Escaping Destroyers -39'

[Gargamel]

If you have more than one ASW asset hunting you in '39, you messed up somewhere.

[nutworld]

Originally Posted by Gargamel

If you have more than one ASW asset hunting you in '39, you messed up somewhere.

Everyone has to "start" somewhere. Might as well learn early in the war how to avoid those pesky 'cans.

I'm still learning, for sure, but I guess I have been fortunate to not attract as much attention this U-boat is receiving.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Osmium Steele

GWX rule #2: If you MUST navigate the Dover area...

Actually I do go that way, but only after leaving Wilhelmshaven on August 19th. Everybody is still at peace.

Of course Doenitz' standing orders forbade even that. He didn't want anyone knowing what he was up to.

[Spherical]

Well quite a learning curve. But definitely good to learn it now!

Cheers for the responses!

[boonie]

in my experience with 1939 destroyer AI:

- you can avoid them very easily if u set silent running and manually set speed to 0.5 knot (click on the spedometer btwn 0 and 1).
- do not turn off silent running to attempt to reload.
- you can only do 'ahead slow' once they are more than 5km away.
- do not use observation scope (O) or attack scope (F3) when your boat is moving.
- only use observation scope when u are stationary (0knot), avoid using the attack scope like the plague, they can see that very very easily it seems.
- do not fully extend the observation scope, only extend enough so u can see things.
- avoid using scopes if can be helped, use sonar contact to update their guestimated location.

general steps to lure and kill destroyers (1939 period only, havent experiment with late stage dessy):
- when they are coming for you from like 6-8km range dive and set speed to 0.5kt + silent running, this will make u disappear from their sensors. When you initially dive, you should should still have pretty high speed for a brief moment (5-6knot), make use of this speed to get to a favorable angle/firing position.
- bear in mind they will usually head straight to the last spot where u were detected and will travel straight to said spot and start their scan from that spot. Make use of this opportunity when they are on this headlong path and torp them.
- if they are already there and are running in random circles looking for u, use patience and dive away to about 600meter distance from their circular search pattern, stay on periscope depth as often as possible. their asdic seems blind vs close to surface depth @ 0.5knot. swing around to wait for oppotunity.
- at around 600m to 1km, with your bow facing their general direction, set torp to high speed and shoot when their hull is about to circle to (not after) directly 90 degree facing you (broadside), at that angle and close range it takes a miracle to avoid ur torp. Note when u are doing 0.5 knot ur boat turn slow as hell, you will need to use judgement on whether if they will still be there after the turn is completed. use the rear tube to shoot them to avoid making this long turn if u still have a fish in there (having a fish in rear tube always means the first destroyer that come for u is a free kill).
- when shooting your torp, only surface ur observation scope for a brief moment, dont linger the scope above water to see explosion, instead retrieve it and wait til 10sec before impact and raise it again to see the impact (if u really want to see them asplode).
- watch ur depth very very carefully, when u travel below 2 knot, the boat depth can change 1-2meter on random chance. this can make ur conn tower go above water, especially when coupled with rough/semi-rough sea condition.

additional info:
- at around early november 1939 the channel is mined according to BDU radio message.

edit:
disclaimer: if u use the above tactic and gets killed. do not blame me

happy hunting.

[Soviet Creeper]

I tend to, should a destroyer catch me with mah pants down, evade his first attack and then while hes coming around nail him with 2 fast moving fish while praying they dont dud. If they do dud, then Im in for a bad time

[Sailor Steve]

I never shoot my torpedoes at destroyers unless I feel I have absolutely no choice. Every eel fired at an escort is one less merchant sunk.

[Gargamel]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

I never shoot my torpedoes at destroyers unless I feel I have absolutely no choice. Every eel fired at an escort is one less merchant sunk.

But sometimes hitting that lone convoy escort is worth the extra tonnage.

[nutworld]

I would tend to agree, that if I can take out an escort, that gives me the chance for extra tonnage on the merchants. I don't want to use up 8 eels on an escort, but if taking one out gives me the ability to sink an extra merchie, even if it has to be by deck gun....seems worth it.

In my humble opinion.

[Soviet Creeper]

Yeah wasting a few torps on that tiny 1000 ton DD so that you can sink the rest of the convoy with a mix of torps and deck gun is a very effective tatic. Now when theres multiple DDs thats an entirely differnt story, as once you shoot one the other come arushin and things get quite hetic. And scary.

[boonie]

i dont pick targets, if they fly a hostile flag, i will shoot them if they come near.

RP wise i think letting them live just give them a chance to become better at hunting u down, and when they have u pinned under they wont let u go, so why let them live?

[Harald_Lange]

GWX Rule#2

If you must insist on breaking rule #1 by entering the English Channel, ditch the TypeVII and get one of these:

[Red October1984]

Since we're on the topic of evading destroyers....I got a doozy.

I was feelin proud at the helm of U-96. I get a contact report of a convoy entering Firth of Forth area. Well, that's where I was headed. So I make contact and manage to sink 2 merchants. Bad idea. There were 2 destroyers with that small convoy. I eventually had 3 destroyers, a Flower Corvette, and an ASW Trawler pinging me all at once. Well, the depth here is about 17 meters. Crappy evasion water. The Large Merchant and Large Tanker I sank each had just the bow under water so they were mostly still above water, but resting on the bottom. I puttered my way alongside the large merchant and dived right there so no ships could DC me. Well, they eventually stopped and nightfall came. The ships were just waiting me out. Pinging away. All 5. I floated up to scope depth and took a look around. The ships had their lights on. I managed to torp 3 of them. All I had left were my external reloads. Now, what happens next isn't realistic at all. I decided to surface for 7 minutes to get my external torpedoes. Right as I broke the surface and the watch crew crapped every pair of pants they owned, the threat indicator went green. ..... I was shocked. The remaining DD's were lighting me up with searchlights. But. Somehow, I got "lost in the outline" of the large merchant. I torp one more DD. The other one just motors away. I sat there in disbelief. 1941 and 2 DD's with searchlights cant see me. ASDIC couldn't get me on the surface I guess. I survived that mission with 20% hull integrity to spare. It took 8 hours of game time to evade. It's prolly my best story since I broke I into Scapa and got 40K tons of ships.

[nutworld]

Originally Posted by Red October1984

Since we're on the topic of evading destroyers....I got a doozy.

I was feelin proud at the helm of U-96. I get a contact report of a convoy entering Firth of Forth area. Well, that's where I was headed. So I make contact and manage to sink 2 merchants. Bad idea. There were 2 destroyers with that small convoy. I eventually had 3 destroyers, a Flower Corvette, and an ASW Trawler pinging me all at once. Well, the depth here is about 17 meters. Crappy evasion water. The Large Merchant and Large Tanker I sank each had just the bow under water so they were mostly still above water, but resting on the bottom. I puttered my way alongside the large merchant and dived right there so no ships could DC me. Well, they eventually stopped and nightfall came. The ships were just waiting me out. Pinging away. All 5. I floated up to scope depth and took a look around. The ships had their lights on. I managed to torp 3 of them. All I had left were my external reloads. Now, what happens next isn't realistic at all. I decided to surface for 7 minutes to get my external torpedoes. Right as I broke the surface and the watch crew crapped every pair of pants they owned, the threat indicator went green. ..... I was shocked. The remaining DD's were lighting me up with searchlights. But. Somehow, I got "lost in the outline" of the large merchant. I torp one more DD. The other one just motors away. I sat there in disbelief. 1941 and 2 DD's with searchlights cant see me. ASDIC couldn't get me on the surface I guess. I survived that mission with 20% hull integrity to spare. It took 8 hours of game time to evade. It's prolly my best story since I broke I into Scapa and got 40K tons of ships.

Awesome story. I think I'll stay straight away from Jolly ole England. Especially after 1941.

How do you get your crew to get external torps loaded in 7 minutes. I'm in 1939, a VIIB boat, and its almost 10 minutes for me to get my external torps loaded.

[Sailor Steve]

External torpedoes? Realistically they should take an hour to load.