USN Convoy Attacks

[Reinhard Dietz]

So I'm puttering around and have found a convoy of troopships. SUBPAC wants them destroyed. Being an old Kriegsmarine hand, I figure there's one way to destroy an early war (17 DEC 1941) convoy, and that's a nighttime surface attack.* The problem here is that it's 0830.

I'm sorely tempted to stalk this convoy---currently anchored or something like it---until nightfall and then race in at flank speed on the surface, but certain things seen in the convoy's guard suggests that would be a short-lived attack. Right now, I'm trending towards a nighttime submerged effort. So, all you fleet boat fanatics: What's the USN manual say?

*Through the magic of the hydrophones and the periscope, I've got a pile of escorts, including a couple of light cruisers.

[Diopos]

The USN says: We pay you to DIVE!




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[razark]

Proper pre-war/early war doctrine would be for you to dive deep, and conduct an attack by hydrophone. Do not risk your boat. Do not risk your crew. Do not get detected.

But if you want to throw out the book and sink ships, I'd suggest a submerged daytime attack. Do what you must to get in, sink the targets, and get out to do it again.

[Reinhard Dietz]

Originally Posted by razark

Proper pre-war/early war doctrine would be for you to dive deep, and conduct an attack by hydrophone. Do not risk your boat. Do not risk your crew. Do not get detected.

You're serious, aren't you? I thought I had seen others make reference to this, but I kind of wrote it off as a joke. A bearing-only attack using unguided torpedoes seems like a waste of time---perhaps if I had ADCAPs (and that's the only kind of attack I can manage with modern boats, since I can't do TMA to save my life) it'd make sense.

But if you want to throw out the book and sink ships, I'd suggest a submerged daytime attack. Do what you must to get in, sink the targets, and get out to do it again.

I'm probably going to give that a shot. With a totally green crew, my brilliant idea of a surfaced nighttime attack is probably suicide against a group of cruisers. On the other hand, the passive-only attack seems like it would be fun, if pointless.

[Armistead]

Depends on conditions and how brave you are. Once you get use to how the game works, you'll learn to get way ahead of it's track, dive and wait and shoot as close as you can. Try to put yourself between the escorts and keep a narrow profile. If you're playing stock, this is a easy attack, using TMO, much tougher. The most important thing in not being heard while submerged is rough seas, that with silent running you can get by with murder.

If your unsure or water is calm, shoot spreads from longer range, 3000 yards or so.

[Reinhard Dietz]

Originally Posted by Armistead

If your unsure or water is calm, shoot spreads from longer range, 3000 yards or so.

The water's almost as smooth as glass and the conditions are essentially CAVU. I'll probably try the 3,000 yards attack; might be safer since the Sargo boats aren't the deepest-diving in the world.

[razark]

Originally Posted by Reinhard Dietz

You're serious, aren't you? I thought I had seen others make reference to this, but I kind of wrote it off as a joke.

Yup. I'm serious. In pre-war exercises, a commander who managed to get his periscope seen by the "enemy" stood a very high chance of being relieved of command. The submarine was thought of as a scouting unit for the fleet. As most of the US fleet was still sitting in Pearl Harbor, the submarine force took up the slack. The early skippers showed very little success, and were soon replaced by younger, more aggressive officers. These younger officers also had the advantage of having been on actual war patrols under the pre-war skippers. They knew what would work, and what wouldn't.