When to return home?

[seafarer]

Most fleet boats were designed for 70-75 days endurance. I remember seeing the figure of 58 days, as one of the longest US patrols of the war. The USS Lionfish's first patrol in 1945 was 51 days (includes 23 submerged), and she never fired a shot.

It seems from reading patrol reports that, barring mechanical problems forcing an early return to port, patrols lasted anywhere from ~40 to ~60 days.

edit: USS Parche's 3rd war patrol was 86 days (10-Sept. to 2-Dec, 1944), but she did make a stop in at Saipan part way through that. She escorted the USS Sailfish in as Sailfish's transmitter was not working. Her 3rd patrol officially ended on 2-Dec when whe returned to Midway for refit.

[Sailor Steve]

"We head for home when I SAY we head for home...Navigator!"

Sorry, couldn't resist.

[Powerthighs]

As stated above, patrols were usually more than a month and less than two months. Obviously, if you had good hunting and ran out of torps early you would come home much sooner. I try to make mine not last more than about 7 weeks even if I still have fuel/torps.

Regarding reloading and going back out, in the Asiatic fleet later on in the war (when they had more advanced bases) they would sometimes do "double-barreled" patrols where they would return to a forward base after expending their torps, reload, and go back out for another run. I don't know of any instances where this reload happened more than once.

[Snuffy]

Lots of good points here.

Something to consider, we sit in our nice comfortable homes in front of a computer screen and we can come and go as we please in the duration of the sim.

IRL those guys were stuck in a tuna fish can with no real personal space let alone hygene, and some of them got pretty homesick after a good month at sea. Many needed the feel of sand beneath their feet etc.

Good skippers always looked out for the welfare of their crews. Something we as simmers, sometimes do not consider since we can TC all over the world if we wanted to.



Play for real. Your men need to get "home" once in a while to terra firma!

[seafarer]

All the more reason to pick Pearl as home port - let your crew relax in the Royal Hawaiian Hotel (aka the Rest and Recuperation Annex to the Submarine Base).

There should be an option for a swim call while on patrol too

[rjbudz]

Of course, there's also Hotel Street.

[Rockin Robbins]

I go out until I expend my torpedoes, usually two or three missions, and then return. I always complete at least one mission. Then its back to the farm to end the cruise.

Why? Because only at the end of the cruise are you offered refits, promotions, medals, new boats, etc. If you routinely repair, reload and go back out just once on every patrol, you cut those opportunities in half for your career. People complain about being stuck with the same conning tower too long, but never complete their patrols as they are supposed to.

Complete your objectives. Complete your cruises. There's a good part of the secret to playing SH4.