1943 has not been a good year

[RoaldLarsen]

Originally Posted by nikbear

I have only ever had 1 career get past '43 and it made going on patrol an utter nightmare planes were everywhere and the only ships to be sunk were the few single merchants that could be found,convoys were a total no go Tonnage dropped off totally and just making it back to base was an acheivment in its self,usually with damage that could not be repaired at sea.

That pretty well describes the 31 nightmares I've had over the past few months (Except for the bit about convoys. See my post #6 ITT.). I know what it did to my morale. 1 in 4 sunk. I can only imagine what it must have been like for the real crews. I think I would need to take a break even if RL wasn't about to enforce one.

Originally Posted by nikbear

its good to know that what I've always thought is true,as the war draws to a close,get in a TypeVII!

Amen to that!

I wonder if I will ever have a type IX skipper who will get enough renown to see if Tarnmatte on a snorkel is an effective counter to the aircraft problem.

Looking forward to 1944 I expect to have fewer patrols, as turnaround time increases, and build/maintenance quality declines. By the end of the year there will be only two flotillas operating instead of the 7 I have currently, so I will be replacing fewer careers. Patrols will become shorter as there will be fewer assignments farther afield. Losses will increase, tonnage will decline. I am hoping to be able to have a patrol survival rate of > 2/3. The rate of suffering will go up, but the overall volume will go down. I guess I'll have about 18-20 patrols, about 400 sea days, about 6 or 7 lost boats and only about 250,000 - 300,000 tons sunk.