Daring Surface Attack

[Penelope_Grey]

I found a convoy while skulking about in AM39, which as you know is inside the British frontier and of course shallow waters. Found the convoy over the deepest part thankfull which was about 190m from the surface to the bottom.

I was going towards the convoy they were coming towards me. So it being pitch dark with a slightly overcast, I put the boat low in the water and sneaked in past the armed trawlers. This next part is absolutely beautiful.

After the escorts were behind me and scanning the convoy I found they were all tiddler ships, at the back in the row nearest me, what do I see? A large cargo... ok thinks I. In front of it are a passenger/cargo and in front of that, a small merchant.

So I brought the boat back up to standard surface trim and then crept at ahead slow, into firing position, fired off tube 1 and the small merchant a T1, speed slow. Fired off tube 2 at the Passenger/Cargo following right behind it. Both torpedoes impacted at the same time it was literally Just boom, but louder!

So now, Its up to ahead flank... got the Large Cargo in my sights. opens tubes 3 and 4, off I goes... lines up, closes at flank to 800m ready to fire, I have no been spotted, searchlights are on me, torpedo away, torpedo away... ALARRMMMMM!!!!

Now this was un real, the gunners on those two armed trawlers must have been blind, how they missed me was phenomenal but a relief. I usually just go straight down to 80m, down I goes, silent speed...

3 kills in the shallows... would you believe I got away without being depthcharged once!?

The cheif wasn't clinging on for dear life, and I wasn't getting jittery with ahead flank every time and Armed Trawler went over the top of me. I escaped... wow.

It was so Das Boot like my attack, (yep I seen DB now) and I carreid out a surface attack on a fairly well escorted convoy and got away unscathed!

Of course I reported in the convoy too, like I normally do. So that was all good.

[KeptinCranky]

Congrats! well done
now hope you get a well-deserved medal when you get back to base

[GoldenRivet]

no offense penelope - but i could listen to a woman talk like that all day. :rotfl:

[bigboywooly]

Nice one
Me no like shallow water
Tooooooo many sunk uboats and bad memories

[Kpt. Lehmann]

It is also good to see it re-confirmed that night surface attacks are quite feasible in GWX. Some feel that such things are impossible in GWX... yet over the last couple of days I've read four accounts detailing successes using this M.O.

At any rate Ms. Gray, nice intense account there!

[_Seth_]

Excellent work, Frau Kaleun!!!

[ReM]

Originally Posted by Kpt. Lehmann

It is also good to see it re-confirmed that night surface attacks are quite feasible in GWX. Some feel that such things are impossible in GWX... yet over the last couple of days I've read four accounts detailing successes using this M.O.

I too thought that it was next to impossible in GWX; which is too bad because night time surface attacks were standard practice during at least some part of the war. It should be posssible, especially in '39-'42.
After reading the stories here it appears that my attacks failed because of poor judgment or just plain bad luck.

Can't wait to fire up SH III after I get home from work and let KaLeun Eisenschwein conduct a nice and smooth surface attack in the dark.!

And last but not least: well done, Penelope Grey!

[Penelope_Grey]

Originally Posted by Kpt. Lehmann

It is also good to see it re-confirmed that night surface attacks are quite feasible in GWX. Some feel that such things are impossible in GWX... yet over the last couple of days I've read four accounts detailing successes using this M.O.

At any rate Ms. Gray, nice intense account there!

Thanks Kap,

Believe it guys, if I could do it, anybody can! The trick is to not go too fast until you are lined up and ready to attack. Then you can floor it... "buckle up kids - mammy's putting the hammer down!"

I also made use of putting the boat low in the water just to sneak past the escorts then I came back to surface trim for optimal speed and turning, and also I attacked the back of the convoy too, and I also used silent running while surfaced, just in case.

In short, don't rush it. There are many advantages of surface attacks, for one thing, the speed and agility afforded, second, you are immune to both asdic and hydrophones, and lastly, its very Das Booty.

Thanks for all the thumbs up, Ive come a long way from what I was before! This convoy attack was cigar worthy let me tell you!

[Penelope_Grey]

Surface attack. If others have stuff to add or correct I hope you do as I am new to this really.

Firstly, darkness is a must. Preferrably with some overcast clouds and light fog. You want to see them but them not seeing you. But you can surface attack on clear nights, but its quite dangerous. The best attack conditions for surface attack are calm to moderate seas, partial cloud cover, and of course a bit of light fog.

Secondly, attack the convoy just as you would attack a lone surface ship at a 90 degree angle, preferably slightly ahead of the convoy.

Thridly, don't rush, and have silent running engaged on the surface so your watch crew don't yell out "ship spotted" (not sure if this makes a diff, but its realisitc!) Also you may have to come to a complete stop, if this is the case, do it. Hit your engines in reverse and bring the boat to a halt. Sometimes its better to keep still and this hard to see and let the target come to you, than rush about trying to get it in your sights, that is a good way to get caught.

Fourthly, keep your speed as low as possible, where possible try not to go quicker than 10 knots. Also, try not to be side on to ANY ship as if you are pointing your bow or stern at them, you are harder to see. Do not run side on to the convoy at close range.

Fifth, wait to see what is there to attack. Don't just bomb in. Find your targets, check your TDC (if not on manual targeting) to see what the torpedo hit is likely to be. And try to work out how best to shoot, as in... to make sure all torpedoes hit at about the same time. If one goes off too soon, the convoy starts zig zag procedure and the others could miss. So try to get them as sychronised as possible.

Sixth, if needbe, to finish the attack and empty your tubes, run to ahead flank and to get into position and do a 'fast attack run' safety permitting. If not, dive.

Seventh, don't be too fussy with everything being perfect, as said before and other threads, no such thing as a perfect attack.

Some tips:
Use silent running on the surface to stop your crew shouting. (Helps immersion)
Low speed when getting into firing position.
Flank speed when you are detected as you need to move quick.
Have your tube doors open ready before you start shooting.
Have your torpedo depth settings and speed and pistol type set ready for each thing you decide to attack.
Be prepared for it to result in a royal balls up.

and most important. Don't try this when the allies have got radar.

[MarkShot]

I say wait until dark and very real nasty storm. You'll have some viz and sound contacts while surfaced. There will be 50 ships about.

4-5 of these are escorts, but you can easily ID them by sound and simply avoid them at surface running speeds. Remember they cannot hear or see you. That leaves 45 merchants and yourself groping around blind in the dark, but you're the one with torpedoes! You'll know what to do.

One thing to be careful with following your sucessful AOB 90 shot at 700-500M, remember to come hard over on the rudder so that you don't ram your target! You lose a lot of crew respect when you crash into things that you were suppose to be sinking.