Capital ships in convoys???

[Herr-Berbunch]

I've yet to come across any capital ships or carriers, am I looking in the right place, the big wet area in the middle?

That said, I do tend to avoid the things that fight back, but if I ever do get the opportunity I will..

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by Herr-Berbunch

I've yet to come across any capital ships or carriers, am I looking in the right place, the big wet area in the middle?

That said, I do tend to avoid the things that fight back, but if I ever do get the opportunity I will..

Don't know what date you're playing at, but if you hang about in or around the fjord that forms the approach to Narvik during the Battle of Norway, it's a good bet you'll encounter something interesting.

My only capital ship so far was the Warspite and I got her there.

Funny thing was, I think she's the only capital ship I've spotted this career. Intercepted a task force she was in, west of Scotland, a couple of months into the war and even got a shot at her but everything missed.

She also turned up in the middle of a northern bound convoy coming out of Freetown, about two months after I sank her in the Vestfjord. I left her alone that time, I ain't messin' with no ghost ship.

[Herr-Berbunch]

OK, next time I restart a career I'll make sure to head up to Norway early '40. I usually avoid that way on, maybe that's why I never meet them?

[frau kaleun]

At some point in late March or early April, IIRC, there's radio message about British task forces leaving Britain and believed to be heading east to prepare for invasion/defense of Norway. That's the first indication I remember that things up there are about to get interesting.

Once German operations in Norway are underway (or close to it), you start getting messages about proceeding to defend Narvik or Trondheim or whatever. You can consider them merely "immersive" or obey the "orders" and put yourself into the middle of things.

I think at some point there's another message that releases u-boats back to their previously assigned patrols.

[Convycmg]

Wow. Great insight into the surreality of war from the Jurgen Oesten video. 'Thanks for torpedoing us and giving us a 9-month break in New York'!

As for what could be gleaned about the position of the battleship in the convoy, nothing definite but Oesten did seem to say he was targeting the convoy when he decided to fire at the 'shadow' that looked like it might be the Malaya.

That's another thing I think I came across at precisely the wrong time personally though, in light of my plodding attempts at manual targeting. Er, range; speed, stopwatch for 3.15 oh !*@$ it's a completely different ship than I'd ID'd it earlier what has that done to the range... AOB, ugh, Jawohl Herr Kaleun, solution to target. Compare to: Ja, we saw this shadow that didn't look much like a merchant so we fired at it... at least he didn't sink her!!

[K-61]

Originally Posted by frau kaleun

At some point in late March or early April, IIRC, there's radio message about British task forces leaving Britain and believed to be heading east to prepare for invasion/defense of Norway. That's the first indication I remember that things up there are about to get interesting.

Once German operations in Norway are underway (or close to it), you start getting messages about proceeding to defend Narvik or Trondheim or whatever. You can consider them merely "immersive" or obey the "orders" and put yourself into the middle of things.

I think at some point there's another message that releases u-boats back to their previously assigned patrols.

That is exactly what happened to me on my last patrol. I was outbound from Wilhelmshaven in my VIIB to my Atlantic patrol area when I got a message to sail north to protect Narvik. A British task force passed somewhat near to the north of me, but just a bit too far to intercept. I tried anyway and all I got for it was the consumption of precious fuel. I made it to the Narvik area, saw a few German warships but no enemy. I then received the message to return to my patrol, which I did and was rewarded with a convoy battle.

[danzig70]

You may want to read:

Edwards, B. (1997) Attack and Sink: the Battle for Convoy SC42. New Guild.

Hague, A. (2000) The Allied Convoy System. Chatham Publishing.

I havent read them but they look interesting.

T'was not the real HMS Rodney, but a reverse Q-Ship! Surprise! That battleship was really an near-empty merchant with cardboard sides!

Okay, I kid. I too, sunk the Rodney just south of Brighton, under very similar circumstances. It was going about 6kts in my encounter as well. Quite odd.

[Pisces]

Originally Posted by frau kaleun

At some point in late March or early April, IIRC, there's radio message about British task forces leaving Britain and believed to be heading east to prepare for invasion/defense of Norway. That's the first indication I remember that things up there are about to get interesting.

Oh great, I just finished my patrol on April 1st 1940. There goes my R&R. Talk about April Fools'.

[CherryHarbey]

Originally Posted by Pisces

Oh great, I just finished my patrol on April 1st 1940. There goes my R&R. Talk about April Fools'.

Yep, you're going to be back out pretty sharpish if you using SH3 Commander.
I finished my last patrol 6th April 1940, was back out 12th April and that included a day to repair 1% hull damage and a couple of days to upgrade the batteries.

[Jimbuna]

It was often the case that a BB and close escort would shadow a convoy from a distance during the day but during the night they would on occasion rejoin the convoy because it was felt the BB would be less vulnerable to torpedo attack during the hours of darkness when surrounded by merchantmens hulls......the accompanying escort would then bolster up the convoy escort.

The usually heavy AA weaponry was also useful to help in cases of attack from the air.