Torpedoes

[Kielhauler1961]

Originally Posted by stevee620

...so don't know what i'm supposed to do once i've fired em all lol.

As you're in a Type II, I presume you are operating in the North Sea early in the war? If so, there is one way to make your limited stock of torpedoes go further but it calls for a bit of patience. Firstly, DON'T waste a precious torpedo on anything less than a Small Merchant or Small Freighter. I expect each torpedo to account for 2000 tons plus. Ignore Tramp Steamers and Coastal Freighters (just under 2000 tons). Don't fret if you haven't had a decent contact after letting one or two Trampers go by, something bigger (or smaller) will be along eventually.

Choose a spot about 50-80km from the British East coast, set a course between SW and NW and dive. Set sped for 1 knot and TC for x64. Listen on hydrophones yourself every hour or so, staying submerged until the air runs low. Turn the boat every so often to sweep the hydrophone dead zone (baffles) ahead and astern. When your sonarman detects a contact, kill TC back to x1 immediately and start plotting an interception.

You will quickly learn to distinguish between ship types by their unique sound. Beware that to our ears, an armed trawler sounds just like a civilian trawler but your sonarman can somehow tell the difference (that's when he can hear it at all!) Trawlers make a distinctive 'ticking' sound.

The East coast of Britain has of lot of small-fry North-South traffic that are easy prey for the flak gun, such as fishing boats (90 tons), coal tenders (300 t), larger trawlers (800 t), tugboats (1100 t) and coastal tankers (1300 t+). If you get in the habit of moving around slowly and listening regularly you will be surprised how much is out there. The targets may not be individually that valuable but it all adds up... It's also great fun!

If you return to port out of torpedoes but with flak gun ammo remaining you've missed an opportunity.

KH