With 100% realism I did not get any renown for my first patrol

[Kip336]

Originally Posted by Rambler241

Kip336 said:


... and that's not what Uboat commanders did. In a previous post here, someone complained of not being able to find targets. I pointed out that in SH3, as in real life, you could sail right round the UK and not encounter a single enemy ship. As many here know, sonar is the answer - it gives your crew a "seeing" distance of 30-odd km, compared with a maximum of around 8km for the "Mark I eyeball" (with Zeiss binoculars, of course). In poor visibility, sonar is essential.

In my last completed patrol, I sailed from Brest to W of the Scillies, and then straight across to SW of Ireland, making hourly sonar dips along the way. Crossing the SW Approaches, one of the three best areas for acquiring targets, I detected 6 ships using sonar, one of them after immediately after sinking another target reported on the map. Another was detected using sonar while on the way to intercept a map contact. Two others were detected immediately after sinking sonar-detected targets.

Later, while off the NW coast of Ireland, a report of a large inbound convoy was received, in the NW Approaches. It was around 200km away, but regular sonar dips on the way bagged a Small Merchant and a C3, both sunk using gunfire, and so not wasting torpedoes needed for the convoy attack.

Soon after setting out on my current patrol, bound for AM33 from Brest, I decided to do a sonar check much earlier than normal, around 30km NW of Ushant, and was amazed (and delighted) to pick up a large merchant, very faint. It turned out to be a C2, travelling SSE, which would have taken it suicidally close to Ushant, occupied territory. Without the sonar detection, it would have been missed, at just 10km away from my route.

Apart from all that, regular sonar checks alert you to the location, and course if you can do it, of decidedly unfriendly warships. Surprise is a key factor in warfare, and if you very frequently find yourself surprised, you're not doing something you should.

If you don't use sonar as a matter of course, you're sailing blind.

Sonar checks or Hydrophone checks? Both are quite different.
SONAR, especially in WWII was used as an active detection device to detect ships (ASDIC most notably)

There's a bit more to just 'random ' sailing around for me. I've bagged at least 20.000T on each patrol so far (Aside from Map contacts, I'm going to max realism.)

I stick to the points where convoys merge together. Usually the north side of the western approaches (Convoys ON, ONS, UC/JW, PQ / CU, HX, SC.) If there isn't much activity, I'll dip towards the southern end of the Western Approaches (Convoy routes OA, OB / SL / HG, KX, OG)

On the routes to/from my patrol areas, I head closer towards shore and pick up any targets I find worth file (On the way to I only go for the larget merchants, on the way back I'll take any smaller (<3000 grt) targets I see, with the occasional DD I see patrolling.

Now if I get a task force report.....I always investigate, at least to snap a picture, but with the hopes of bagging a juicy carrier.

[Rambler241]

Kip336 said:

Sonar checks or Hydrophone checks? Both are quite different.

Posters here normally use the term "sonar" as shorthand for "passive sonar", as I think you're well aware. My first paragraph would have made that clear anyway - I said that sonar gave 30km+ "seeing distance". That would hardly apply to active sonar, would it? Your reply implies you don't use passive sonar at all, or rarely.

The fact that you get map contacts doesn't mean there are no other targets near your boat, either when you first see the map contact, or en route to intercept the contact. You're missing out, big time.

[Kip336]

Originally Posted by Rambler241

Kip336 said:

Posters here normally use the term "sonar" as shorthand for "passive sonar", as I think you're well aware. My first paragraph would have made that clear anyway - I said that sonar gave 30km+ "seeing distance". That would hardly apply to active sonar, would it? Your reply implies you don't use passive sonar at all, or rarely.
The fact that you get map contacts doesn't mean there are no other targets near your boat, either when you first see the map contact, or en route to intercept the contact. You're missing out, big time.

Sorry, with Map contacts I meant the Gods Eye view. Even in convoy lanes, you don't get a BDU Contact report for every convoy that passes you, so you'd still have to dip down and use your hydrophone to check for contacts.

I didn't tell CjStaal not to use his hydrophone, nor did I advice him specifically to do it. I specifically said that you generally just sail around. That's what it comes down to.

Personally, I only do Hydrophone checks on the way back from my patrol area. I've got a simple tactic why:
Odds are big I will run into a convoy with multiple large merchant (>7000grt) and many smaller merchants that will end up costing me the better part of my ammunition.

If I spend my torpedoes on every merchant (Lets say >3000grt) I come across on my way to the patrol area, I'd miss out on a lot of tonnage that I could've gotten sinking the largest ships in the convoy.

So, I head for my patrol area (In the convoy lanes), search for a convoy (Using all my sensors available) and sink the largest ships. Depending on the situation, I can stay and use my deckgun for smaller merchants (No escorts, good weather.), or I bow out and start returning home, taking detours left and right along interesting areas to find larger merchants with my hydrophones.

I am not missing out on tonnage, not even big time. I'd even go as far as saying that my tactic ensures I get more tonnage per patrol by waiting for the highest tonnage ships to come in my periscopes. If I don't find a convoy, then I can always fall back on taking smaller targets when I see them.
My worst 'patrol' was just over 20.000grt, but that ended early after a run in with a destroyer Most of my patrols I return with just the bare minimums in my ammo, a few deck gun shells and maybe a hundred or so 20mm shells for AA.

But in the end, we all just sail around looking for targets.

[Pisces]

Iirc there was also a bug that if you change anything to your sub before the 1st patrol (that means upgrades AND crew) then renown doesn't get awarded either.

The amount of renown CjStaal expects suggests it is from reaching the patrol location, but this could also be the reason.