Found "thee" task force

[danurve]

I think this would be the Mother Load of early war capitol ships boys and girls.
U-boat position AN22 task force headed SW about 15 knots. I am about 7-8km forward quarter.
We have;
The Nelson Battleship
The Illustrious Carrier
The Revenge Battleship
And about 6-7 escorts!!


Sounds great right? Well, here I am in my runty Type IID with only 3 steamers. Damn!
I'm thinking what ever I do the boat will probably get creamed. You might think go for the lead Battleship, but the opening might not be that easy. I've sunk the Ark Royal before with 3 fish, but this isn't the same class yes? And those BB's probably have more belting. Had to save the game and take off for now but you bet I'll be thinking about this deal. For fun I'd like to hear what some other Kaleuns might do!
To the hunt!

LEUTNANT Z. S. ROBERT RXR RÖSNER U-47

[Brag]

With all those goodies heading your way there is only one answer: sink one of the biggies and die for the Vaterland. I would launch magnetics, dive deep, go quiet and hope for the best.

Good luck, Kaleun.

[Steel_Tomb]

An XXI would be perfect for that, two fish for each ship, aim for the rear towards the boiler rooms and hope that they loose power or sink ...I want to find that TF. What year/date is it?

[Genferret]

3 set on magnetic, 1m below draft, 2 for the forward gun section one under the bridge has done the job for me in the past. I had launched a 4th, but I was off in my targeting solution for that tube and she swung wide right and would have missed the tail of the battleship if not for the eel exploding on the way to target.

Hard part will be getting in and out and surviving.

[Packerton]

Launch all 3 at the Carrier and Pray

[TarJak]

Surface a way off but in sight and call up the luftwaffe to bomb them, then clean up the remains and get the renown.:rotfl:

[CaptainHaplo]

Well, it might be a bit of a "cheat" - but I like to gamble and it may be worth it for you - so here is what I would do...

Launch one eel at each target - use magnetics and aim for the stern. If your aim is good, you can break the shafts to the props - or blow the props/rudder off! Then you have 3 sitting duck targets. Pull out for a reload. After you lose the escorts - wait a good 20-30 minutes as they will take off on their original heading - leaving the striken ships for you to attack at your leisure! Aim more center mass - again magnetics. The resulting flooding should be enough to finish off the ships. If your really lucky - the carrier will go down with the first torp - seems when they steam and you get a suprise hit - the first torp that hits tends to do more damage than the ones on other ships. I guess they dont have all the watertight doors shut or something....

Now this is assuming you have a full reload available - because with anything less than 6 fish it hasn't got even a chance of working. With less than a full reload - I would fire 2 at the heaviest BB - one at the carrier. Fire at the carrier first - they are more prone to be easily damaged.

No matter what choice you make - its sure to be an enjoyable battle! Good Hunting!

Captain Haplo

[emtmedic005]

Do Not Attack The Carrier, U Need More Then 3 Torps To Bring Down A Ship In That Class, Trust Me I Know From Experience. Take Out The Nelson, Aim For The Middle Gun Turret, Ammo Containers Under There, Make Sure All Of Ur Fish Hit In The Same Point On The Ship.

[Jimbuna]

In a type II :hmm:
Aim all three (impact setting) at the target of your choice (making sure one is targetted for right aft-for stopping purposes)....dive deep and move away to a safe distance, surface and reload then if need be return to finish the job
More reality like......open your legs wide, bend over and place your head between them and kiss your sweet ass goodbye

[CaptainAsh]

Some weeks ago I ran into a taskforce with 2 fiji and 5 destroyers in the middle of channel. Taskforce was moving 21 knots, I was 9 or 10 km in front of them.
What I did can inspire you maybe...

I ran in flank speed to be right on the trajectory, then I head the same way they did, periscope depth. I adjusted my position and heading to be on the exact path of one of the fiji, by then they were only 3 or 4 km of me, get my scope down and went deeper : 60 metters. My issue there was to be deaf as the taskforce was behind me, hydrophone was useless. Stoped engined and wait. During the wait I set my torpedo computer... magnetic pistol, spread shot (3 fishes), angle 0 (spread actualy just to have to shoot only once).
As soon as I get back the first destroyer on hydro, it meaned my target was near. So I set speed to slow and start climbing back to 20 meters. The cruiser went over me and in front of me when I was 30 or 35 meters... Ordered for periscope depth, opened the torpedoes tube. The damn ship was already more than 500 meters in front of me when I reached periscope depth. Los!
As soon as my fishes were out, I ordered diving to 40 meters, turned 45° and fast ahead. Then I fallowed the fishies on hydrophone. 500 meters... 800 meters... 1000 meters... As both the fishes and the target were moving same way, I was expecting to hit the damn ship around 1000 meters. They did not so I think I missed. Actualy they finaly hit around 1300 meters. 2 of them! Fiji went down.
I ordered slow and diving to 60 meters ahead and checked for the DD as I was expecting them to turn around. I didn t worry though because I was far enough of my shooting spot by now and already deep enough for early war. Actualy they didn t turn back anyway...

[danurve]

I have enjoyed reading the responces so far!
I am planning to get back to this save for a bit hopefully tonight or so. It was a quick `n busy Easter weekend. Then at work this Monday a friend of mine's wife water broke 2 weeks ahead of due date so I am covering for him plus overtime etc. Anyhow minus anymore fires keeping me from the game I'd like to sink some damn thing out of this deal, even if it's wrong.

Steel_Tomb; it is Oct `39

[Herr Russ]

Since you already have it saved, I'd enjoy trying different approaches.. Try the carrier and if you get pummled or it doesn't sink, reload & try for the Nelson..

Good Hunting!!

[High Voltage]

If you're a real man, you'll loose off one eel per target, then surface and finish them off with the flak gun...
Good luck Herr Kaleun.

[danurve]

Had some time to play out this patrol.
Before I go on some Kaleuns in here may not agree with what I did. Feel free to comment on the patrol reults.
Behind the 1st Battleship, behind the Carrier, in front of the 2nd Battleship was a Cruiser.
Considering the position of the boat, speed and positions of the capitol ships and their closing escorts, I weighed my options and best chances for success then decided on a Target, the HMS Dido. Shoot, that was a tough call. Three larger sweet targets, this career may never see such a collection so close at once again. However I have confidence the War Ace Campaign will not stop suprising me.
Fired 3 remaining fish fast speed, 1st shot 6.5 mag-pistol, last two at 6.0. Aiming for mid to bow then midship.
heads-up!
1st hit
2nd
3rd
Dropped scope set to silent running normal dive 1 knot. This may have been a mistake but a similar tactic has worked against escorted convoys using their noise as cover, setting a course under & behind to escape. But this task force was moving about 17 knots. Sometime thereafter, the Cruiser succumbed to her wounds! Felt like it was going to take forever.



A pair of escorts stayed behind and hunted me. Took the boat on an alternate 2 degree course to 140 meters then back up to 120. Also took a good pounding from three runs. The escorts made more runs and for a moment I belived the boats fate was sealed. But their secondary runs were not accurate as depth-charge explosions began to fade.
Damage screen
Knowing it would take some time to make repairs I set course back to the original patrol grid AN41 SW of the attack. Swordfish and fighter-bombers were everywhere. Knowing the type II's limited amount of crew, and with trying to keep a full repair team going, fighting fatiuge with keeping only two lookouts uptop was yet another challenge. But we reached the NE corner of the grid and continued with repairs while keeping the watch.
And speaking of that, durring the watch a smaller task force crossed our path as we kept quiet and a safe distance. The task force was reported, a minor task seemingly as being out of arms might as well shoot tennis balls at them. Two Cruisers and four escorts.
If that wasn't a slap just before the patrol time was due the lookout spotted a ship. My first thought was perhaps a returning taskforce so I attempted to report the contact. But turns out it's a Liner! Doh! What could I do? Not a thing, %^(# me, might as well take a picture, ok.
Liner
Set course for home port - Kiel. Spotted what would have been a few more targets such as Ore freighters & jazz. Plus in West of AM36 a Russian Convoy. Of course they were neutral at the time so I played nice and altered course as to simulate rendering honors to their escorts.
Russian Convoy AM36 Russian escort

Whew, back home Late Oct `39. Must treat the crew to some Meed.
Bdu has made a new boat, VIIB class available as an option. The choice of course is mine but if the officers could speak,.. I must be concerned to the current crews experience and being able to take on new crew.
End results;
Patrol #2 U-47 U-Flotilla Weddigen
Departed Oct 2, `39 - Kiel, for patrol AN41.
06.11.39
AN43 Ship Sunk! large cargo 5637 tons
AN42 Ship Sunk! large cargo 5638 tons
10.03.39
AN22 Ship Sunk! Dido Cruiser 5600 tons
10.16.39
Returned to Kiel, Ships sunk=3, Total tonnage=16875

LEUTNANT Z. S. ROBERT RXR RÖSNER U-47

[Keelbuster]

Just encountered a massive taskforce in the north part of CO56, Nov 21 1941. 3 x BB (Two KG class, one Nelson class) and a few cruisers. I took four shots at the leading KV. Right now I'm semi-suicidal because I took him for 16kts when I now realize he was pulling about 20. Only my two lead torpedoes hit him astern, and two missed. By hydrophone, he didn't seem phased by it. I swung around and took a stern shot at the nelson but missed - it was a rushed shot. Not sure how I missed at 700m, but i did. Now I'm at 100m, listening to screws fading...kill me.