Some strategic advice please.

[cardician]

Ok, so this patrol I'm on I decided to go a different route. Turned the realism way down by eliminating the limited air and fuel supplies. So after completing my patrol I decide to head up to that torpedo base NE of England. On the way I come across a couple of British merchants that I down with the giddiness of a schoolboy. Finally I get close to the base and start detecting warships. There are two of them north of me patrolling the area.

So what should I do? What's the best approach here? It's the middle of the night, decent weather. Should I get close to them on the surface or should I creep by low down?

Last time I tried to stalk a destroyer he somehow just "knew" I was around once he got within a certain range and started heading right for me. I have no idea how as I never heard any active pinging and it was night then too so he certainly couldn't have seen my snorkel. I'm wondering if perhaps that's the "advanced" ai. Either way, what do you guys think would be my best approach to get two more threats out of Germany's hair?

[Jimbuna]

If your hell bent on carrying out what will probably be a suicide mission then you either submerge to periscope depth and torpedo them or set your speed to 2 knots silent running and try to creep past them. Never attempt to pass them by on the surface.

[Brag]

Best strategy:

Stay away from shallow water!

[Mooncatt]

yup if its shallow dont even go there u will be dead, u need about 250m water under you, then if you still wanna do it make sure its night and the weather is bad i.e storm. go as deep as poss (i assume its either a VII sub??) about 200m should do it with 2knts silent running, you should make it.
i doubt however the water is that deep and you say the weather is good? i assume this means light winds and calm water? if so forget it their sonar is much better in this kind of weather.

[cardician]

LOL. From these responses, this will be quite funny to most of you.

Actually its December of '39 and I'm in a IIA with only 3 fish left. So you're saying this is a bad idea? I'm not so much trying to get into the harbor or whatever this torpedo base is, as specifically take out these two DDs.

I thougth U-boats were great at surfaced night attacks. No? C'mon...this can't be that bad of an idea

[Jimbuna]

Exactly which harbour are you approaching and what version of the game are you playing ? :hmm:

[raduz]

Originally Posted by cardician

LOL. From these responses, this will be quite funny to most of you.

Actually its December of '39 and I'm in a IIA with only 3 fish left. So you're saying this is a bad idea? I'm not so much trying to get into the harbor or whatever this torpedo base is, as specifically take out these two DDs.

I thougth U-boats were great at surfaced night attacks. No? C'mon...this can't be that bad of an idea

Let DDs go... Focus on merchants. They are much more valuable targets. By sinking DDs, you cause only minor damage to the Royal Navy. The DDs are not worth the risk you undergo when attacking them. We all know you are a brave warrior but the u-boat war is not about bravery... I mean, you can act bravely when you attack King George, but dont risk the lives of your crew for two priceless destroyers.

[Brag]

Once a U-boat reveals its presence, it is a vulnerable steel tube. You need room to escape. There is no room in shallow water, so you are simply hero material like a dead duck.

[Gedscho]

if you go faster than minimum speed (slow speed ahead?) they will be able to hear you, even without sonar pinging you. (i play with noise metre, since i had no kriegsmarine training- heck im glad about that btw)

i tried to run the street of dover at the beginning of the war, several times. once the dd spots you in shallow water, i think the ONLY way of evading them is to maneuver yourself around til you get an opportunity to sink it.

correct me if im wrong, please.

[cardician]

Alright, looks like the consensus is on not taking them on. Should be plenty easy to turn around. The depth where I am is currently around 90m.

As to where I am, its the base NE of Scapa Flow. Its labeled as a sub base. I forget the name associated with it. And I'm using GWX 1.03

But you guys are right, not worth risking the lives of the men to take out a few DDs. So far I have managed 13,000 tons on this patrol though. Got lucky and crossed paths with a 10,000 ton merchant.

Anyway, maybe I'll head over to Scapa and see what's up. After all its only December of '39. It can't be that well guarded right? I'm not sure why I always hear bad things about it...

[Brag]

The Strait of Dover is a death trap, the whole Channel is. Avoid it!
Attacking an unsuspecting destroyer gives you 1,000 tonnes and if you miss, your butt is cooked.

Near the surface at 2 kts, a DD may have trouble spotting you. If it is actively searching your area, it will hear you. When evading a DD, I use 1knot.

[cardician]

You know, I was reading some true accounts of US subs in WW2 today at work and noticed something similar to what you say. I was reading about a boat called the Tang. It attacked numerous Japanese convoys sinking quite a few merchants. Each time it would mention how it came upon a convoy of like 4 merchants and 6 escorts (always a very high number of escorts) and never once did I see it mention that they targetted the escorts. Always the merchants. I thought perhaps there was some official order towards this effect, like the Germans had a the beginning to only attack British merchant shipping. But perhaps its because as you say, its just not really worth it?

[Brag]

Blockade warfare is to cut economic supplies to the the enemy. WWII submarines were designed and build to sink merchies not to duke it out with warships. My philosophy for succes: 1 torpedo, 1 ship, 10,000 tons.

SH3 & GWX reward you for tonnage.

[Gedscho]

Originally Posted by Brag

The Strait of Dover is a death trap, the whole Channel is. Avoid it!
Attacking an unsuspecting destroyer gives you 1,000 tonnes and if you miss, your butt is cooked.

ah well, i never died there... second patrol i just silentran at minimum speed at about 20m through it. even managed to sink that "leuchtfeuerschiff" while it was 5km away...

i hope that makes some pesky tankers and merchants run through too shallow water!

later in the war, im pretty sure its not that easy...

btw... are there leigh lights in gwx?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leigh_Light

After its introduction Allied shipping losses from U boats dropped from 600,000 to 200,000 tons per month.

THAT would make the strait of dover a deathtrap for sure

[Corsair]

Yes there are leigh lights on planes...