1943 has not been a good year

[RoaldLarsen]

Originally Posted by nikbear

...the number of Hunter/killer groups patrolling the sea's around the UK,by '43 they are so numerous and skilled that once they get a sniff of you......you are going to be down for along time,realtime. If you get away all you will think about is getting home back to base,but its a big IF,because more often then not you will not stand a chance,

You are right about the increased number of hunter-killer groups. That is one aspect of the changed situation in 1943 which I failed to mention. I think I omitted them because they have had very little effect on me. Perhaps I have been lucky.

I think that the reason why hunter-killer groups haven't been much of a problem for me is because of the airplanes. I am almost always submerged, except in weather so bad that planes cannot fly. Because I am submerged, I can hear the hunter-killer groups on hydrophone And because I am submerged so long, I have to go slow. My usual submerged cruising speed is 1.8 to 1.9 knots. During daylight hours it will sometimes go to 2.9 knots. Since I am going so slow, I will hear the hunter-killers long before they can hear me. This gives me plenty of opportunity to avoid them.

If I am surfaced for a long period, it is because the visiblity is bad. They will have to use radar to detect me, and I wlil usually detect it in time to get away with a crash dive and a Bold. This has happened a couple of times.

If a hunter-killer group ever does catch me on the surface, I expect to be toast.