What do u like to do on patrol?

[Kimmers]

i'd rather waste all my torpedoes on a trawler than go home empty handed

[Sailor Steve]

I go to my assigned grid and remain there for my entire patrol. That's what they had to do in real life.

[Sockeye]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

I go to my assigned grid and remain there for my entire patrol. That's what they had to do in real life.

Same here. Thirty days in the patrol zone or until my torpedo racks are empty, whichever happens first.

Orders be orders

[Weiss Pinguin]

Generally, I plot a racetrack pattern around my assigned grid and three other adjacent grids, then do the same thing in another area, and if I'm in a Type IX, another series of grids. All in all 8-12 grids, and I run several laps around each racetrack. Usually my patrols last a while Thank goodness for Jimbuna's gramophone tracks!

[KL-alfman]

first I go to my assigned grid on the shortest way possible.
then I patrol there for some days, hopefully convoy-routes lead through. if not, I start visiting the "more interesting" adjacent grids. when there are only two or three eels left or diesel is low, I head to my home-port.
there are always some lone merchants between the Orkneys and Shetlands, there I use up all my left fish.
usually my patrols are around 4-5weeks.

[jakethescot]

I sail right to my patrol area without plotting a course. I adjust my headings to point me in the general area. Once there, I patrol the grid for 24 hrs and then head off in other directions, working my way back to base.

Im moving to my ordered patrol zone and stay there for 25h. If I can expect some prey in this area, I´ll stay, otherwise I go after my gut feeling.

I stay on patrol till fuel and/or torpedoes are gone or the boat is heavy damaged.

And except the most ppl here I usually do not attack liners. They probably transport more civilians than anything else. Troop transports are something else of course...

[mookiemookie]

Originally Posted by Sockeye

Same here. Thirty days in the patrol zone or until my torpedo racks are empty, whichever happens first.

Orders be orders

Yep. I play it as close to history as possible. Of course I monkey around in SH3 Commander before my patrols so I get a grid I actually want to go to. But once I've been ordered there, I stay there. Heck, I even radio status reports every 24 hours even if it doesn't do anything, as this is what they did IRL.

[Boblekonvolutt]

I stick around my zone and, if nothing shows up for a while, adjacent grids. If a convoy or task force pops up nearby I'll go after it (if it's less than 7-8 hours travel to intercept it) before returning to my grid. Usually I'll use most of my VIIB's torps in one or two runs against a convoy though, so often I'll just set course for home after that.

If nothing at all shows up for a week or three, on the way home I'll drop by somewhere I can expect ships. Wouldn't want the men to come home empty handed.

[Damo]

I tend to do my travelling as close to known trade routes as possible. If I'm based in Lorient or St Nazaire and I'm assigned let's say west of Freetown, I'll head out west from base and then turn south in line with the convoy/merchant routes heading north/south. I travel mainly surfaced but dive down to 40m at ahead slow 2 hours before sunrise or sunset and surface again 2 hours after, most of my contacts are by sight though if I'm honest. I sometimes don't even make it to my grid if I find a juicy convoy to harass but if I do, I'll stay there for 3 days travelling a zig zag pattern to cover the whole grid, staying submerged for the majority of time during the day and surfacing to recharge at night.

If it's fruitful, I'll maybe stay another 3 days and see what happens, otherwise I'll line up on another trade route and start heading north again towards home. In my VIIC this was normally enough to make my patrols last around 4 weeks to a month but as low as 7 days occasionally if I hit a large convoy west of France (only happened twice though..).

Now I'm in my shiny new IXC in January 1942 and finished my first patrol just west of the Gibralter Strait, out of the air threat and used the same strategy as before for travelling there and back. I didn't find one convoy and had to make do with small to medium single merchants including a darn Passenger Cargo that took 3 eels because I couldn't be bothered to wait around..lol.

When I next head out, I'll probably be setting myself up for my part in Operation Drumbeat so I'll be travelling along the trade routes to and from New York until I hit my grid off the coast. Looking forward to finding some unescorted tankers and other big tonnage belonging to those unsuspecting yanks. My planned patrol time will be around 6 weeks with the bigger boot. I just hope my first patrol wasn't a sign of things to come....

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Boblekonvolutt

I stick around my zone and, if nothing shows up for a while, adjacent grids. If a convoy or task force pops up nearby I'll go after it (if it's less than 7-8 hours travel to intercept it) before returning to my grid. Usually I'll use most of my VIIB's torps in one or two runs against a convoy though, so often I'll just set course for home after that.

If nothing at all shows up for a week or three, on the way home I'll drop by somewhere I can expect ships. Wouldn't want the men to come home empty handed.

WELCOME ABOARD!

[Wild_skipper]

Well yesterday i sailed for my patrol grid, right infront of the coast of Miami, with my type IXC i got there after about 23 days sailing at a speed of 9knots. ( i was trying to save alot of fuel so i could stay there long )
After that i patroled around there for a bit i mean only 1/3 of my fuel was gone, so i could use another 3th of it to stay there, i sunk 5 tankers with 6 torps, i usualy don't waste more then 1 on a small one and 2 on a large target. After that my fuel was running out so i sailed back taking me another 23 days to get back. In total i stayed out for about 76 days wich is ( for me ) a long patrol :p

[BrewerAlpha]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

I go to my assigned grid and remain there for my entire patrol. That's what they had to do in real life.

Would they engage targets of opportunity on the way to their grid?

I want to be historical as possible.

[Weiss Pinguin]

Well, seeing as how their main objective was to sink enemy shipping, I'm guessing any ships close enough to their route would be fair game. At least, that's what I do.