So how did a captain decide the tonnage of a sunken ship?

Klaus_Doldinger · 01-22-09, 12:19 PM

Just one more question about ship identification, concerning nationality:I suppose that the recognition books included the nationality of the ship, i.e., you didn´t need to observe the flag to determine if your potential target was belligerent or neutral. In fact, this is simply impossible in the game most times at night or at great distances. Am I right?

Ping Panther · 01-22-09, 12:47 PM

I had read a very detailed book from a Pacific fleet submariner a while ago that indicated that it was very common to surface right after a merchant sinking. Primarily, this surface contact was made for establishing a very accurate ship-kill report while on patrol. The sub captain would verify tonnage, cargo, and in particular the ship name/I.D, route from port-to-port info., etc. The author indicated that most of the estimates of sub captains of ship tonnages that were not checked on at sea, were often greatly exaggerated in the initial sub patrol records. Usually, many post-war verifications of war-time shipping logistics records from merchant ship home port offices uncovered many of these inflated battle statistics.

01-22-09, 12:19 PM	#1
Klaus_Doldinger Planesman Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Madrid, España Posts: 198 Downloads: 13 Uploads: 0	Just one more question about ship identification, concerning nationality:I suppose that the recognition books included the nationality of the ship, i.e., you didn´t need to observe the flag to determine if your potential target was belligerent or neutral. In fact, this is simply impossible in the game most times at night or at great distances. Am I right? __________________ OL zS. Siegfried Rollmann, U 108 in WaW IV, 6th war patrol with GWX 3.0 Gold (111.829 BRT) Lt zS Klaus Doldinger (U 36), 4th war patrol with GWX 3.0 Gold (50.713 BRT) SH3 Cmdr 3.1 GWX 3.0 GWX 16 Km atmosphere GWX no medals on crew GWX open hatch GWX Saint Nazaire, Schleuse and units OLC GUI 1.2.7 Thomsen´s sound Torpedo damage final Rubini´s lifeboats and debris D.i.D.

01-22-09, 12:47 PM	#2
Ping Panther Lieutenant Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: the armpit of the Mid-Atlantic / Quadrant CA42 Posts: 262 Downloads: 8 Uploads: 0	I had read a very detailed book from a Pacific fleet submariner a while ago that indicated that it was very common to surface right after a merchant sinking. Primarily, this surface contact was made for establishing a very accurate ship-kill report while on patrol. The sub captain would verify tonnage, cargo, and in particular the ship name/I.D, route from port-to-port info., etc. The author indicated that most of the estimates of sub captains of ship tonnages that were not checked on at sea, were often greatly exaggerated in the initial sub patrol records. Usually, many post-war verifications of war-time shipping logistics records from merchant ship home port offices uncovered many of these inflated battle statistics.