Quick query on tonnage...

[Raven Morpheus]

So no real specific "x tonnage is reasonable" figures then.

That's cool, because on my 1st mission I had a miserable time, I sunk under 15,000 tons, but only refitted once anyway.

Much better on the 2nd mission that I've just finished where I achieved 38,000 tons on 2 refits - mostly helped because I looked at a chart with the shipping lanes on and found a nice sweet corridor coming up from the Carolinas and just west of Guam and I came across a Large European liner in a convoy...

Funnily though I'm top of the Sub Aces board in my game!


About refitting - surely they would have gone back to refit once out of torpedoes and/or deck gun ammo? I'm guessing then that realistically the game should forward time a couple of weeks/months instead of the instant refit it does?

[SilentPrey]

I'm running TMO, RSRDC, OTC, and Traveller's mod. My last patrol netted me 800 renown. I went where I was sent, I ran low on fuel and went home, no refits. I only sunk two 4,000 ton ships. The TMO manual says 601+ renown is a good patrol. I'm not sure if Traveller changed that but I was number two on my leader board with less that 9,000 tons. Top guy had 13,000 if I remember right.

15,000 is plenty good. If you end up going back to school with that it will be as the teacher. Unless your realism settings knock it down too far. I play at 100%. I believe the raw renown score gets multiplied by your realism percentage before you get credited.

[raygamhu]

Originally Posted by SilentPrey

I'm running TMO, RSRDC, OTC, and Traveller's mod. My last patrol netted me 800 renown. I went where I was sent, I ran low on fuel and went home, no refits. I only sunk two 4,000 ton ships. The TMO manual says 601+ renown is a good patrol. I'm not sure if Traveller changed that but I was number two on my leader board with less that 9,000 tons. Top guy had 13,000 if I remember right.

15,000 is plenty good. If you end up going back to school with that it will be as the teacher. Unless your realism settings knock it down too far. I play at 100%. I believe the raw renown score gets multiplied by your realism percentage before you get credited.

Same mods except Traveller, and in mid November 42, we participated with a Gar class, in the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal during nights of 13-15 November.
During night defending Lunga Point, south of Savo Island and refit during day in Tulagi. 3 Kongos, 2 Takaos, and some Furutakas, Kuma light cruisers, and destroyers sinked. Result approx 150000 t. Result when back in Brisbane renown was 15000.

[TorpX]

Originally Posted by Raven Morpheus

About refitting - surely they would have gone back to refit once out of torpedoes and/or deck gun ammo? I'm guessing then that realistically the game should forward time a couple of weeks/months instead of the instant refit it does?

The term "refit" is really a misnomer. All you are doing is loading torpedoes and fuel, and maybe making a few minor repairs. This would likely take hours to a day.

At the end of a patrol, a refit crew would take over, and start repair and the crew would have shore leave (if you could call it that). After they were rested, a period of training would commence and finally some exercises before the next patrol. This would usually be about 3 weeks, unless major repairs or such were to be done. Then it could be much longer, as extensive overhauls required shipyard work in the States.

The fleetboats were designed to carry stores and fuel for 75 days, but generally were scheduled for 60 days. However, it often happened that patrols had to be terminated for various reasons, including fuel, torpedoes, mechanical problems, battle damage, illness, etc.

Personally, I feel a patrol should be limited to about 60 days, or 75 at the most. Say about half that for a S-boat. Early in the war, operations were conducted on an emergency basis, due to desperate circumstances, but that is a bit different.

As far as the "double-barrel" patrols are concerned (using "refits" to get more torpedoes and fuel), I doubt that many skippers were willing to prolong their patrols much beyond 60 or 70 days. Patrol ops were very fatiguing and stressful for the crew, and they would likely be worn to a frazzle after that length of time.