Champion becomes Chumpian!

[Rockin Robbins]

There are a couple of things in this one real life instance (not my story!) that show frequent complaints of SH4 being unrealistic are off-base. Let's take 'em one by one:

After attaining a firing position 3300 yards away from the overlapping targets, six bow tubes were fired.

These were warships and they were going to be fought from a distance that gave Bergall the best chance for escape, even if they used more torpedoes than might seem necessary. This was after the order that escorts were to be given priority over merchants in targeting (still looking for that order to nail down the exact date). Long distance attacks were made and the six torpedoes shot shows intent to do deadly harm.

Bergalll charged in for a second attack when, at 9000 yards, the escorting destroyer opened fire, one shell landing in Bergall's wake, another directly into her forward torpedo loading hatch, opening a large hole in her pressure hull.

Another frequent complaint is that Japanese warships hit hard to target subs from unrealistically long ranges with too few shots. Hmmmmm 4½ miles. I'd call that even further than warships are a danger in SH4. And the account implies deadly accuracy. Another couple of complaints about SH4 turn out to be complaints against reality.

Retreating at full speed. Bergall hauled clear only to find that the damage was beyond repair at the scene

And finally a most curious deal. In SH4, if you are tagged by an escort and can't submerge, he will definitely chase you down and at 30 knots he will absolutely catch you and kill you. Here Bergall escaped! Astounding!

In that second instance, these SH4 devs seem to have been more on the ball than most of us (I include myself here too) have been willing to give them credit for.