The Tale of Two Trawlers

[Snow White Sorrow]

Once upon a time my Type VII was returning to her home port after a fruitless Atlantic sortie. She had many torpedoes left and decided to take a foray up to the British Isles, somehow evading all British patrols and sunk two tankers with long range torpedoes into a busy port.

Sneaking out I was intercepted by a squadron of PT boats which sped past without seeing me, then just when gaining the safety of open waters in less than calm seas I was chanced upon by an armed trawler that somehow appeared less than 4000 metres away and started firing.

While I could have crash dived and snuck away from the slow ASW ship this time I decided that the U-boat's tiny frontal profile in low trim and the heaving seas gave me an advantage over the makeshift warship and I was right; tracer fire from MGs and shells from their single bow cannon arced harmlessly overhead as the sub eased into the swells, partially submerged.

Unfortunately, the moderate seas made my deck gun useless as well and a savage exchange of MG fire ensued. At this time the range had closed to literally spitting distance and just when the enemy 3 inch gun was about to blow me out of the water as I passed the bow of the trawler, a lucky burst of 20mm C36 fire impacted upon the 3" barbette, destroying it. Circling back around like Russel Crowe's HMS Surprise, withering fire from my 20mm AA gun defeated both enemy MG emplacements in turn without any damage to ownship. At that point it was just a matter of raising the boat to surface trim and a few shots into the declawed trawler did the rest.

Slipping out of English coastal waters I proceeded to hunt some coastal shipping off the coast of soon to be defeated France and chanced upon another ASW trawler in calmer seas.

I was observing this again quaint and jury rigged so-called warship and suddenly AA and 3 inch gunfire erupted from the French ASW craft at what seemed to be over 7,000 metres. I was not amused at all as I gave the order for ahead flank, accelerating to over 15 kts zigging left and zagging right yet the French long range gunnery unerringly straddled my uboat with every salvo.

Before I could comment on the impossible accuracy of the French gunners, a critical hit ended my career instantly.

[ryanglavin]

Snow, your boat is faster than the trawlers by a good 5 Kts at maximum speed, I think.
Just go ahead flank in the opposite direction

But an entralling read

[krashkart]

Nice read. Bummer about the whooping the French gave you, though.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Snow White Sorrow

While I could have crash dived and snuck away from the slow ASW ship this time I decided that the U-boat's tiny frontal profile in low trim and the heaving seas gave me an advantage over the makeshift warship and I was right; tracer fire from MGs and shells from their single bow cannon arced harmlessly overhead as the sub eased into the swells, partially submerged.

And that was your big mistake. When I play I try to think like it's really my life on the line. What would I do if it were real? My answer - never, never, NEVER duke it out with anything that has a gun. Their ships were designed to float; mine was designed to sink. Any extra holes in my boat are ones I don't need.

[Jimbuna]

Like Steve has explained...be very wary of anything that can fire back.

Ingame you get a second chance but in RL you didn't.

[sergei]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

Their ships were designed to float; mine was designed to sink. Any extra holes in my boat are ones I don't need.

That sums it up right nice

[Snow White Sorrow]

Pfft, the point of a simulation is for me to employ a million and one stupid tactics and see how things worked in various tactical situations.

In those days many skippers resorted to acts of desperation time and time again, or took what we call unnecessary and/or stupid risks with varying results.

Silly things like daylight surface attacks are possible in GWX, and were attempted in history (perhaps foolhardy or ineffective, but if the skipper managed to get home a few good blows on the enemy, who cared?).

Perhaps you'd like to maintain a perfect record, sinking a million tonnes of shipping over 5 years with no crew losses.

Well then, go ahead with that rationale of German technical effectiveness, and don't ruin my fun. I may be a fair-complexioned, dainty thing but I've playing naval and flight sims before I learned math at school. Needless to say, if it were a serious AAR, it would be titled differently, and presented in a vastly different writing style.

So don't presume to tell me that I can't, like all normal human beings do, experiment and seek to share experiences for others' (and your) entertainment.

That's my game, my sub and I do what I want with them.