Anyone else had a "bad luck" patrol?

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Kpt. Munson

Just had a bad one, previous Patrol, knocked out 11 ships totalling 83,000 tons outside Gibralter and thought great so decided to go to the same spot hoping for the best and ended up sinking one stinking small Merchant .. GRR
Spotted 2 ships in a storm when returning to Base and turned out to be a French Armed Trawler accompanying a Merchant. The Patrol was a total let-down
Suppose you have to take the bad with the good.

PS Also a lot of Hurricanes and a sprinkle of Kingfishers (?!) but problem is somehow I've set submerge when an Aircraft is spotted and can't knock it off [don't get the option screen], would like to have a bash at one of the Kingfishers with the Flak Gun [any ideas ?]

Isn't the default option only good for one patrol ? :hmm:

[ddiplock]

Just returned from my 2nd patrol, with average results. 4 ships sunk, totalling a measly 8400 tons.

My radio antenna was destroyed in a depth charge attack in the first few days of the patrol, ripped clean from its mounting, severing contact with BDU...and with it any reports of juicy convoys or task forces in my area of ops.

All those ships were sunk on pure chance of running into them. And i think i'm slowly getting the hang of now how to use electric torpedos. Set one for magnetic detonation, and sent it under the hull of a small merchant.

The explosion ripped into the bottom of the ship tearing the hull in half like paper!!! such an enjoyment seeing that happen!!!!!

Was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd class, and U-Boat Front Clasp for my efforts.

[NeonSamurai]

Ive had some bad patrols too where ive almost come up empty.

My last one (brand new career, start of the war in a dugout (IIA) based at Kiel) didnt start well.

First off the weather was abysmal almost the entire voyage (high seas with 13-15m/s winds, fog and rain, i also play with 1.5x wave height) which also ment constant rotating of the watch and engine room crews (my game is set up so fatigue works reguardless of time compression). Most of the crew was looking very green about the gills from the dugout getting thrown about by the waves and wind.

Secondly BDU had assigned me to grid AF87 which is just north of Bergen. Which i just knew would give me almost no chance of any valid targets, and because of the distance to get there, would make it very difficult to go somewhere else where i might have a chance of finding something to sink.

So i decided to save as much fuel on the trip as i possibly could and set sail down the kiel canal and out into the ocean at 4-5 knots (mostly 4 due to the bad weather).

After a week and a few days i arived at the very edge of the assigned patrol grid, i decided i would not chase any ships around there as it would burn my fuel up and i figured i would not see anything that wasnt neutral. So i ordered engines to stop and dived to 25m and waited for 2 days (surfacing every now and then to freshen the air).

Having heard nothing but the sounds of fishing boats anyways during those 2 days i decided ok time to go towards England. With some carefull calculations i determined i would have just enough fuel to reach the tip of england just north of Aberdeen (AN18) and be able to make it back home, but would not have enough fuel to do any high speed chasing when there. So i plotted a course which would leave us about 30km off shore at the tip.

Another week's worth of bad weather during the trip and i finaly arived, ordered the boat down to periscope depth and waited. Two days later i finaly got my first contact, it sounded like a decent sized merchant, and it just happened to be heading nearly right in my direction.

I set up my attack (surface night, windspeed 15m/s) position and waited for the ship to come closer, It was a 11751 ton Large Merchant. I positioned my boat for an attack run, 2 torpedo spread and commenced the attack, both torpedos hit and she went down rather rapidly.

A few days later i encountered a Tramp Steamer following almost the exact same path the Large merchant had followed, at that moment a british bomber came into view so i ordered a crash dive (the bomber hadnt spotted us), then set up to attack the tramp steamer. One torpedo and she went down to the bottom after flailing around in the surf a while.

Next day to my delight yet another Large Merchant showed up, again following the course of the other two. Ironicly yet another plane showed up at about the same moment and i was again forced to dive (it also failed to see me in the bad weather). This one also went to the bottom with my last 2 torpedos (i modded my GWX so that the II boats carry 5 torpedos not 6)

With all torpedos expeneded i sent my reports to BDU and ordered our return voyage. The trip was uneventfull other then the weather finaly clearing up about half way back. Though the weather turned to heavy rain when we entered the canal. The dugout ran out of fuel just as we entered our berth and docked. Final tonage was 25474 tons (pretty good for a IIA with 5 torps).


Anyhow that was a patrol that easily could have gone bad and got me no tonnage if i hadnt been so miserly with my fuel expenditure. i utterly refused to chase anything that patrol as i knew that if i did, i would not have enough to get back. Also the travel time took forever too with the bad weather, the most fuel efficent speed (4-5 knots) and me having to constantly rotate the crew around every few hours due to the bad weather over the 20 day patrol. I also got very lucky and stumbled on a shiping lane (i knew shiping traffic would have to pass somewhere around there).

[The Munster]

Originally Posted by jimbuna

Isn't the default option only good for one patrol ? :hmm:

Oh Oh that means I've got problems then as it does it with every Patrol
Don't mind it so much when the Hurricanes are about but would have liked to have a 'looksee' at these 'Kingfishers'