Bad Weather Convoys

[Nerazzurri]

Because I've just came back to the game after a while I want to know what you guys would do in this situation.

1939, 15m/s winds and rain and the associated waves and low visibility; convoy's approaching Britain, just off Ireland, slow moving, with what appears to be just one escort.

If it was open ocean I'd like to shadow the convoy. But with not far for it to reach it's destination there's not really any point, i don't think. And the chances of getting off a successful shot are very small, I think.

Would you's leave it alone, and if not, what would you do??

[BulSoldier]

I am actually quite unlucky in my current patrol. It is late january '40 and it is just neverending massive rainstorm. IN day i have some visibility but at night iut is so dark that the watch crew noticed large convoy at 400meters (i was actually within the convoy and they were traveling opposite to my course). I dived and creeped away.It was plane luck not to ram a ship.

It was poitless trying an attack since even at 400meters from the closest target i couldnt see it.My best advice is whenever the weather is making your calculations hard you better just leave the convoy until there are more favorable conditions.
It is just not worth the risk shooting torps in such a hard conditions.There is always the next convoy, but when you are on patrol you cant just find torps floating around to rearm if you keep wasting your aals at hard targets.

[sharkbit]

Are you sure about the one escort? And by low visibility, I assume you mean the weather report reads no visibility(<1000m)?
If it is 0 visibility(<1000m) I'd be tempted to try a surface attack and run like a madman through the convoy taking snap shots with gun and/or torpedoes when a target presents itself and pray that there isn't a Southampton Class cruiser in the middle of the convoy that sights you when you emerge from the mist.

Lightly escorted convoys are just too hard to pass up, even in crappy weather.

[mr chris]

Originally Posted by sharkbit

I'd be tempted to try a surface attack and run like a madman through the convoy taking snap shots with gun and/or torpedoes when a target presents itself and pray that there isn't a Southampton Class cruiser in the middle of the convoy that sights you when you emerge from the mist.

Well it is funny you should bring up a Southampton Class cruiser.
As in my last patrol mid 1940 400km east of Ireland. I blundered into the middle of a convoy in heavy fog. I only noticed i was in the middle of one when decided to take some air on the bridge. I was presented to my horror, a Large cruiser popping out of the fog right in front of my boat. No more than 400m away.
I hit cash dive so hard i thought i had broken the keyboard.
I managed to avoid being seen. I have no idea how the cruisers lookouts must have been sleeping on duty.
I set course to slowly slink away.
Then went up stairs to change my underwear.

[Packerton]

I saw Shadow it, or simply pick some targets in the center (usually the biggest ones) and use your hydrophones to hit that one.

[Jimbuna]

BE MORE AGGRESSIVE!!...SINK EM ALL!!

[Nerazzurri]

BulSoldier, I think I agree with you mate - better to leave it alone.

Sharkbit, I'm not sure about the one escort - about 80% certain. The visibility is about 400 metres. So even if I do go in on the surface I might just end up fizzing torps everywhere as I wouldn't have enough time to actually target anything. And with waves this size I just don't know how to approach the pistol settings anyway - ships bobbing around like corks.

Jimbuna, I might be more aggressive - tomorrow

[sharkbit]

I posted a similar question about attacking a convoy in piss poor weather a while ago and the funniest replies in the thread was:

"Think of all the other Kaleuns back in port, s******ing at you behind your back.

"Oh, look, it's Kaleun Loser..."
"The one who only hunts in good weather!"
"Perhaps he should ask for a transfer...to the carribbean?"
"As if the rest of us don't have the same problems..."
"Did you hear, Churchill sailed an entire armada to Gibraltar but 'Herr Kaleun' here couldn't see it well enough to take a shot?"
[imitates] "Ah well, never mind about the boys in the luftwaffe who'll take the sharp end of all those bullets... another convoy'll be along shortly."

Give it a shot. Sure you'll miss a few, but that's life (and North Atlantic weather) for ya! Better shoot off your eels, miss and blame the weather than make an example of giving up in front of your crew. "

I had to LOL

[Paul Riley]

If low vis is really bad there isnt much point in trying to get ahead of the convoy and intercepting it by the book,your best bet would be to race into the convoy itself at night on the surface (ideally with decks awash,7-8m),preferably from the rear keeping your bow towards them as much as possible to lower your silhouette,and fiercely attack from within,as you will be at close range and able to properly steer the UBoat towards your chosen target/s.Still,a very risky affair.

You are fortunate its only 1939,the escorts will be minimal and poorly experienced at this point,wait until you hit late 1942,and radar is your greatest enemy,not the weather.

If in doubt,leave it

[Nerazzurri]

Sharkbit, very good. The comment about the crew makes sense, in an immersion sense; but to play devils advocate, what would they think if I went in and wasted a handful of torps when I could save them for more favourable conditions?

PRiley, the conditions you mention were the plan I was considering, but I'm just not cofident with torpedoes in that position. From behind you'd need to use magnetics, not an easy thing to do with ships bouncing meteres up and down. And in low visibility, by the time you spot a target, and turn to get a reasonable gyroangle, you're under the torps minimum range

In the end I left it and turned away. Luckily I ran into slightly better weather the next day - so it worked out OK.

[Paul Riley]

Probably the wisest thing to do,the odds I think were too high against you,and if not overly confident in the first place would only exacberate the problem.UBoat commanders tried desperately to change conditions in their own favour,but I reckon in some situations the best course of action would be to abort,and try elsewhere.Better than a complete waste of torpedoes in conditions that are not ideal for UBoats,unpredictability of the high waves to mention but one,and bad visibility.

Good luck elsewhere.

[skookum]

I've successfully attacked convoys in poor visibility using the hydrophone and some intel. If I get a contact report on a convoy, I plot my intercept as usual to arrive about 30 miles ahead of the group. I do my best to line up with my bow 90 degrees to the convoy's predicted course and about 2000 meters off the center line. With the periscope pointed at zero degrees I input the convoy's predicted speed and AOB (90 degrees) into the TDC and then switch to auto TDC. Then I set my torpedo gyro angle to zero by turning the periscope to the appropriate bearing. I make a note of that bearing and plot it on the map from my boat's position. I simply launch a fish or two each time a hydrophone contact line crosses the bearing line. Because the gyro angle is zero the range to the target is irrelevant and I get a hit more often than not. It's impossible to perform the surgical precision that one can achieve with a visible target, I often have no idea what ships I hit until they show up in my patrol log, and I rarely get to watch my prey go down. But it certainly makes foggy days less bleak. It's pretty exciting watching the stopwatch count off the seconds to impact.

[Paul Riley]

Interesting tactic

[Nerazzurri]

Skookum, that sounds beyong my ability (I don't use manual targeting ), but I'm going to give that idea some thought, because it sounds quite good.

[Paul Riley]

We all had and still have problems sometimes with manual targetting,not to mention awkward attacking conditions.
Give it a try sometime,there is loads of info in here about just about anything,not to mention the amount of brain cells pumping away in this forum day and night!
Myself,I have played this game since its release,and the other day I made a terrible error,and missed at only 500m with an electric torpedo