The Corrientes is a nice ship but...

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by ryanglavin

I personally think the Corrientes is a lovely ship!

Don't diss her. Its like dissing my Pregnant sea cow.

Oh, how I love 250 day patrols.

We're closing in on the two month mark... coming back up along the Sierra Leone convoy route, west of the Canaries... figure I'll cut NE between there and Madeira to follow the shipping lanes towards Gibraltar. Just plan on picking up targets of opportunity unless we get a contact report confirming there's an actual convoy in the area. From there we'll just head NW towards the Western Approaches and see what happens.

Two days prior to our rendezvous with the Corrientes we got a report of a convoy coming NNE out of Freetown... it was right in our path and completely unescorted aside from at least one freighter that was armed. Spent our last eels on two large merchants and a couple of ore carriers. The merchants went down after we hit them both in the first attack run... we stayed at periscope depth because it was just after sunset but we slowed the whole convoy down enough that we were able to stay with them without surfacing.

Kept close and put our last two eels into the ore carriers, both of which refused to sink although one was burning and the other was listing a bit to port. Shadowed them until it got dark enough to surface (weather was completely clear, calm seas) and then wheeled back in and started shelling them with the deck gun. That's when we found out there was an armed merchant in the convoy. Twice we had to submerge to repair damage but the second time we started shelling we took out the burning ore carrier plus I'd been able to pinpoint who was firing on us before we dove. It was a small freighter on the far side of the convoy.

Took care of the second round of damage and came back to p-depth from about 2 km out and managed to plot a course that put the second ore carrier right between us and the one merchant I knew for sure was armed. Surfaced and manned the deck gun straightaway and came in right towards both the ore carrier and the more distant freighter, which tried to fire on us over top of the other ship but with no success. We sank the second ore carrier without taking any more damage and then turned and headed for Las Palmas.

We might've had enough fuel to make it back to Willy if we'd headed straight for home, but with no eels in the tubes and the Corrientes being only coupla days away... why not resupply and see how much fun we can have on the way back?

We have over 44000 GRT so far on patrol 4/5, bringing our total for the war to date to somewhere around 92000. And my neck is getting really itchy for some reason.

[TarJak]

Originally Posted by frau kaleun

We have over 44000 GRT so far on patrol 4/5, bringing our total for the war to date to somewhere around 92000. And my neck is getting really itchy for some reason.

BdU might have something for your throat trouble:

[HW3]

Altho I did take some damage in a convoy attack and I think my hull integrity is down to 75%, is that adding so many extra days to my time in base that it's starting at 1 and adding another 20+?

Yes, SH3 Commander is adding 1 day for each percent of damage taken.

[LGN1]

From SH3 Commander manual, page 13-14:

3. SH3 Commander automatically recognises when you are docked at a milk cow or other friendly base and will automatically adjust the number of days spent in base to 1 without you needing to manually change via the SH3 Options screen. You can click on the label to toggle status. *Note that extra days will be added if damage needs to be repaired; this is a limitation imposed by Silent Hunter III.


I think 1% of hull integrity is one additional day. But I am not sure.

Cheers, LGN1

[nemchenk]

Slight tangent, apologies in advance

Could the real-life U-boats pick up torpedoes at supply ships, or just refuel?

[maillemaker]

I have heard it said here that yes, they could give you some torpedoes, but probably not a full loadout.

Steve

[nemchenk]

Originally Posted by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Type_XIV_submarine

Due to its large size, the Type XIV could resupply other boats with 400 tons of fuel, four torpedoes, and fresh food that was preserved in refrigerator units.

Would a supposedly-peaceful resupply ship carry torps, though?

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by TarJak

BdU might have something for your throat trouble:

Actually I "got word" that I was being awarded the KC when we met up with the Corrientes, but I went into my career files and undid it. I expect it will be waiting for me when we return to Willy anyway and I'd rather do a little more to earn it if at all possible.

Truthfully I'm still confused about what criteria is used to award medals because looking at the relevant lines in the basic.cfg it doesn't seem like I even qualified for the IC 1st Class when I got it and that the KC should still be a ways off. I started a thread on it here

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=170301

but didn't get much feedback... if anybody can explain how that all "works" and wouldn't mind popping into that thread I would still like some info because I'd like to mod in something that doesn't give me a medal after every single patrol for the first few months of the war.

[TarJak]

TBH I'm not sure that anyone outside Bucharest knows.

[Herr-Berbunch]

Originally Posted by frau kaleun

We're closing in on the two month mark... coming back up along the Sierra Leone convoy route, west of the Canaries... figure I'll cut NE between there and Madeira to follow the shipping lanes towards Gibraltar. Just plan on picking up targets of opportunity unless we get a contact report confirming there's an actual convoy in the area. From there we'll just head NW towards the Western Approaches and see what happens.

Two days prior to our rendezvous with the Corrientes we got a report of a convoy coming NNE out of Freetown... it was right in our path and completely unescorted aside from at least one freighter that was armed. Spent our last eels on two large merchants and a couple of ore carriers. The merchants went down after we hit them both in the first attack run... we stayed at periscope depth because it was just after sunset but we slowed the whole convoy down enough that we were able to stay with them without surfacing.

Kept close and put our last two eels into the ore carriers, both of which refused to sink although one was burning and the other was listing a bit to port. Shadowed them until it got dark enough to surface (weather was completely clear, calm seas) and then wheeled back in and started shelling them with the deck gun. That's when we found out there was an armed merchant in the convoy. Twice we had to submerge to repair damage but the second time we started shelling we took out the burning ore carrier plus I'd been able to pinpoint who was firing on us before we dove. It was a small freighter on the far side of the convoy.

Took care of the second round of damage and came back to p-depth from about 2 km out and managed to plot a course that put the second ore carrier right between us and the one merchant I knew for sure was armed. Surfaced and manned the deck gun straightaway and came in right towards both the ore carrier and the more distant freighter, which tried to fire on us over top of the other ship but with no success. We sank the second ore carrier without taking any more damage and then turned and headed for Las Palmas.

We might've had enough fuel to make it back to Willy if we'd headed straight for home, but with no eels in the tubes and the Corrientes being only coupla days away... why not resupply and see how much fun we can have on the way back?

We have over 44000 GRT so far on patrol 4/5, bringing our total for the war to date to somewhere around 92000. And my neck is getting really itchy for some reason.

I do hope you're going to tell us how all this worked out, did you get another 8k to make the club?

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by Herr-Berbunch

I do hope you're going to tell us how all this worked out, did you get another 8k to make the club?

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...postcount=1433

Originally Posted by frau kaleun

U-51, Type VIIB
2 U-Flotilla, Wilhelmshaven
Kptlt Kurt Dennert, Commander

Having my best career so far this time around... our 2nd and 3rd patrols (and first two assignments as a frontboot) netted us close to 45000 GRT. Mostly lots of smaller prey taken down with 1 good torpedo hit plus the guns, and occasionally with guns alone if the conditions were right.

Our last patrol turned into a long two-parter, with a one-day stopover in Las Palmas on Feb 4/5 1940 to resupply at the Corrientes. Just prior to that we'd intercepted a big juicy convoy coming north out of Freetown, no military escort, just one small armed freighter who couldn't keep us from sinking 2 large merchants and two ore carriers with a combo of eels and guns.

After leaving the Corrientes we returned to the same area after receiving a report of another northbound convoy out of Sierra Leone; when we made contact it turned out there was an escort this time around, but this amounted to one Black Swan leading the procession which we sank without her ever noting our presence. From there it was like shooting fish in a barrel, and oh what lovely big fish they were! We proceeded to put eels into as many as possible, leaving the wounded dead in the water or straggling far behind while we continued in pursuit of the remainder of the convoy. Some ships burned and sank while we were off attacking others, some required a little more attention... but after all was said and done, we'd taken down a large cargo, 4 ore carriers, and a 8500 ton tanker in addition to their hapless caretaker.

We turned for home with nothing much to speak of in the way of ammo left to throw at the enemy, but were lucky enough to pick up a hydrophone contact while running submerged NE of the Shetlands. When we surfaced and chased her down it turned to be yet another ore carrier, which succumbed to what was left of our firepower in due order.

We finally arrived back at Willy with another 89000+ GRT to our credit, and a total of 34 merchants and 1 destroyer sunk for 136000+ GRT overall. Iron Crosses were handed out en masse, several members of the crew received well-deserved promotions, and I achieved two of my three main goals for this career: a Knight's Cross and a promotion to Kapitanleutnant. (My third goal is to live long enough to make the transfer to a French base - wish me luck!)

We left on our current patrol at the end of March 1940, and after finding and sinking one large British cargo ship on our way through the North Sea, we ran into terrible weather which kept us submerged for hours at a time. We had multiple hydrophone contacts, most of them moving not much faster than we were due to the weather, but spent a great deal of time intercepting the potential targets only to find out they were either neutral ships or our own German merchants.

Consequently we were still making our way north for the inevitable swing around the Shetlands when we received a report of Royal Navy ships leaving British ports and heading, it was believed, for Norwegian waters. We resolved to take our time and stay closer to the Norwegian coast on our way north, preferring the deeper water there anyway, which served us well when operations began against Norway a few days later and the order went out to defend Narvik if at all possible.

By the time we were entering the Vestfjord, British task forces were already moving in and out of the area seemingly at will; we missed a chance to pick an Illustrious-class out of one when the sharp eyes of an escorting destroyer's lookouts forced us under before we could get close enough and in good position from periscope depth. They made what I would have to call a lackluster attempt at pursuing us, throwing a few depth charges at where we'd been when they'd spotted our 'scope but not coming near enough - even when we were still only 20-30m down - to do any damage.

Once we'd escaped from that little adventure we had reports of multiple RN task forces moving in and out of the area, but they always seemed to be too far away and moving too fast in the wrong direction for us to have any hope of intercepting them. Then we got a report of one heading on a course that would take her due south of our current position in about 12 hours. A few quick calculations and, why yes, I think it's doable! We plotted an intercept course and went to periscope depth about 2km from the expected intercept point and almost immediately picked them up on the hydrophones. At least seven, maybe eight ships... and when they finally came within view, there they were - a parade of destroyers with the HMS Warspite steaming along happily in their midst.

Now this, I thought, is personal. We'd gotten a report of a task force coming northwest out of the Irish Sea back in Sept 39, on our first combat patrol; and, miracle of miracles, when the report came in we were in what seemed like a good position to intercept it. We did get within visual range, and identified the Warspite as part of the task force; we even managed to get within 2500m of her, coming in at an almost perfect right angle to a course from which she seemed to have no intention of deviating. I'd fired a spread of four eels that seemed like it couldn't miss and then gone deep to await the expected retribution from her escorts. And waited... and waited... and... NOTHING. Not a single hit out of four torpedos fired. And given her speed, no chance in hell of catching up to get another shot at her.

But this time it was different. Checking and doublechecking, watching her approach nearer and nearer as I popped the 'scope up and down in the rolling waves... and... LOS! Then dive, dive, dive for all we're worth, and wait, and wait, and... YES!

I don't know how many hit, or where, but it was enough. She went down while her angry companions began crisscrossing the waters, dropping depth charges, and pinging away at their attacker. But by then we were 100m down, running silent, and getting the hell out of there.

And thus it was that I sank the first capital ship of my (and U-51's) career.

Now I just gotta survive past June so I can see France!

Man, that was almost a month ago and I haven't had enough RL free time to play since. But I have a three day holiday weekend coming up, so I'm hoping to get back in there and finish that patrol.

[Herr-Berbunch]

Originally Posted by frau kaleun

Man, that was almost a month ago and I haven't had enough RL free time to play since. But I have a three day holiday weekend coming up, so I'm hoping to get back in there and finish that patrol.

I look forward to reading your report, happy hunting, Frau!

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by Herr-Berbunch

I look forward to reading your report, happy hunting, Frau!

Danke! I look forward to having something to report.

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by Herr-Berbunch

I look forward to reading your report, happy hunting, Frau!

The rest of it is now posted in this thread, starting at post 1482:

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...postcount=1482

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...postcount=1483

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...postcount=1484

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...postcount=1498

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...postcount=1499

[robbo180265]

Originally Posted by frau kaleun

The rest of it is now posted in this thread, starting at post 1482:

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...postcount=1482

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...postcount=1483

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...postcount=1484

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...postcount=1498

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...postcount=1499

Just had to say - that was an awesome read