Now,this was not realistic!

[Fish In The Water]

Originally Posted by sublynx

One has these long patrols where the same kind of good old solutions work, but on the background there are advances in weaponry and changes in the strategical and tactical situation that dictate that one has to be able to quicky realize when the battle has changed, and then quickly adapt one's solutions. If one is not aware of the change or the solution is wrong, the black screen drops on the boat...

Just imagine what that must have been like in real life. You're riding high through the 'Happy Times' refining your tactics, brimming with success, (perhaps getting a little full of yourself ), and then - just when you think you've got all the answers, they go and change the questions.

No margin for error, no time to figure it out, just wham, bam - adapt or die!

[sublynx]

Originally Posted by Fish In The Water

Just imagine what that must have been like in real life.

Smoke from an engine room fire gathering at the floor of the boat, destroyer overhead, damaged depth gauge showing 60 meters and you realizing the boat is much deeper than you thought it was. You physically worn down from no exercise, not much sleep for the duration of the attack, your skin rashing from the everpresent moldness in a sub. Warmth inside areas of the boat at 60 degrees Celsius.

According to U-boat War Patrol: The Hidden Photographic Diary of U-564 by Lawrence Paterson these were some of the challenges Teddy Suhren and U-564 had to manage in one of their patrols.

I'm glad it's only a game because it sure is nicer thinking about things like "Now is that destroyer aware of our presence or not? How's my situational awareness right now? " in my comfy chair and not in a real submarine.

[Fish In The Water]

Originally Posted by sublynx

Smoke from an engine room fire gathering at the floor of the boat, destroyer overhead, damaged depth gauge showing 60 meters and you realizing the boat is much deeper than you thought it was. You physically worn down from no exercise, not much sleep for the duration of the attack, your skin rashing from the everpresent moldness in a sub. Warmth inside areas of the boat at 60 degrees Celsius.

And in the midst of all this you have to stay focused on your job, do it as best you can and trust your shipmates to do theirs. Anything less could mean the difference between life and death. Kind of puts 'pressure' into a whole new category.

All in all, I think I'll stick with my armchair sub. Seems a lot safer, at least until my chair catches on fire!