Can you get everyone below deck when under aircraft attack?-without decks awash

[Paul Riley]

Earlier in my patrol tonight I entered AL24,just south of Iceland.It was daylight and had been quiet from air attacks for a long while.I came to within about 600km of the Icelandic coast when a group of 3 P38 fighter bombers came in on my port side and began a VERY FAST attack run.My first encounter with these aircraft also.I was caught off guard and couldnt get the men to the guns quick enough so I ordered flank and began to wildly zig zag,causing the first run of bombs to miss with quite a large margin actually,probably also due to their very fast approach,they overthrew.
This naturally came as quite a shock,and forced me to change my tactics,by submerging all through the day when operating at this range from Iceland,surfacing to recharge only at night,which I have to say is still protecting us from aircraft...for now.
My question is this,is it possible (via a mod for example) to get your men off the deck without going decks awash or submerging?,in order to retain all your speed if caught off guard,or unable to man the guns in rough weather.I really dont want to lose any of my men to MG fire because I couldnt get them below quick enough,which actually happened on my last patrol,I lost 2 men trying to fight back after being totally surprised.

Thanks!

[BulSoldier]

I dont know what mods do you play or vanila but it is always better to crash dive or man the guns instead of just keep going.Even the MG can do damage to your boat and needles to say if it was possible (i think it isnt) to leave noone on bridge you will have no idea when, and from what direction the next attack is coming.

[Jimbuna]

In a word....NO

[Paul Riley]

Bulsoldier,

I use just a few graphical and sound mods,together with the latest commander pack/with patrol editor.
I wouldnt just keep on going,that would be suicide,I would only try and outrun the first attack at high speed,in conditions that have me totally surprised and unable to crash dive in time,or unable to man the guns such as in rough sea.
The watch would have given me the initial warning where they are coming from,then I could have sent them below deck with just me up there (cowering behind the conning tower rim,hoping of course 'I' dont get hit),to watch the planes make their run while we are at top speed,THEN dive before they turn to make their second run.
This of course is just fantasy,nothing more,no harm in asking

Jim,

Thanks for the no nonesense reply,least that wraps this up in one go

[Pisces]

Afaik the last one closes the hatch as the uboat is about to be submerged. Dive as you see fit (crash or manual depth input, and iirc high speed helped very little) and it should all go automatic. The only thing you need to do is order to man the flakgun if he isn't allready to let them know you're still an armed sitting duck. But you know they could get hurt. Oh wel, life is tough in a war. Dive asap.

[PappyCain]

Couple of comments:

Not sure why you do not have sufficient radar or watch warning - either way just crash dive and the men are off the sail in a nano second.

Are you caught when transiting in TC? if so never go above 128. You will have plenty of time to crash dive.

You may lose speed zigging about - I prefer to go hard starboard when the aircraft commit but not before. I get both screws turning and get off battery charge when warned about incoming.

My gunners are the best, very experienced - but when I have more than 3 aircraft I crash dive and at 30m I go hard to starboard u/w. It works through every year. When they toss ahead of you in '44 you are already out of the path.

I also always level off at 50m. I never go deeper.

Hope this helps a tat.

And yes, they will locate you at night so be prepared ... there is a air coverage map which will show you progressive overlapping coverage though the war years. At some point you will always be a potential target of day and night attacks and they will get brutal.