Eye Candy For The Interested (U-48 Patrol #8)

[WolfyBrandon]

Hey All,

Just installed the newest version of the Improved Convoys Mod and just happened to run smack into the middle of the best convoy I have seen yet in my current Career. I snapped a bunch of screenshots of all the action, noted a sequence of events and wanted to share with those who might want to read/see it Here is how it went down... Enjoy.

April 29, 1941. - 79% Realism

My last patrol had been a good one, I successfully raided 2 ports, Dover and Hartlepool which provided some good sitting targets for me, mostly a combination of T2 Tankers and C3 Cargos with a few Coastal Merchants.

My crew was feeling great, after celebrating their success from their last mission and some enjoying a few promotions and awards, they were ready to take on whatever might lay ahead.

Starting at Brest, the weather was clear and calm. I had a feeling I might have a good patrol so I snapped a shot of us in port.


We were assigned to patrol AE88, ugh, looks like another long patrol to the middle of nowhere. I plotted a course to the patrol area that I felt might lead us to some ships along the way.


Just after departing Brest and reaching the Atlantic we were constantly engaged by enemy aircraft. I let my solo flank gunner have some fun for a while, but after a depth charge came close I felt play time was over and proceeded to Periscope Depth.

As the day turned into night, my watch crew spotted the first ship of the patrol. It was too damn dark for me to see it, thank god for my crew’s wonderful eye sight. I order my crew to man the deck gun and target the water line of the unknown ship. When I got close they laid in some good shots with some explosive shells.


"Would you look at that..." I said to the crew. Our first tonnage will be from our very first Large Cargo. (I just installed the Additional Merchants Mod before this Patrol) I hit her good 7 - 12 times or so and came up on her stern. I didn’t want to waste shots so I had my crew cease fire until we got long her side again. While maneuvering my sonar operator reported she is going down. Well, it looks like I stopped firing at the right time.

I sent in a patrol report to let home base hear the good news. Not long after this, I get a contact report of a Large Convoy in the southern middle of grid BE39 and is headed North East at a slow speed. "I knew it", I said to myself, "this patrol is going great already!" Since its still a little dark, and right now I'm a captain that relies souly on sight to hit his targets I think about the situation a little bit and plot a course that I believe the convoy might follow. Since they will zig zag to avoid being found I head north and then west a bit and west a little more. Looking at the map, if she zig zags and plans enters the Irish Sea to the north, I believe I’m in a pretty good area to intercept them, so I head to Periscope Depth and wait...

A while passes and nothing comes up on sonar. I must of asked my sonar operation 10 times "are you sure you don’t hear anything? Let me listen." He was right, all was quiet. I fear well maybe I guessed wrong, she isn’t coming up this way, or maybe she isn’t close to us yet. I decide to order a ahead slow and plot a course to the south west to start looking for the convoy. Dawn turns into Day and still nothing. I really hope to find this one since all of my convoy intercepts have been at night throughout my entire patrol.

Before I can even really think about where I’m going out of nowhere I hear "Contact! Merchant, Moving Slow, Bearing 261, Long Range, Closing!" "Yes!!!"


"Contact! Merchant, Moving Slow, Bearing 253, Long Range, Closing!", "Contact! Merchant, Moving Slow, Bearing 247, Long Range, Closing!" "Hold It, I shout to my sonar operator. I run over to the map and start plotting some bearing lines. Hold up, this isn’t right, were after a damn convoy coming from the south! and here your telling me we have contacts closing from the north.... looks to be a convoy in the northern section of grid BE15. "Your Kidding Me!!!" I shout out, as my Chief engineer gives me a stair, What Sir? I turn to look him dead in the eyes and reply. "It looks as if there is 2 convoys closing on each other and we are smack right in the center of them!

Speechless, I just nod to him and reply "Rig for silent running..." and assign my crew to their battle stations. I also change course to intercept the Northern Convoy.


"Up Scope!" I shout out and begin scanning the area in the direction of the convoy. "Ah, there they are, and we couldn’t of asked for a better position. Looks like we are positioned just on the left side of the lead destroyer."


As a captain I should be more mature, but I had butterfly’s in my stomach at the time and I could'nt help myself. I could hardly sit still and fearing my anxiousness might lead to us being detected and putting my crew in harms way, I used ship view to see what was coming.

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Disregard the next 4 picture links if you would like to be surprised. :P

1) http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/902...board052si.jpg
2) http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/853...board077dh.jpg
3) http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/959...board099cm.jpg
4) http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/301...board066zc.jpg

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"Alright, their coming along nicely. Chief, I like our position we are going to attack the lane directly in front of us... I can see, a small cargo as the lead ship of this lane... a T3 Tanker behind it, and ah... looks to be another T3 Tanker behind it. Across from the first T3, looks to be a Dido Light Cruiser. Maneuver for a torpedo attack from our current position"


In position the chief replied, and just in time. "Contact! Warship, Constant Distance!" "All Stop!" I shouted, the lead destroyer is closing.


"Contact! Warship, Closing, Short Range!" I quickly take another peak in the scope, "She is in her search maneuver and starting to head our way. We can begin to hear her sounds within the command room. SHH! Its okay boys, as I give the helmsmen a smile, she doesn’t hear us.... yet.


The lead destroyer passes, and I can see a bit of relief in some of the men’s eyes. It’s their first time in this situation, so I try not to show them I’m a little frightened myself, since I can see this convoy is not unprotected. I take another look through the scope to see our targets moving in. Sure enough I was right; there are 2 T3 Tankers and a Dido Light Cruiser, some high value targets.


I head over to the torpedo control panel. I would like to use magnetic torpedoes on them for maximum damage, but our last patrol had some problems. I remember setting the depth to 1/2m to 2m under the keel depth the manual showed of some of the ships but a lot of our torpedoes just flat out missed. I decide I’m not going to let this convoy get off easy, and select my torpedoes to the Impact this time. I plan on shooting 2 salvo shots and a stern shot. The First salvo will be at the first T3 Tanker using tubes 1 and 3. Tube 1 is set at a 5m running depth, and Tube 3 is set at a 7m running depth. My second Salvo will be of tubes 3 and 4 which will be aimed at the second T3. I assign a similar running depths as the first salvo. I take a peak in the scope, a nice plump C3 will be the target while shooting at the first T3. I switch back to the torpedo control panel and set tube 5 to be a Impact torpedo set at 4m running depth. I take 1 last glance over everything and decide all looks well.

"Alright Chief, we're ready for them." I raise the scope to see where we are at for firing. The first ship of each lane is beginning to pass us.


We began to hear the sounds of the first ship pass in our command room everyone's moral was at its highest and I think most of us may have forgot the real dangers of being a submariner. This is the first time we have ever let a ship pass directly in front of us within a torpedo attack position, I hope the boys in the forward torpedo compartment don’t jump the gun and release an eel.

I take a quick peak in the scope to see the first ship pass. It was a Coastal Merchant carrying some army vehicles. Was a little funny watching her pass with her prized cargo, thinking all was well. Although she was a target I would usually sink, I had my sights on a bigger target this time.

I turn over to 030 and see our first target, a T3 Tanker coming into firing position, I then Swing over to 150 to see our stern target, a C3 Cargo come into a firing position as well. I think to myself, I guess its time to break the ice boys. "FIRE TUBE 5!"

As I hear tube 5 in the background beginning to fire I swing the scope over to 020 and select my Salvo of tubes 1 and 3. "FIRE TUBE 1!"

A few moments pass as we all look at each other and wait, "Torpedo Impact!"... YeSs!! one of the crew cries out! I raise the scope to see the C3 take the first hit. Well it looks like our stern tube found its target men!


"Chief!, secure from silent running and prepare to reload. They know we are here now; it’s only a matter of time before the find us. Let’s get as many shots as we are allowed!"

I close observation shows the C3 Cargo shot wasn’t as good as one may have hoped. It hit in the forward compartments of this ship but didn’t break in half, looks like she will need another. "Torpedo Impact!" I check the scope again to see our salvo of tubes 1 and 3 hitting their target.


Arg! Our first shot of the salvo of tubes 1 and 3 hit the bow of the T3 Tanker, Terrible hit. The second shot hit the mid section of the T3, not to great either. "Sir, Tubes 1 and 5 Reloaded!"

"Damn! 3 torpedo hits and nothing is going down yet!" I say to myself. I give credit to those men back at the Subsim forums that can sink targets with 1 torpedo. I swing the scope over to the crippled T3, "Fire Tube 1!"


By this time I can see our second row of targets begin to line up. We have another T3 to the front and a Coastal Merchant to the Stern. The salvo shot for the 2nd T3 has been ready since the first attack; I switch over to the Torpedo Control Panel to set my second Stern shot to run with a Impact Pistol at 4m.

By this time things are getting crazy and I about lost the entire game due to alt-tabing to get these screenshots. With all the merchants taking evasive maneuvers and destroyers pinging and my men replying to my orders I had a few close calls that scared me, but managed to pull out of it! Just a note to anyone else out there who might try this save your mission if it starts to drop heavily in FPS!

"Up Scope" I shout and start setting up for our second attack. I can see escorts going wild there is at least 4 that I can see through my scope and I can hear lots of pinging in the distance. I realize its becoming time to leave so I need to hurry.

"Torpedo Impact!" I look over to 340 and see tube 1 hit the first T3 which is already taking heavy water. I see its a good hit, and explosions beginning to happen so I swing over to 030 to line up for the 2nd T3 since I know the first T3 is going down.


Looking at the second T3, she is still a ways off, and at to large of a angle to fire on, so I turn over to 170 and see the Costal merchant approaching. She is a ways off as well but her evasive maneuver has put her at a shallower angle. I aim in front of her a ways and send Tube 5 headed her way. I can see destroyers are getting close so I fire my second salvo of tubes 2 and 4 toward the 2nd T3.

"Crash Dive, Left Full Ruttier!!!"

I hear the pinging getting louder and can see a destroyer headed right for me just as my scope slips beneath the waves from the crash dive.


"Torpedo Impact!", That’s gotta be Tube 5, I say to myself. Then Shortly after Sonar reports 2 more Torpedo Impacts to confirm all 3 eels found their targets, the crew gives one last cheer, YesS!!!


"Alright boys we have had our share of the fun, Now it’s their turn." I say to the crew just as Sonar calls out depth charges in the water.


I hear an almost endless supply of Depth Charges going off behind me in all directions. Luckily none are close enough damage my boat. I order ahead slow, left full ruttier, depth 80m, and rig for silent running. There are at least 5 depth charge runs around my area and some pinging but the destroyers fail to find me.

After things begin to quiet down a little bit, I begin to worry about my last 2 attacks. All 3 where hits but sonar never reported any ships going down. Fairly confident the destroyers have lost me I order Periscope Depth to investigate.

More depth charge runs far behind me and to the left, I think we're safe for now... As I arrive at periscope depth I scan the entire ocean. Sure enough the destroyers are hanging back around the area where the first one depth charged me. I look toward the convoy to see my stern shot of tube 5 did not sink the merchant! Her bow is really low but she is still moving slowly. I swing over to the last T3 I attacked to see its wounded as well.


I thought about my options as my screen went blurry, I looked at the clock and its 5:36am in the morning. I Saved the game and headed to bed to dream about the experience.

TO BE CONTINUED.

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List Of Enabled Mods

SH3 Commander v1.43
Ail Hi Res Moon v2.5 Mod
Ail Particles Mod
Ail Dials Mod
Ail Wake Mod v2
Ail Sky Mod v2
Ail Navigation Map Mod
Camera Mod v2.0
Instant Torpedo Load Recognition Mod
British Southampton Class Light Cruiser (No Float Plane)
Captian America's Officer Icon Mod v1.1
Transparent Torpedo Screen Background Mod
Hi-Res Flag Mod
Bad Weather Guns
F4 Bridge and Conning Tower Mod for v1.4b
Torpedo Texture Tune-up Mod
T2 Torpedo Range Mod
Ai Sonar v1.0
Additional Merchants v2.0
Full Vulnerability Manual Mod
Augie64's English & Flag Recognition Mod v1.0
Improved Convoys v200509150059
SH3 Map Convoys
No Fatigue (Reduced)
Real Damage Mod (Hollywood Part 2)
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Questions/Comments Welcome.


Wolfy

[iambecomelife]

Good luck with the rest of the convoy. I love that torpedo explosion graphic; which mod is it from?

[squeak]

Great job Savages_Wolf

[WolfyBrandon]

@ iambecomelife - The torpedo explosion effect is from the mod Ail's Particles Mod, Located at http://www.ailantd.com/SHIIIMODS/index.html

@ squeak - Thanks bro, hope to continue the carrier again tonight.

Wolfy

[VON_CAPO]

I enjoy it, congratulations!

[Syxx_Killer]

That was a real good story. I look forward to the outcome!

Originally Posted by Savages_Wolf

By this time things are getting crazy and I about lost the entire game due to alt-tabing to get these screenshots.

I hope you're not pressing the PrtScn button for all those screenshots. Do you know you can press Ctrl + F11 to take the shots in game? They will be placed the the main SH3 folder. That way you don't have to take one shot at a time and Alt + Tab out of the game.

[WolfyBrandon]

Syxx_Killer,

no I did not know that. Infact I never even bothered to see if there was a screenshot key

Thanks bro,
Wolfy