Zum Teufel, we're off to Penang! U-806.

[toryu]

U-806. Type IXC. KL Carl Fischer commanding. Home port Lorient.
Feb 3d 1942. 100km off North East Portugal. First Patrol.

It took us a month to get here. We left Lorient, a fresh boat, a new crew, shortly after midnight on January 1st. The trip across the Bay of Biscay was almost a disaster. I'm still sailing KL Joachim Steiner in U-49, off Donegal, back in 1940. I'm already up to 23000 tons sunk in his 10th patrol, and I decided I needed a change. Tougher opposition, and I wanted a bigger boat and longer patrols. Boy, did I get it.

Our second day out of Lorient in U-806, I broke my rule about NEVER travelling on the surface during daytime. I wanted to make time, and escape the Bay as quickly as possible. Wrong move. I got jumped at 11am by two Catalinas. I crashdived immediately as they dove down at me. I watched my stern disappear in the water with F12. And the water was kicked up by machine gun fire, in a very realistic fashion. Wanting an authentic experience, I hit F2 to take my rightful place in the control room. It was my decision to take this disastrous approach to travel, so I should ride it out with my virtual crew.

Well, the stick of bombs threw the boat all over the ocean. The meat and veggies swung all over the place, water sprayed all over us from burst pipes, and everybody was shouting about damage and flooding. The conning tower was a shambles. Radio antenna destroyed. Radio destroyed. Flak guns, two 20mm zwillings - both destroyed. Deck gun destroyed. Diesels both damaged, compressor damaged, pumps damaged. The control room and the galley/petty officers quarters were flooding fast. And we were in a near 45 degree dive to the bottom of the sea. This is how it happens, I thought. You just don't surface again. I set a new depth of 25m, and the boat sloooowwwwwwly swung up to an even keel and began crawling back to the surface. I'd had the forethought to "buy" a qualified repair officer to head my damage control team. I set him to work. Clicking like mad to fill the team up to 100% green, I set them to work on the worst of the flooding. Gradually they got it down, then the compressor & pump got fixed, and the leaks in the control room stopped. Later that night, we surfaced and I had a gander at my decks. Oh dear. All my lovely cannons and guns had gotten bent and twisted. My deck gun drooped like a drunken playboy. And perhaps most importantly, I had no radio. I thought about it for a while, then decided to go to Bordeaux for repairs. With no radio, that means no map updates, no contact reports, no Bdu, nothing. They'd probably think we were dead. So we turned around and put in at Bordeaux. A month later, game time, we were sitting in the bunker, fueled up, repaired, and ready to go. My patrol grid was set to Null, but I checked the preceding Captain's log - Grid GR83.

I reckon that since I'm a bit closer, sailing from Bordeaux, that I can make it to Penang. I've never sailed in the tropics in SH3. I think I'll hang around off Capetown for a couple of days, then round the Horn to the Indies. Have an adventure, or two. I'm not sure if I'll make it, fuel-wise. If I hit rough weather, it'll be touch and go, but we'll do the best we can.

Is there much naval traffic in the pacific? I'm using SH3 1.4b and HT1.45.

[kiwi_2005]

Is there much naval traffic in the pacific? I'm using SH3 1.4b and HT1.45.

I dont think there is, but with this game you never know what pops up over the horizon. If you install the milkcow mod you might be lucky and get a milkcow around capetown, there your be able to refuel.

[HEMISENT]

What Kiwi said. Go get Rubini's Harbor Traffic 1.46 The resupply works like a champ.
Good Luck and Good Hunting.

[toryu]

Thank you, Gents.

I'm already using Rubini's Harbour Traffic 1.45, with the airpower mod included with it, and the milchcow mod. I'm not sure if any tankers are around in February '42, but I'll consult the notes for the mod and have a look on my way South.. I believe that the grid location of the milchcows are listed somewhere? And you "dock" at the supply boat as if it were a base?

[snowsub]

twas my understanding that Penang didn't open as an operational port until May 43.

Anyone clarify this (I'm at work atm)

Snowsub.

Just a note also, It took me about 2hrs at 1024 comp to make the trip. (done in a single mission to ensure that my IXC culd actually make it. which it did )

[toryu]

Originally Posted by snowsub

twas my understanding that Penang didn't open as an operational port until May 43.

Anyone clarify this (I'm at work atm)

Snowsub.

Just a note also, It took me about 2hrs at 1024 comp to make the trip. (done in a single mission to ensure that my IXC culd actually make it. which it did )

In SH3, it's Feb. 1942. Penang is listed as blue (Axis) but Soerabaja is listed as red (Allied). In real life, Penang was still being bombed by the IJA in December 1941, so it couldn't have been available as a sub base so soon afterward. Still, I'll overlook that.

I've noticed that if I set my speed to 9kts, and in calm seas, my Nav officer gives me an estimated range of up to 26000km. I've been plotting my progress on the map, since leaving Bordeaux. I mark the map when I surface for night travel, and when I submerge again at dawn. So I can measure how much distance I'm covering on the surface at 9kts, and submerged at 4kts. So far, in calm seas, 5mps winds, I'm averaging 200km surfaced, and 80km submerged. I tend to surface at 2000hrs and submerge again at 0600. As of last night, I'm nearly halfway down Portugal. The map has only shown me one contact so far, quite far to the North of me, travelling South but slowly, so I didn't hang around to investigate.

I'm a man on a mission.