Let's talk tactics

[ppk]

Seems I might have found a way to deal with these pesky radars.

Feb 1943
I got a contact report for a small convoy as I was heading for Freetown. Plotted a normal intercept but then went around a 25 km circle centered on the intercept point, and steamed a little faster to compensate and be there on time. This seems to be a tiny bit beyond their radar range... Notice I plotted a first intercept from the contact report but then made contact (''receiving radar signals'') and they were way off the predicted course, hence the two plots on the map.


Yea, call me a cheater, I play with map contact updates... Otherwise full realism and manual targeting though.


Finished off a damaged passenger/cargo with the guns after killing everything else (including the escorting A&B).



Small convoy obliterated.

Extra rum rations for all... Cheers !

[meduza]

Well done!

[Scape]

Great post, more please!

[Schöneboom]

Ciao ppk,

Sounds like you're on the right track. When I had to adjust my tactics for radar, it worked out in this manner:

a) Fortunately not every escort whose radar emissions you detect will break formation to hunt you down. You have to be within a certain threshold before they take action.

b) Once you work out their direction & speed, you run so far ahead that you can turn towards the interception point well beyond the critical radar distance above.

c) Then you can submerge and creep towards the interception at silent running (1 kt./50 rpm), guided by hydrophones. This part can take a long time, waiting for them to come to you. The beauty is, when done right, the lead escorts could go right past you, and no one knows until the first eel hits! HA! (Vital: Raise your scope very briefly & lower it often -- some old sub movies do it right. Assume that radar will detect the scope, & you're trying to evade the sweep.)

Some might go deep at full speed before the eels hit, but I'd wait for the explosions to mask my boat's noise (as depth charges do, for sure). If the escorts hear you, they'll alert the merchants, then zig-zags could spoil your shots.

It is also key to know which convoys to let go. I've let a few go by because of extremely poor visibility, or because the convoy was so big, I'd have had a whole fleet of escorts after me. Small convoys, far from land, those are ideal, esp. from '42 on.

Gute Jagd!

[ppk]

I just smashed a Bogue escort carrier using the same method of approach (the 25km circle thing). It worked perfectly again.

Her escorts were very unhappy and bombed the hell out of my decoys but never got a single ping return off of me. Went hard-a-starboard as soon as the tubes were emptied and slowly dived away. They made a bunch of passes directly on top of me (i could hear their props really loud) when I was at 50m but they pinged the decoys and I slipped away without a single dent on U-69. Once again Bold has saved the day.

25 more seconds to live, fly-boys. Hope you enjoy them.

Originally Posted by Schöneboom

Some might go deep at full speed before the eels hit, but I'd wait for the explosions to mask my boat's noise (as depth charges do, for sure). If the escorts hear you, they'll alert the merchants, then zig-zags could spoil your shots.

Smart thinking, but you can not mask your u-boats noise by the noise of torpedo explosion

Originally Posted by Contact

Smart thinking, but you can not mask your u-boats noise by the noise of torpedo explosion

Not in SH3 he means

@ppk
You have done well I think.

[Jimbuna]

Very well done Kaleun

Now.....BE MORE AGGRESSIVE!!