Dealing with a warship

[Scarredclown]

near Honshu, i was chased by a warship (cant remember the class, will take notes next time). The sea was pretty rough and he was not having great success at locating me. I try to get a good shot at him but all my torpedoes miss. His movement were erratic. Should i not bother trying to get him at all ? What would have been a god firing position in that case ?

[Torplexed]

Well, if it was a destroyer or escort vessel of some type you will have a difficult time getting a firing solution if it is aware of your presence, due to their high rate of speed and maneuverability. The best time to sink a warship is when it doesn't know you are stalking it. It can be done when they are chasing you, but it is more difficult.

If it was just a lone escort vessel or destroyer patrol, I would just have dodged it. Too fast and not much tonnage.

[Scarredclown]

I'll do that next time, he was aware . I lose a lot of torpedo for nothing. Also i think i did a pretty stupid thing. Forgot my periscope was up, surfaced and a do a rapid dive a few minute later. is it possible that i suffer some damage from that ?

[Torplexed]

Originally Posted by Scarredclown

I'll do that next time, he was aware . I lose a lot of torpedo for nothing. Also i think i did a pretty stupid thing. Forgot my periscope was up, surfaced and a do a rapid dive a few minute later. is it possible that i suffer some damage from that ?

Surfacing in the presence of an alerted warship is a pretty risky maneuver to put it mildly. Depending on the range you might get away with it for a while, but once you pull the plug and dive, they have a pretty good bead on where you are. Did this warship open fire on you while you were briefly on the surface?

[Scarredclown]

Not sure if the warship had time for that. How can i tell, i didnt hear a shot. Just my crew saying that we had heavy flooding and that the periscope was damaged. I have so much to learn from that game. I'm playing it for a few days and i feel soooo

[adrians69]

Stay away from fighting it out with warships. If he was having trouble locating you that was a good thing and you should take advantage of that by going quiet and deep, past the thermal layer if you have the diving room. It would have given up searching for you eventually.

[TorpX]

Originally Posted by Scarredclown

I have so much to learn from that game. I'm playing it for a few days and i feel soooo

Experience skippers usually avoid escorts, unless circumstances are greatly in their favor, or they can't avoid it. The best way to gain experience, and skills, is to attack isolated, vulnerable merchants, where the risks are much less.

[CCIP]

[oops, posted in wrong thread!]

Fighting warships is fairly pointless as they have every advantage over you once you're detected. An alert warship will almost always dodge your torpedoes.

However, taking a potshot at a ship that's not aware of your presence can be just fine - but I would still favour any bigger, slower, and more valuable targets that they're escorting. In any case, you're doing far more damage to the enemy by taking out transports, tankers and merchants.