Q-Ship

Eastwa · 01-11-14, 01:41 PM

I saw somebody post something about Q-ships the other day and had never ran into one before until tonight!!.

Sep39, started a new career, went out in a duck to patrol the English channel entrance to the north sea, reached the patrol area no problems,
on the 11th day at sea on the 11.9 I sighted a merchant so I went to periscope depth approached at high submerged speed checked that there were no weapons on the ship then surfaced and according to regulations fired shots from the 20mm across it bows, suddenly the crates started to open fire on me, never happened to me before in any of my careers I was taken totally by surprise, lucky they were lousy shots I crash dived about 500 metres from the Q-ship and then made may way to a suitable firing position and put a torpedo into it, not much effect so then hit it with another still although heavily damaged it was not going down so I circled around to the other side of the ship and put my last torpedo into it which finally sank it, all up only about 4500 tons, good old GWX never fails to surprise me even after all these years.

Note to self be more ruthless at the start of the war!!!

Cheers

Jimbuna · 01-11-14, 01:46 PM

BE MORE AGGRESSIVE!!

Aktungbby · 01-11-14, 06:03 PM

Indeed one of the nastiest aspects of both world wars was the Q-ship cat-and-mouse between A wary kaleun and super-sneaky ship crews. One half of the crew would even stage an evacuation to the life boats to lure a U-boat to the surface. The hidden crew would be manning the guns. As told partly in Castles of Steel and Dreadnought , one of the Q captains won the VC...twice... and how is still classified.

Jimbuna · 01-12-14, 06:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eastwa

I saw somebody post something about Q-ships the other day and had never ran into one before until tonight!!.

Sep39, started a new career, went out in a duck to patrol the English channel entrance to the north sea, reached the patrol area no problems,
on the 11th day at sea on the 11.9 I sighted a merchant so I went to periscope depth approached at high submerged speed checked that there were no weapons on the ship then surfaced and according to regulations fired shots from the 20mm across it bows, suddenly the crates started to open fire on me, never happened to me before in any of my careers I was taken totally by surprise, lucky they were lousy shots I crash dived about 500 metres from the Q-ship and then made may way to a suitable firing position and put a torpedo into it, not much effect so then hit it with another still although heavily damaged it was not going down so I circled around to the other side of the ship and put my last torpedo into it which finally sank it, all up only about 4500 tons, good old GWX never fails to surprise me even after all these years.

Note to self be more ruthless at the start of the war!!!

Cheers

If you'd like to know the surefire way of identifying them in advance you can PM me.

igorlikespike · 01-27-14, 03:40 PM

Hi all,
so far I encountered & sunk 3 Q-ships, first two in 1939 and the last in August 1943! (funny thing-the flag was US but SH3 commander named it as a RN ship) I never ID them as Q-ships, but I always attacked it first with a torpedo and after hitting them, they always blew up - unlike normal tramp cargo ships!

Jimbuna · 01-27-14, 04:46 PM

BE MORE AGGRESSIVE!!

01-11-14, 01:41 PM	#1
Eastwa Torpedoman Join Date: Jan 2012 Posts: 112 Downloads: 124 Uploads: 0	Q-Ship I saw somebody post something about Q-ships the other day and had never ran into one before until tonight!!. Sep39, started a new career, went out in a duck to patrol the English channel entrance to the north sea, reached the patrol area no problems, on the 11th day at sea on the 11.9 I sighted a merchant so I went to periscope depth approached at high submerged speed checked that there were no weapons on the ship then surfaced and according to regulations fired shots from the 20mm across it bows, suddenly the crates started to open fire on me, never happened to me before in any of my careers I was taken totally by surprise, lucky they were lousy shots I crash dived about 500 metres from the Q-ship and then made may way to a suitable firing position and put a torpedo into it, not much effect so then hit it with another still although heavily damaged it was not going down so I circled around to the other side of the ship and put my last torpedo into it which finally sank it, all up only about 4500 tons, good old GWX never fails to surprise me even after all these years. Note to self be more ruthless at the start of the war!!! Cheers

01-11-14, 01:46 PM	#2
Jimbuna Chief of the Boat Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: 250 metres below the surface Posts: 190,500 Downloads: 63 Uploads: 13	BE MORE AGGRESSIVE!! __________________ Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something. Oh my God, not again!!

01-11-14, 06:03 PM	#3
Aktungbby Gefallen Engel U-666 Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: On a tilted, overheated, overpopulated spinning mudball on Collision course with Andromeda Galaxy Posts: 29,995 Downloads: 24 Uploads: 0	Indeed one of the *nastiest* aspects of both world wars was the Q-ship cat-and-mouse between A wary kaleun and super-sneaky ship crews. One half of the crew would even stage an evacuation to the life boats to lure a U-boat to the surface. The hidden crew would be manning the guns. As told partly in Castles of Steel and Dreadnought , one of the Q captains won the VC...twice... and how is still classified. __________________ "Only two things are infinite; The Universe and human squirrelyness?!!

01-27-14, 04:46 PM	#6
Jimbuna Chief of the Boat Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: 250 metres below the surface Posts: 190,500 Downloads: 63 Uploads: 13	BE MORE AGGRESSIVE!! __________________ Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something. Oh my God, not again!!

01-27-14, 03:40 PM	#5
igorlikespike Helmsman Join Date: May 2011 Location: Slovenia Posts: 101 Downloads: 139 Uploads: 1	Hi all, so far I encountered & sunk 3 Q-ships, first two in 1939 and the last in August 1943! (funny thing-the flag was US but SH3 commander named it as a RN ship) I never ID them as Q-ships, but I always attacked it first with a torpedo and after hitting them, they always blew up - unlike normal tramp cargo ships!