Surface Night Attack

MantiBrutalis · 04-20-13, 01:08 AM

Quite often I deal with convoys in my own way. I dive right in the convoys path to cca 100 meters and once the lead escort passes me, I rush up to periscope depth in the middle of the convoy.

That has some pros and cons.

+ You have point blank shot from all of your tubes at once. There won't be any warning for the enemy, as they would get if you attacked from the side and you would have to turn around to fire your stern tubes. In which case there is significant time between the shots, giving the convoy to dodge and zig-zag.

+ The escort may precisely know where you are after you attack, but they are usually quite far from the center of the convoy and they will have a hard time getting to you through all the ships. You have all the time to dive deep and run.

- All your shots should be fired as close together as possible. That combined with the fact that you are so close to the ships, makes proper calculations hasty and hard to do. Estimation at this range will usually lead to hits, but there won't be those precise engine shots.

- Having a ship too close may render some shots impossible due to torpedo arming time. Also, there is the danger of getting rammed, if you're not careful enough.

- Slipping under the escort is based on luck and war progress. Possible even at 1942, but from then on very hard.

- You may not have enough time to come up to periscope depth, and you have harder time picking those tasty big targets...

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04-20-13, 01:08 AM	#9
MantiBrutalis Planesman Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: Pilsen, Czech Republic Posts: 183 Downloads: 12 Uploads: 0	Quite often I deal with convoys in my own way. I dive right in the convoys path to cca 100 meters and once the lead escort passes me, I rush up to periscope depth in the middle of the convoy. That has some pros and cons. + You have point blank shot from all of your tubes at once. There won't be any warning for the enemy, as they would get if you attacked from the side and you would have to turn around to fire your stern tubes. In which case there is significant time between the shots, giving the convoy to dodge and zig-zag. + The escort may precisely know where you are after you attack, but they are usually quite far from the center of the convoy and they will have a hard time getting to you through all the ships. You have all the time to dive deep and run. - All your shots should be fired as close together as possible. That combined with the fact that you are so close to the ships, makes proper calculations hasty and hard to do. Estimation at this range will usually lead to hits, but there won't be those precise engine shots. - Having a ship too close may render some shots impossible due to torpedo arming time. Also, there is the danger of getting rammed, if you're not careful enough. - Slipping under the escort is based on luck and war progress. Possible even at 1942, but from then on very hard. - You may not have enough time to come up to periscope depth, and you have harder time picking those tasty big targets...