Mine in deep waters? Career sudden end:(

[Vipper]

I was near british east coast, quiet far from land, depth under keel 102 meters. I ordered sub to go 25 meters and on the way there was loud bang like hitting the bottom. I wondered, wth!, rushed to repair screen and, oh horrors, total devastation of bow, major flooding!. Sub did soon hit the bottom and despite all efforts to pump water out and blow ballast the grave of my crew and my career (6th patrol) is now there...

Problem is, i don't know what happened? Mine?

And if it was mine how do i avoid them? Is there any chart of mined areas?

[BillCar]

I passed through a minefield last night, a couple hundred km off the British east coast. It is possible that you hit a mine. The way to avoid them is to not submerge unless necessary, submerge only in daylight if possible, and use the sun to assist in scanning around your submerged ship with the periscope to see if there are any mines about while you are moving.

[Vipper]

Originally Posted by BillCar

I passed through a minefield last night, a couple hundred km off the British east coast. It is possible that you hit a mine. The way to avoid them is to not submerge unless necessary, submerge only in daylight if possible, and use the sun to assist in scanning around your submerged ship with the periscope to see if there are any mines about while you are moving.

Can't look through periscope that way, i use realistic water transparency - some 3 meters. Only thing that will may help me on my next career is map of mined areas. I must have been extremely unlucky if it was a mine cause it was my main spot of waiting and searching enemy ships (1939-early 1940) and i did never hit something there before. Ahh...i wish there is some replay so i can watch what really happened. Whatever it was it totally destroyed forward torpedo room (turned it red), heavily damaged radio room, almost destroyed conning tower etc. etc.

[FIREWALL]

If your playing GWX... Yes there are minefields.

[Vipper]

Well, yes, that's correct now. East coast is heavily mined. Poor me!

[melnibonian]

Originally Posted by Vipper

And if it was mine how do i avoid them? Is there any chart of mined areas?

Open up the Campaign Files with the editor and you should be able to see where the minefields are

[Dissaray]

If you are palying for realisum there is no way to have a map where the mines are. There are some maps out there that show the locations of mines back during the war, I hear they are a trick to get ahold of though. But back in the day it was almost imposible to know where the enemy were puting their mines. They did know the general areas that were likely to be mined simply by using common sense and by the bad experiances by captins like you who struk a mine and got back to port or lived long enuf to call it in.

If you are not so concerned with realisum then you can look them up on the map editor for the game.

[BillCar]

Originally Posted by Vipper

Can't look through periscope that way, i use realistic water transparency - some 3 meters. Only thing that will may help me on my next career is map of mined areas. I must have been extremely unlucky if it was a mine cause it was my main spot of waiting and searching enemy ships (1939-early 1940) and i did never hit something there before. Ahh...i wish there is some replay so i can watch what really happened. Whatever it was it totally destroyed forward torpedo room (turned it red), heavily damaged radio room, almost destroyed conning tower etc. etc.

Yes, you hit a mine, then. No, there are no ways to avoid them. If the sun is out, and you're only at periscope depth, you should be able to see to the end of your ship. It's not much warning, but it's better than nothing.

[Vipper]

i do avoid british coast then and will go to hunt convoys. Eh, at least i can SEE and hear destroyers and dodge depth charges that will give me some chanches while a mines have no mercy.

[Threesixtyci]

The manual has a map that shows where the mines are generally at on page B-14. (the very last pages of the manual)

[FIREWALL]

Originally Posted by Threesixtyci

The manual has a map that shows where the mines are generally at on page B-14. (the very last pages of the manual)

Aren't those the minefields around OUR ports only ?

[Paul Riley]

Are the mines close to the coast and near choke points,like the entrance to Scapa? I am currently submerged at 20m exactly 90km east of the Orkneys in an area known for some decent traffic.I suspect the British will lay mines in important areas like entrances to ports and military bases like Scapa,and not out to sea so much.Hope I am right ,i've never hit or even seen a mine before,and yes,I use GWX3.

EDIT - I have checked the mine and net map that came with GWX3 and am already forewarned of mine layouts around certain ports,however Scapa is not included.I hope this map includes ALL the minefields to be found in the game.I am already a bit jumpy lately and bumping into a mine wouldnt do me or my crew much good hehe

[Jimbuna]

As a precaution you should always have your best lookouts on watch...

[Threesixtyci]

The manual only shows general area (via a red line/shade) of the Eastern side of Britain. And I suppose the North side of Australia, on page 229 (although, don't know if that's in the manual for historical reason, or if it's in the game. I mean the manual talks about mine sweeping in that section and the picture has a legend that says, old mines. I've never played any region other than the default one of the North Atlantic.)

As for seeing a mine, at the port you start at, go to the Nav map. On the upper right of the screen there are tabs. When you pull them out you'll pull out sheets of paper. One of them has all the ports, and shows shaded lines where mine placements are at. Hit F12, then hit Shift along with the arrow keys, and navigate your way to the area shown in the map, and take a look under water. You should be able to find some mines, easy enough, and see what they look like. (huge ball with spikes, held down by a chain....)

As for the map on B-14, I doubt that's all the mines in the region, the map specifically shows the Eastern Barrage. Probably, just to give you an idea of how far out it goes.

[Paul Riley]

Are there known mine positions in open sea though,such as east of the Orkneys for example,or were they primarily set up to protect port entrances etc?

Cheers.