That Elusive Second Target...

Slateford-5 · 11-27-08, 03:52 PM

Convoy hunting: I'm getting better at evading the DD screen and I can usually line up a fat initial target. In my current case, a modern tanker. I sent 2 eels on their way at 3.5 km...

Then it always goes wrong. I always get this rush of blood to the head and have one foot in the getaway car, the other thinking about the second target as the second hand sweeps round toward the red needle. It's a bit of giddy panic, I suppose.

I seem to find it really difficult to swing around to another target, in the current case it would have been a whale factory ship, especially when running at 2 knots not having much momentum, before the first salvo hits home and the floodlights come on. I've even tried a tricky 85 degree approach aiming slow eels at a target in a distant column, then trying to let a target in a nearer column run through the cross hairs: what usually happens is either a damned tramp steamer suddenly runs by at 600 m and soaks them up or, on occassion, a passenger cargo flattens my periscope.

Do Kaleuns generally go for two targets in one run, or is it best to take a little nibble, get clear away and start a completely new run at a convoy?

11-27-08, 03:52 PM	#1
Slateford-5 Watch Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland Posts: 30 Downloads: 6 Uploads: 0	That Elusive Second Target... Convoy hunting: I'm getting better at evading the DD screen and I can usually line up a fat initial target. In my current case, a modern tanker. I sent 2 eels on their way at 3.5 km... Then it always goes wrong. I always get this rush of blood to the head and have one foot in the getaway car, the other thinking about the second target as the second hand sweeps round toward the red needle. It's a bit of giddy panic, I suppose. I seem to find it really difficult to swing around to another target, in the current case it would have been a whale factory ship, especially when running at 2 knots not having much momentum, before the first salvo hits home and the floodlights come on. I've even tried a tricky 85 degree approach aiming slow eels at a target in a distant column, then trying to let a target in a nearer column run through the cross hairs: what usually happens is either a damned tramp steamer suddenly runs by at 600 m and soaks them up or, on occassion, a passenger cargo flattens my periscope. Do Kaleuns generally go for two targets in one run, or is it best to take a little nibble, get clear away and start a completely new run at a convoy? Last edited by Slateford-5; 11-27-08 at 03:53 PM.