Hunting

Originally Posted by jimbuna

You usually cannot fail when lurking 250km west of Gib

You are so right, but I usualy follow temptation, and make a single pass up into the bottleneck. Then I head for the southwest corner of Spain on the way home.
(Some of my IXBs have done early war round trips into The Med. Although it's challenging, the number of warships about means most of the patrol must be done in real time. By the time I'm on the way out SH3 has exhausted me.)

ALWAYS, at 120 miles west of Gibralter, the lookouts are told to keep an eye peeled for Jimbuna's IXB. One day I'm going to meet you there.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Snestorm

ALWAYS, at 120 miles west of Gibralter, the lookouts are told to keep an eye peeled for Jimbuna's IXB. One day I'm going to meet you there.

Looking forward to it Kaleun

[Didd]

200 to 250 kms west of Gibraltar is rapidly becoming a firm favourite of mine too. Last patrol I bagged 4 of those large merchants - 48,000 tons from 8 eels. I was quite pleased with that.

Originally Posted by Didd

Last patrol I bagged 4 of those large merchants - 48,000 tons from 8 eels. I was quite pleased with that.

As well you should be. Good work.

[LostDream]

Thank you all for the great advice and tips. I will make corrections to my SOP ASAP!

[desirableroasted]

Until late 1940, anyway, I make it a point to go through the Hebrides Strait on the way out (and on the way back if I have fish). If I have halfway decent hunting weather, I nearly always bag 10-20k tons, sometimes with deck gun alone.

You need to keep a good eye out for planes of course, and there is the usual lot of torpedo boats and ASW trawlers out there, but if you keep it low and slow, they won't notice you.

Just keep an eye on depth under keel.... it really can vary in the strait, and quickly.

I, too, am growing to love 250 west of Gibraltar. On last patrol, at one point, I had an ore carrier, a large merchant and a passenger cargo all sinking within 10km of each other. Happy time, indeed!

(Playing GWX 3.0, 86%)

[Paul Riley]

Originally Posted by desirableroasted

Until late 1940, anyway, I make it a point to go through the Hebrides Strait on the way out (and on the way back if I have fish). If I have halfway decent hunting weather, I nearly always bag 10-20k tons, sometimes with deck gun alone.

You need to keep a good eye out for planes of course, and there is the usual lot of torpedo boats and ASW trawlers out there, but if you keep it low and slow, they won't notice you.

Just keep an eye on depth under keel.... it really can vary in the strait, and quickly.

I, too, am growing to love 250 west of Gibraltar. On last patrol, at one point, I had an ore carrier, a large merchant and a passenger cargo all sinking within 10km of each other. Happy time, indeed!

(Playing GWX 3.0, 86%)

Yeah Gibraltar is the perfect chokepoint due to the extreme narrow width of the entrance,herding the sheep into a funnel of death

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Didd

200 to 250 kms west of Gibraltar is rapidly becoming a firm favourite of mine too. Last patrol I bagged 4 of those large merchants - 48,000 tons from 8 eels. I was quite pleased with that.

SINK EM ALL!!

[pickinthebanjo]

Good to know I've been working that area north of Ireland a little to hard, and my next patrol is down that way

[brett25]

paul riley, i follow a similar tactic with one major difference-i will cruise at 2 knots submerged for long periods, above this and the batteries drain too quickly. While submerged my goal is not to cover distance but to remain under water long enough for ships to cross my path. This way my batteries will not go below 50% and I can remain under for 12 hours or so at a time.

also cruising above surface at optimal speed ( for fuel consumption) makes a huge difference as far as range is concerned. There is a good mod -decks awash that has a good number for ahead 1/3 which will make for the most fuel efficient speed (usually 8 or 9 knots). I will spend the extra time to get out to my grid and have loads of fuel for hunting

[Paul Riley]

Originally Posted by brett25

paul riley, i follow a similar tactic with one major difference-i will cruise at 2 knots submerged for long periods, above this and the batteries drain too quickly. While submerged my goal is not to cover distance but to remain under water long enough for ships to cross my path. This way my batteries will not go below 50% and I can remain under for 12 hours or so at a time.

also cruising above surface at optimal speed ( for fuel consumption) makes a huge difference as far as range is concerned. There is a good mod -decks awash that has a good number for ahead 1/3 which will make for the most fuel efficient speed (usually 8 or 9 knots). I will spend the extra time to get out to my grid and have loads of fuel for hunting

brett25,
I am thinking of dropping my sm'd speed to 2kts at the moment.My inital plans were speed,and 4 kts seemed the most economical without draining the batteries TOO quickly,rather than endurance,hopefully increasing my chances of bumping into something,but endurance is probably a wiser option,and with the slower speed the sonar man may have an easier time detecting contacts also.
The problem with large patrol patterns is this,imagine a ship has passed somewhere behind you as you return northward on your north/south patrol line,there is really no way to know it was even there unless on the southerly return head on a more south easterly course,forming a |\| patrol pattern,and then reversing the whole process on the return to your original starting point on a |/| completing the loop,however this will consume too much fuel and prevent you from patrolling effectively for say a week or more.The north/south (over a rough 200km stretch) seems the best patrol pattern


brett25,feel free to share any other patrol tactics you develop,and I will do the same if I develop any new ones