Hunting subs in '68

[Shadow]

Yes, engagements are definitely far more protracted in the 1968 campaign.

Had an encounter with a couple of ASW surface vessels, a Kashin DDG and a Riga FF. After some extensive maneuvering, I managed to chase off the Riga and go after the meatier Kashin, which took two MK 37s to sink. Quite laborious, overall.

Then I had a handful of sub-to-sub encounters, mostly against diesels. I was reluctant to use my speed advantage so much, due to sonar blindness, but I did go active a number of times. Didn't detect anything, but it was enough to get the attention of the lurking Soviets, whose torpedoes I could use to get a hint about their general location. Bastards were sneaky enough I couldn't detect them until they were under 1,000 yards away. The fish were usually easily evaded, except for the time I lost the Snook to a single torpedo hit due to overconfidence. I knew the warhead was coming but I was obsessed with another sub. I overestimated my last-minute maneuvering capability, the torp was detected too late and my depth commands didn't get my boat out of the way fast enough.

But I was shallow enough, I escaped with my crew and command gave me the USS Scamp. My last engagement pitted me against another pair of diesels, a Whiskey and a Romeo. Similar situation as before: Whiskey went down fairly easily, but the fun part was the Romeo. She managed to fire off two torpedoes at me: the second one was persistent, and as I was sprinting away from it at flank speed, I miraculously missed ramming the submarine, which seconds later got slammed head-on by its own warhead. It was amazing.

Got another sub-hunting mission afterwards, and I only have 3 Mk 37s left. I really need to revise my loadout as I have far too many Mk 16s I seldom ever use: they're worthless against subs, and warships are too erratic to be hit by them 95% of the time.

But at any rate, if I'm careful those three 37s should be enough. And if I'm daring enough, I could even wrangle a Soviet torp or two and politely return them to their owners.