Tactics when engaging convoys

[mipsen]

Hey, I'm pretty new to this, so please bear with me

When you've found a convoy, how do you engage? Is there any point in killing destroyers or do you just go straight for the juicy targets? I'm not really sure what the best approach is. I'm unsure if it's worth blowing up destroyers... sometimes I've been able to avoid them easily, and other times I just can't shake them off.

[Hitman]

If you are playing 100% realism, attacking destroyers is entirely pointless due to 2 reasons:

1.- You waste torpedoes in cheap vessels, not loaded with war material to help the enemy

2.- You will take on one, but probably be forced down by the second and/or third escort, effectively loosing any chance to get a real shot at the merchants

Those were also the two historic reasons why attacking a destroyer was an exception.

If you are playing less than 100% realism -specifically if you are using auto targeting and no torpedo duds- you can sometimes make a clean sweep of destroyers and then wipe the merchants away with little effort, collecting a huge bag.

The bottom line: Play irrealistically, and you will get irrealistic results. Play realistically and you *probably* will get realistic results.

Now I explained it, it's for you just a matter of deciding how you want to play

[cdrsubron7]

All that Hitman has mentioned is true. Everybody who plays a subsim has a learning curve especially beginners. You develop your own tactics for attacking and then escaping. Sinking the destroyers first might work, but expending torpedoes on a DD which might take one hit and sink or it might require more and later you might see a nice big fate tanker come along that you could have used those torpedoes on instead of the destroyers.

In the Pacific war there actually was a president for sinking destroyers. It was late in the war, mid 1944. Just before the Battle of the Philippine Sea. The Silent Service had a priority list with which certain ships would be sunk first instead of other. Japanese capital ships were always high on that list. Tankers were another high priority target. Japanese destroyers were moved to the top of the list in mid '44 because of the destroyer shortage that the Imperial Navy experienced during that period.




cdrsubron7

[jhelix70]

If you want to go for the merchants, the first thing to do is close with them by sneaking inside the destroyer screen. Look at the diagram below (S is your sub, D are destroyers, M are merchants), showing a typical way I approach a convoy attack. In this example the convoy is travelling north ("up") and you are approaching from the northwest. The easiest way is to get between the destroyer in front and the one at the side, and attack the merchant in the upper left hand corner of the merchant grouping. Make sure you are fairly deep and running slow and quietly as you get past the destroyers. Then come up to periscope depth and carry out the attack.

.........D
...S

D ..M M M.. D
.....M M M

........D

After you've fired, I set for silient running, dive deep, and follow my torps to get under the convoy. The escorts tend to look for you "outside", not in and amongst the merchants. Depending on the escorts response, you can either come back up after a while and have another shot from the other side of the convoy (with stern tubes perhaps) or slink away and escape.

[zylark]

I go for worthwhile targets only. That is anything over 4000 tonnes. The bigger the better. Destroyers I leave alone. The only time I've sunk (or tried to sink) DDs are when on the run and have a good firing solution from my stern tubes. Especially when it is coming right at me from dead astern this can be effective.

The problem I have with convoys now (after installing the TTM mod) is not being detected before the juicy targets are in good range and good bearing. Oh, and playing in early 43 btw. My previous careers have been in 42.

My traditional tactic was plotting a course that puts me roughly in the middle of a convoy. Then go silent and deep and just wait out the front DD screen to pass before floating up to peri-depth. I would then fire my fishes front and stern before slinking off again deep and silent. Worked wonders prior to installing the TTM mod. Now however, more often than not, I get detected by the front DD, and have to suffer through a lot of pain before getting away, if I do at all.

I'm trying various alternatives to this tactic. Usually I would have a 100'-80' angle on the trajectory of the convoy, thus presenting to the DDs a big long target for them to detect. Putting the sub more or less paralell to the trajectory of the convoy should present less of a target. Also I'm going to push down to more depth. Before I hovered from 75-90 meters (depending on sub), going down to 100-120 meters could help some. After the front DD pass, I could just float up doing 1 knot and change course back to the ideal 90' angle of target.

Failing that, I have to start attacking from some distance, either from just outside the flank merchant of a convoi (puts me between the front and flank DD. Distance from them might be a good thing. As opposed to my earlier tactic that often allows the front DD to pass right over me), or just a bit out from the flank DDs. Sucks getting detected, at least prematurely so. And speaking of premature, attacking from a distance will result in a lot of premature torpedo detonations. But that is better than getting spammed by DCs

[mipsen]

Thanks for your helpful replies!

I intent to play at 100% realism, but atm I'm only on around 70%. I want to learn manual TDC, and obviously it's easier when you have map contacts and external view on :P

Back to the convoys... how do you avoid getting behind and eventually out of range? I just can't keep up with them when running silent.

Another problem I have is planes. I think the crew is excellent at blowing them out of the sky, but sometimes they get to finish their run. Should I just crash dive immediatly when they are spotted? I can't really figure out how to make the radar work, so it's generally too late when they are in visual range.

[zylark]

Originally Posted by mipsen

how do you avoid getting behind and eventually out of range? I just can't keep up with them when running silent.

You need to get in position long before the convoy reaches you. Just plot the trajectory of the convoy once you get a radio message saying where it is or you make radar contact. Then make a course that will intercept this trajectory. Get there at full/flank speed whilst surfaced. Ideally the lead DD of the convoy should still be some 20-25km away when you are roughly in position. Then just dive deep, go silent, do final adjustments and turn off your engines. When the closest DD to you have passed, float up to peri depth and fire away.

I think there are some video tutorials floating around here somewhere.

Oh, and if the escorts do their job, you'll only have the one chance to fire at the convoy. When that is done, your priority should be getting away, not do another follow-up attack.

Originally Posted by mipsen

Another problem I have is planes. I think the crew is excellent at blowing them out of the sky, but sometimes they get to finish their run. Should I just crash dive immediatly when they are spotted? I can't really figure out how to make the radar work, so it's generally too late when they are in visual range.

To get the radar to work properly, you need to install a mod that works around the currently bugged radar models in the stock v1.2 of the game. I'd reccomend the TTM mod.

Having a working Air-detection radar, you should avoid all aircraft like the plague. Detect one and immidiatly go down to at least 30 meters. You are _not_ safe at periscope depth, especially not if you got the peri up.