Advice for harbour raids

[wojasos]

Dover - few merchants and Southampton class .

[Wreford-Brown]

New York, January 1942.

A submarine net covers the southern end of the entrance and there's no way around it so you need to infiltrate at night or in poor weather (preferably both).
The only defenders were two Elco torpedo boats so as long as you remain submerged there's no reason to get damaged.
Inside the harbour was a dream:
Large Troop Ship 24k tons
Ceramic Type Ocean Liner 15k
Modern Tanker 12k
Large Merchant 12k
Large Tanker 11k
2 x Liberty Ships 7k
3 x Medium Cargo 5k
3 x Tramp Steamer 1k
Static Clemson Destroyer 1k
2 x Tugboats 1k

You can either reload at the northern end of the northern leg of the harbour or extract to the open ocean. Despite being in a IXc, ran out of torpedoes before running out of targets!

[Wreford-Brown]

Tobruk, April 1942.

On the northern side of the harbour is a headland. Rule a line 2.8km from the furthest eastern side of this headland along the map line and you'll get the extent of a sub net. This net is very shallow and you will not be able to surface to get over it. You need to either surface next to the headland and use the shallow water there or go around the net to the east. No mines were seen.

Inside the harbour was a Troop Transporter, Medium cargo, 2 x Small tankers, Tramp steamer, LST, V&W Class, Tugboat and Small trawler (total around 25k tons).

Defending the harbour were a Tribal class and 2 x ASW Trawlers.

Overall, little risk but little gain.

[Wreford-Brown]

Port Said, May 1942.

The route I took was through the gap in the breakwater on the western side of the harbour. No mines and no sub nets seen.

Inside the harbour was a Southampton class, Troop Transport, LST and V&W class. There was also a Small tanker and Medium Cargo but both of these were neutral.

Defending the harbour were 13 ships - 7 x Destroyers, 2 x ASW Trawlers and 2 x MTBs outside the breakwater and 2 x MTBs inside.

Overall, very risky and little gain.

[Wreford-Brown]

Alexandria, July 1942.

Approach from the northeast and follow the headland to the north of the harbour down the walls into the harbour itself.

Inside the harbour were a Large cargo, Modern tanker, Liberty cargo, Small merchant, Small freighter and a C&D class (total around 50k tons). Also in the harbour were a number of neutrals - Hospital ship, Small tanker, Small merchant and Tugboat.

Defending the harbour were 3 x V&W class, 1 x C&D class, 1 x River class and 3 x MTBs.

Overall, tricky approach but worth the effort.

[harzfeld]

I was sailing in IXB during rain & fog on way to raid Southend again while running TC 256, can't see anything beyond 700m in AN79 on May 23rd 1940. The game got laggy, so to be safe, I went under. My sonar man picked up 6 warships NW, another 6 warships NE, and another 6 warships east of me, plus 2 warships SE (assuming ASW trawler & Elco boat) around 6000-10000m surrounding me. Before I surfaced and planned on to flank SW away from them, I didn't check the weather, sudden my WO spotted warships as I went wtf and saw sky clearing up and sunny. I hurry went back under silent running SW, and only see all of them were destroyers, no capital ships. Lucky none of them saw me due to high waves. At least I got to sink two large troop ships again.

Now I am heading to Dover again to sink another two large troop ships, plus a floating dock and Southampton cruiser. I never seen a mine around those docks. Only time I got stuck by a mine and caused serious damages near Firth of Forth, so I never bother to go there again.

[Wreford-Brown]

Plymouth, Sept 1939.

Straight in approach from the south with no nets or mines seen.

Inside the harbour was HMS Hood (46k tons) and 2 x Tramp steamers.
Neutrals in the harbour were 2 x Tramp steamers.

Defending the harbour were 3 x ASW Trawlers and 2 x MTBs.

Overall, little risk for huge gain.

[Kptlt. Siegmann]

From: U-109
To: Subsim
Date: January 24th, 1941
Location: Inside Freetown

Have infiltrated Freetown without detection. Currently in the middle of port picking targets.

Large Troop Ship x1 - British
Medium Cargo x1 - British
Modern Tanker x1 - British
Small Merchant x1 - Netherlands, x1 South Africa
Small Tanker x1 - British
Tramp Steamer x1 - Austrialian, x2 Brazilian, x1 British, x4 South African


Defense
1 ASW Trawler patroling 15km NW of base
1 ASW Trawler anchored just outside of base
1 Destroyer, Unknown Class, Anchored approx. 10km NNE of base

1 Land Turret in the SE corner of base facing NE. No threat posed.
1 Land Turret 4km W of base in vegetation, facing base.

20 torpedoes remaining. Beginning attack. Will report successes, if we survive. Numerous Destroyers patrolling 40-50km NW of base along the coast.

-----

From: U-109
To: Subsim

Have sunk 6 ships bringing total patrol tonnage to approx. 62,000t. 7 Torpedoes remaining. Light damage from depth charges. 2 ASW vessels and 1 destroyer sunk due to collision with docks. Requesting new assignment.

-----
EDIT: Sorry about that, I meant Freetown. not sure why I said Portsmouth...Bernard, quit changing the location in our radio transmissions...

[d@rk51d3]

Ahhhhh, Freetown.

That's a fun raid.

[Nuoz]

Why didn't the germans do that irl? Too dangerous? really?

[Nuoz]

I mean what made it a sure to die situation? Or in other worlds, what was different?

[Kptlt. Siegmann]

Chances were, more often than not, that the port was heavily defended, and most likely not worth the risk. Shallow waters, mines, subnets, and probably a handful of tin cans. That's asking for a u-boat never to return.

In my case in-game, I almost didn't make it out of Freetown alive. An ASW Trawler dumped a can right on top of my bow quarters and wrecked havoc and pushed my boat into the sea floor some 5m below me (I was at periscope depth). I somehow didn't sustain critical damage, and made note of the fact that I shouldn't dive very deep for the duration of the patrol. Little did I know that 30 hours later, that would be the very reason that sent me to the bottom. (My boat crushed at just over 80 meters when I was pushed down by a close barrage of depth charges.)

So to sum it up. Risk vs Reward...we'll pass on harbor raids...

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Nuoz

Why didn't the germans do that irl? Too dangerous? really?

What was dangerous was the unknown. The only successful harbor raid - the only one they tried, really - was Prien's attack at Scapa Flow; and he didn't just go do it. Admiral Doenitz used the latest aerial photographs and spy information to plan the attack, and he personally recruited Prien for the job.

Other harbors were probably heavily defended, especially after Scapa Flow, but the real deterrent was the lack of information.

[Myxale]

MY only advice for Harbor raids is a TypeII.:hmm:

[John O]

Originally Posted by d@rk51d3

Ahhhhh, Freetown.

That's a fun raid.

Yes, very much so. And like some others, it can be accessed through it's back or side entrance.