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Bubblehead1980 · 07-12-10, 05:37 PM

Had a blast on patrol last night......

September 1942, USS Trout (Tambor class) TMO 2.0 100 realism North West of Attu.After 15 days on patrol with two lone merchants down, was patrolling north of Attu when a strange SD contact appeared during the dark of night, ordered AA gun manned and all stop, thinking plane wouldnt see.Appeared that it didnt see us and doubted it had radar in 1942 but suddenly the range began to close, spotted even on the dark night, All ahead flank I ordered, no time to dive. The Chief manning the 20 MM AA gun aft opened fire and could see the plane was low and coming in, I ordered right full rudderjust as we made the turn, the large "Mavis" flying boat pulled up literally 50 feet above my head on bridge and her bombs/charges landed just off the port side where my stern would have been had I not ordered the turn.As the plane pulled up, we dove to 100 feet for 20 minutes, then surfaced.

Two hours after surfacing and asthe short Aleutian night came to an end , SJ radar made contact , the A scope had plenty of dancing pips(ignore the PPI scope in early war since it didnt exist and is too much of a help in early war) we closed and just after dawn lookouts spotted a warships, I scanned the horizion to spott large plumes of smoke, convoy! We went to GQ and closed to flank speed then paralelled the course to pull ahead and dive for an attack, but this convoy was making 11-13 knots, must be important, faster than usual convoy. Pesky flank escort was also keeping us from closing in as planned.Finally, we were able to move in after several hours.After a few looks, I could tell by the masts, smoke and large silhouettes this was no convoy, we had a task force! Seas were flat calm so we went to 250 feet so could move faster undetected to get in close, projected path had us 1200 yards off their path at firing point, I couldnt believe how lucky I was, but we still had to make it through the escort screen(doing this on sonar info alone, external cam disabled on this patrol and wouldnt use it anyway) after some estimating, I decided in 6 minutes we would rise to scope depth for a look and wing it from there.After 6 minutes, much to my relief, we were in proper position.I could now see the main line.Leading escort was a large and much dreaded Akizuki Destroyer, behind him was a light cruiser, then an Akitsu escort carrier, a Taiyo escort carrier and then a mogami heavy cruiser.I decided 3 Mark 14's each for the carriers, then hard turn for stern setup if possible and needed.Set torpedos to hit at 10 and 3 feet, no deep runners, seas were calm so hopefully magnetic detonators would not blow up prematurely.

After closing in at 100 feet, rose for another look, damn Akizuki is going to be too close and pick us up, I ordered back slow to try and salvage the attack.The next 5 minutes were tension filled and I was sweating as it played out in real time.Next observation, oh the luck, the Akizuki was showing me her stern, covering the other side of the convoy now, I could fire and no worry, I went ahead at 2 knots to close to 1000 yards from target.I decided to make an angle shot at the Taiyo just before the Akitsu crossed bearing 0 on my scope, I fired 3 torpedos at Taiyo, the shifted to the Akitsu, down scope.Short torpedo run but it seemed to take forever.When time, I raised the scope....BOOOM!!! The Taiyo speed up and attempted a hard turn but too late, all three hit her and set her afire.Then early, boom and boom, two torpedos prematurely exploded, then the last hit the Akitsu! Left full rudder, ahead flank, bringing stern tubes around.Readied stern tubes and did quick guess of the Akitsu's new speed, guessed 7-8 knots.Stern tubes ready, good shot, fired two fish, one prematured, fire two more, both hit and wrecked the Akitsu! Pinging started, The Akizuki was coming my way, then two other escorts closing, had them closing in at 3 points! A quick glance, the Taiyo had a nice down angle, she was finished, Akitsu was a burning wreck.I ordered 250 feet and silent running.

As we passed 150 feet, I believe the Akizuki dropped a pattern of charges, they were close and shook boat no damage.Then came the others, close, trim pump took damage.After 5 hours of evasion taking minor damage and many close charges, driving me 100 feet below test depth to 350 feet, seems I lost them.After a few more hours holding out in case of sleepers, I came to scope depth, the TF was gone.I could see a large debris field and another.I surfaced and closed in, checked my log, credit for two escort carriers

Really a fun patrol and 7 torpedos left, cant top the carriers though, too much fun.

07-12-10, 05:37 PM	#11
Bubblehead1980 Navy Seal Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Florida USA Posts: 7,104 Downloads: 605 Uploads: 44	Had a blast on patrol last night...... September 1942, USS Trout (Tambor class) TMO 2.0 100 realism North West of Attu.After 15 days on patrol with two lone merchants down, was patrolling north of Attu when a strange SD contact appeared during the dark of night, ordered AA gun manned and all stop, thinking plane wouldnt see.Appeared that it didnt see us and doubted it had radar in 1942 but suddenly the range began to close, spotted even on the dark night, All ahead flank I ordered, no time to dive. The Chief manning the 20 MM AA gun aft opened fire and could see the plane was low and coming in, I ordered right full rudderjust as we made the turn, the large "Mavis" flying boat pulled up literally 50 feet above my head on bridge and her bombs/charges landed just off the port side where my stern would have been had I not ordered the turn.As the plane pulled up, we dove to 100 feet for 20 minutes, then surfaced. Two hours after surfacing and asthe short Aleutian night came to an end , SJ radar made contact , the A scope had plenty of dancing pips(ignore the PPI scope in early war since it didnt exist and is too much of a help in early war) we closed and just after dawn lookouts spotted a warships, I scanned the horizion to spott large plumes of smoke, convoy! We went to GQ and closed to flank speed then paralelled the course to pull ahead and dive for an attack, but this convoy was making 11-13 knots, must be important, faster than usual convoy. Pesky flank escort was also keeping us from closing in as planned.Finally, we were able to move in after several hours.After a few looks, I could tell by the masts, smoke and large silhouettes this was no convoy, we had a task force! Seas were flat calm so we went to 250 feet so could move faster undetected to get in close, projected path had us 1200 yards off their path at firing point, I couldnt believe how lucky I was, but we still had to make it through the escort screen(doing this on sonar info alone, external cam disabled on this patrol and wouldnt use it anyway) after some estimating, I decided in 6 minutes we would rise to scope depth for a look and wing it from there.After 6 minutes, much to my relief, we were in proper position.I could now see the main line.Leading escort was a large and much dreaded Akizuki Destroyer, behind him was a light cruiser, then an Akitsu escort carrier, a Taiyo escort carrier and then a mogami heavy cruiser.I decided 3 Mark 14's each for the carriers, then hard turn for stern setup if possible and needed.Set torpedos to hit at 10 and 3 feet, no deep runners, seas were calm so hopefully magnetic detonators would not blow up prematurely. After closing in at 100 feet, rose for another look, damn Akizuki is going to be too close and pick us up, I ordered back slow to try and salvage the attack.The next 5 minutes were tension filled and I was sweating as it played out in real time.Next observation, oh the luck, the Akizuki was showing me her stern, covering the other side of the convoy now, I could fire and no worry, I went ahead at 2 knots to close to 1000 yards from target.I decided to make an angle shot at the Taiyo just before the Akitsu crossed bearing 0 on my scope, I fired 3 torpedos at Taiyo, the shifted to the Akitsu, down scope.Short torpedo run but it seemed to take forever.When time, I raised the scope....BOOOM!!! The Taiyo speed up and attempted a hard turn but too late, all three hit her and set her afire.Then early, boom and boom, two torpedos prematurely exploded, then the last hit the Akitsu! Left full rudder, ahead flank, bringing stern tubes around.Readied stern tubes and did quick guess of the Akitsu's new speed, guessed 7-8 knots.Stern tubes ready, good shot, fired two fish, one prematured, fire two more, both hit and wrecked the Akitsu! Pinging started, The Akizuki was coming my way, then two other escorts closing, had them closing in at 3 points! A quick glance, the Taiyo had a nice down angle, she was finished, Akitsu was a burning wreck.I ordered 250 feet and silent running. As we passed 150 feet, I believe the Akizuki dropped a pattern of charges, they were close and shook boat no damage.Then came the others, close, trim pump took damage.After 5 hours of evasion taking minor damage and many close charges, driving me 100 feet below test depth to 350 feet, seems I lost them.After a few more hours holding out in case of sleepers, I came to scope depth, the TF was gone.I could see a large debris field and another.I surfaced and closed in, checked my log, credit for two escort carriers Really a fun patrol and 7 torpedos left, cant top the carriers though, too much fun. Last edited by Bubblehead1980; 07-13-10 at 12:39 PM.