Critique my tactics

[PavelKirilovich]

I loathe convoy attacks. I very rarely made them work for me, even in the early war years, and instead switched to fighting my way inside harbours, ninja'ing my way inside harbours, or slotting lone or paired up ships.

The few times I made successful runs on convoys, the plan went as followed.


i) Upon determining course and speed, I would move perpendicular to the convoy's flank. I would then run silent and raise the periscope just above the water's surface for no more than ten seconds. I use the stopwatch to time this. The reconnaissance I am conducting at this point is meant to identify where the large ships are in the convoy. I then plot them on the navigation map.


ii) Periscope down, I approach. My aim is to end up 500m at maximum from my target vessels. I am generally just inside the convoy.

iii) Using my weapons officer for that added bit of speed, I generate solutions on all priority (Read: Large amounts of GRT) targets and fire.

iv) With torpedoes in the water, I turn towards the tail of the convoy, simultaneously lowering my periscope and pushing the engines to ahead flank. Making maximum revolutions on electric, I then dive. Once I come near the rear of the convoy, I execute a sharp turn and run silent.

v) This generally puts me in a position to stay very near a merchantman and slowly dive. This keeps the escorts from attacking me, and often, as they have lost me on ASDIC, they will not acquire me on SONAR and begin the "Wabo Dance of Death."

It may have helped that I always crewed a Type VIIB or VIIC, which has a much smaller profile than the IX and a respectable torpedo capacity, unlike the II.