why can't I surface the boat?

[kevinlv]

After diving into deeper water,because of coming attack,I can't surface my sub,neither by manually specify shallow depth or pressing "E".result of uncontrolled diving is game over because of Sub body presure.who knows the probable cause?Thanks!

[krashkart]

You hit the nail right on the head; too deep.

I try not to go much deeper than 200-210 meters. There's not much room beyond that before the hull begins to crush. Kinda scary the first time that happened to me - I couldn't get the boat to rise even at flank. Just kept sinking and sinking and *CRUNCH*.

I wonder though, would it help if one were to blow the ballast tanks? I didn't think to try that.

[Red Heat]

My advise its to see the film "Das Boot" one more time...

[frau kaleun]

It would help to blow ballast, if you are not at the point where blowing ballast makes no difference. I think the only way to know that is to do it and see if it does make a difference.

Of course if you're sinking or diving beyond control of your LI regardless of whatever else you order him to do, um, yeah... blow the tanks for all they're worth, lol. Why wouldn't you?

I believe the proper "Das Boot" procedure in an uncontrolled dive is to order both engines back full and when that doesn't work, ANBLASEN!

[derrinurban]

If blowing ballast does not help, the other thing you might want to check is the angle of the u-boat in the water. Check the dive gauges in the control room (if you have external camera turned off) or which compartments have flooding. I found this out the hard way.

Early on in my service, after being depth charged, I had some flooding in the forward compartments and was heading to the bottom. Repair crews were working like mad, running ahead flank, blowing ballast, nothing I did seemed to stop my descent. I decided to take one last external view of my boat before I got the death screen. To my surprise the uboat was sitting at about 30 degrees, nose down, when looking from the side. There is no amount of dive plane that will correct that.

The blow ballast would probably help me if I was not driving my boat to the bottom at flank speed.

I quickly ordered back emergency and sure enough going backwards, with the stern pointing UP at 30 degrees arrested my descent. After an hour of going backwards and trying to maneuver till I hit about 30 m and then ahead standard and driving the boat toward the bottom, changing back and forth between silent running and avoiding ash cans, I managed to repair and pump out the forward sections.

I made my escape, but never forgot that hard fought lesson.

[frau kaleun]

The blow ballast would probably help me if I was not driving my boat to the bottom at flank speed.

Sorry, but I lolled. Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt and was buried in it.

[kevinlv]

bros,
What's this term mean "blow ballast"?

You mentioned a lot,but i am some how confused in your discusstion.

Obviously I have a lot to learn..

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by kevinlv

bros,
What's this term mean "blow ballast"?

You mentioned a lot,but i am some how confused in your discusstion.

Obviously I have a lot to learn..

From http://www.uboataces.com/uboat-type-work.shtml:

Unlike a surface ship, a U-boat may also adjust its buoyancy, or ability to sink or float. When the ballast tanks are empty, the U-boat displaces positive buoyancy and floats to the surface. When the ballast tanks are flooded with water, the U-boat sinks to the bottom (negative buoyancy). To surface again, compressed air is blown into the ballast tanks, displacing ballast water from the tanks.

Basically when you "blow ballast" or "blow tanks" you are blowing compressed air into the ballast tanks to force water out and increase the buoyancy of the boat, making it rise in the water.

If the boat is sinking or diving and it's impossible to level her off and maintain or decrease the depth using the hydroplanes and/or propulsion (movement forwards or backwards through the water), blowing the tanks can increase her overall bouyancy and may stop the dive or make her "floatable" enough to get her all the way to the surface.

In Silent Hunter 3 the "E" key on your keyboard is for "Emergency Surface" and will give the order to blow tanks for just that purpose. Of course whether it works or not in any given situation will depend on other factors, for instance how much damage the boat may have taken and where, how badly flooded she is, etc. You may very well order Emergency Surface and find out that you can't blow tanks, or that blowing all the ballast available is not enough to stop the dive or get you back topside.

Edit: in the game when you order the emergency surface, I believe you will hear the appropriate order to "Ausblasen." If you've seen the movie Das Boot, I think they always say "Anblasen." I know "blasen" means "to blow" and I think "ausblasen" is "blow out" (blow out the water) and "anblasen" would be "blow in" (blow in the compressed air). Either way, they're blowing air into the tanks to blow water out of the tanks and make the boat "lighter" in the water so she goes up instead of down.

Originally Posted by krashkart

You hit the nail right on the head; too deep.

I try not to go much deeper than 200-210 meters. There's not much room beyond that before the hull begins to crush. Kinda scary the first time that happened to me - I couldn't get the boat to rise even at flank. Just kept sinking and sinking and *CRUNCH*.

I dare not go that deep.
My beautiful IXB made it all the way to december 1944, to be endlessly pinged and DCed by a Hunter Killer Group (AM52). When I decided to try going from 165 to 200 meters . . .,
182 METERS was the magic number. "U-boat destroyed by pressure".

[krashkart]

Originally Posted by Snestorm

I dare not go that deep.
My beautiful IXB made it all the way to december 1944, to be endlessly pinged and DCed by a Hunter Killer Group (AM52). When I decided to try going from 165 to 200 meters . . .,
182 METERS was the magic number. "U-boat destroyed by pressure".

Holy smoke! I've made successful dives to 210m in both VIIB and IXC.

I'm still playing stock, though. Does that make a difference from mods like GWX or NYGM?

[Panser]

Originally Posted by krashkart

Holy smoke! I've made successful dives to 210m in both VIIB and IXC.

I'm still playing stock, though. Does that make a difference from mods like GWX or NYGM?

Damage can drastically reduce your maximum safe depth, which is quite likely if he was being DC'd hard enough to force him so deep. I've had a VIIB to 225m after a couple of changes of underpants, but I wouldn't ever try that again unless the choice was death anyway.

Originally Posted by krashkart

Holy smoke! I've made successful dives to 210m in both VIIB and IXC.

I'm still playing stock, though. Does that make a difference from mods like GWX or NYGM?

That was with Stock.
Hadn't taken any damage yet, but the pinging wasn't letting up.
I either drew a realy harsh "dice roll" or, finaly caught a DC.

It doesn't seem to be the norm, but 165 is the deepest I'll ever consider now.

I usualy use (Mostly IXBs):
20: Final Sound Check before coming up to PD.
50: Normal Travel
100: Normal Evasion.
120: If the ASW is good.
150: My usual Maximum.
165: Desperation.

[krashkart]

Originally Posted by Snestorm

That was with Stock.
Hadn't taken any damage yet, but the pinging wasn't letting up.
I either drew a realy harsh "dice roll" or, finaly caught a DC.

Huh. I think I'll take a few test boats out and see if there is an element of randomness. Reminds me, are you using SH3Commander? If so do you have the 'Random Crush Depth" setting ticked in the options? I'm leaving that one off until I get my sea fangs honed to a goodly semi-expert level.

Originally Posted by derrinurban

I am sure the look on my face was priceless when I had my light bulb moment.

The stream of consciousness in my mind when those light bulbs started popping...

What was that? Oh, just some light bulbs breaking. Breaking?!? Must be the pressure. PRESSURE??!!! Oh *bleep*

Very shortly after that came the water jets. Didn't take long.