Its not Cricket, Herr Kaleun!

GJO · 01-22-14, 07:27 AM

After a fairly fruitless patrol South West of the Canary Islands in April 1941 I decided to cross the Atlantic to see if I might find richer pickings. After many days at sea (it takes forever at the most fuel efficient cruising speed) I am heading for the Gulf of Mexico - remembering from the film, 'San Demetrio, London' that tankers bound for the UK started from Galveston, Texas, but on the way I decide to have a closer look at the port of Key West. The USA is still neutral and the harbour patrols ignore me as I nose in at periscope depth - then, dead ahead, I see a 'White Ensign' fluttering from the mast of a 'Flower' Class Corvette, apparently at anchor. I close to 450 Metres and sink it with one torpedo before sneaking off to continue hunting for tankers. The US harbour patrols continue to ignore me and soon dissapear out of range behind me . . .

I didn't find any British tankers and subsequently I decided to abort the second part of this patrol and restart from my saved position South West of the Canary Islands. My thinking being that such an action shouldn't have been possible in real life - a submarine attacking a ship at anchor in a neutral (but most probably not friendly) port would surely provoke a reaction and with less than 15 Metres of water under the keel, escape from attacking patrol boats and destroyers would have been unlikely - would the US ships have retaliated? I really don't know but I think they should have - after all, an attack on a guest in their home port is just not fair! Having said that, I am playing the part of a German sub commander and the rules of Cricket probably don't apply . . .

01-22-14, 07:27 AM	#1
GJO Engineer Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: On the Oxford Canal in England Posts: 202 Downloads: 40 Uploads: 0	Its not Cricket, Herr Kaleun! After a fairly fruitless patrol South West of the Canary Islands in April 1941 I decided to cross the Atlantic to see if I might find richer pickings. After many days at sea (it takes forever at the most fuel efficient cruising speed) I am heading for the Gulf of Mexico - remembering from the film, 'San Demetrio, London' that tankers bound for the UK started from Galveston, Texas, but on the way I decide to have a closer look at the port of Key West. The USA is still neutral and the harbour patrols ignore me as I nose in at periscope depth - then, dead ahead, I see a 'White Ensign' fluttering from the mast of a 'Flower' Class Corvette, apparently at anchor. I close to 450 Metres and sink it with one torpedo before sneaking off to continue hunting for tankers. The US harbour patrols continue to ignore me and soon dissapear out of range behind me . . . I didn't find any British tankers and subsequently I decided to abort the second part of this patrol and restart from my saved position South West of the Canary Islands. My thinking being that such an action shouldn't have been possible in real life - a submarine attacking a ship at anchor in a neutral (but most probably not friendly) port would surely provoke a reaction and with less than 15 Metres of water under the keel, escape from attacking patrol boats and destroyers would have been unlikely - would the US ships have retaliated? I really don't know but I think they should have - after all, an attack on a guest in their home port is just not fair! Having said that, I am playing the part of a German sub commander and the rules of Cricket probably don't apply . . .