on me when I get under 1km away. I sink the corvette, then start checking flags on ships in the convoy.

Only two neutrals. All the rest are British, Canadian or Greek. One of the neutrals is an American C2 or C3 with a load of British warplanes. It is positioned at the front of the centre column. It has a deck gun, but doesn't shoot at me, so I leave it alone. At the back of the centre column is a British C2 with a deck gun which does shoot at me, so I disable the gun and sink the ship with gunfire.

Now I have 14 targets but only one fish and about 70 rounds of 88mm ammunition. I manage to sink a T2, a small tanker, another C2 and a small merchant. I return to base having completed my first patrol in a VIIC with a tally of 70,000 tons sunk, 15 merchants and a corvette. I got full reknown credit for all the ships sunk from the "neutral" convoy.

It seems "neutral convoy" doesn't mean what I had thought. The escort is not neutral. It shoots at me. Most of the ships are not neutral. The only thing that seems neutral is the ship in the commodore's spot: front row centre. (And it was carrying war supplies!).

I have no idea whether the weak escort was a function of the convoy being "neutral" or just the luck of the draw. (I once encountered a large convoy in 1940 that had no escort at all.)

Does anybody else have any information about "neutral convoys"?

[danlisa]

I can't say for certain but this is my understanding.

A convoy will be designated as Neutral, Enemy or Friendly when the majority of ships in that convoy are Neutral, Enemy or Friendly.

Now, I don't know the dates off by heart but is it possible that when your patrol started that the majority of the ships in the convoy you encountered started as Neutral but as time passed in your patrol they became Enemy?

IIRC SH3 will set the parameters for each vessel/convoy when the patrol is first loaded, I'm not even sure that if you reloaded from a save point in the same patrol that it would be corrected.

I think this might just be a quirk of the SH3 Engine.

[Jimbuna]

SINK EM ALL!!

[danurve]

Originally Posted by jimbuna

SINK EM ALL!!

NO MERCY for Neutral ships being escorted.
I say make the cfg edit and Blast their jazz to the bloody Deep!

[melnibonian]

If I'm not mistaken the nationality is determined by that of the leading ship. If the first ship in the convoy is Neutral then the whole convoy is designated as neutral. In my opinion follow Jim's advice and SINK THEM ALL

[Penelope_Grey]

I intercept neutral convoys as they are not ALL neutral.

[RoaldLarsen]

Originally Posted by danlisa

...
A convoy will be designated as Neutral, Enemy or Friendly when the majority of ships in that convoy are Neutral, Enemy or Friendly.

Now, I don't know the dates off by heart but is it possible that when your patrol started that the majority of the ships in the convoy you encountered started as Neutral but as time passed in your patrol they became Enemy? ...

Nope. that can't be it. A majority of the ships in the convoy were British. Most of the rest were Canadian. The convoy would have had to have left port more than 18 months earlier for the majority to have been neutral at time of embarcation.

[Telgriff]

Originally Posted by RoaldLarsen

What exactly is a "neutral convoy"?

Target practice.

[P_Funk]

There is no such thing as a neutral convoy. It was publicly aware that any darkened ships sailing in convoy were legitimate targets. Plain and simple. How this affects GWX is different. But in reality neutrals couldn't expect fair treatment if they are sailing in an allied convoy.

[Crazy Ian]

Originally Posted by P_Funk

There is no such thing as a neutral convoy. It was publicly aware that any darkened ships sailing in convoy were legitimate targets. Plain and simple. How this affects GWX is different. But in reality neutrals couldn't expect fair treatment if they are sailing in an allied convoy.

*Nods sagely while cradling a brandy*

Fair point.. I mean it's the equivelent of standing in the middle of a mob of football hooligans and then wondering why you were also arrested.

Not that I'd know anything about that....

[P_Funk]

Originally Posted by Crazy Ian

*Nods sagely while cradling a brandy*

Fair point.. I mean it's the equivelent of standing in the middle of a mob of football hooligans and then wondering why you were also arrested.

Not that I'd know anything about that....

Why wouldn't you?

Ever hear the song "Riot Van" by The Arctic Monkeys? I've got friends like that. I try and see them only when I need a bit of exitement.

[Crazy Ian]

Originally Posted by P_Funk

Ever hear the song "Riot Van" by The Arctic Monkeys? I've got friends like that. I try and see them only when I need a bit of exitement.

It's all fun and games till someone gets hurt....

Or they need someone to bail 'em out