My first SH4 patrol!

[DanFraser]

I've been a long time SH3 player, but just bought SH4 with the UBoat missions addon today. I immediately hopped in to a Gar class boat and went on a career. The first mission was to go to the Marshall Islands and have a free-style hunt. This isn't the Atlantic though and I get a little bored so I decide to see what harbour raiding is like in SH4

Before I get to the Tokyo area though, I get a report of a task force on a course which allows me to get below the thermal and come up on them. I first get a few destroyer escort hydrophone readings, and then things go quiet. Then all hell breaks loose on the hydrophone. This task force has a lot of warships, and even some merchants in support.

I close in using the classic method of go deep, wait for the screen to get in the right position and then go to periscope depth. This is what I see before me...



Yes, a fleet of carriers... Two Shokaku fleet carriers and two escorts, with loads of other ships around. On raising of my periscope, I discover the lead Shokaku is immediately on a good firing solution at about 4000m so as quickly as I could, I set tubes one and two to fast and just let them rip. I then sent two more to each of the two other carriers in the middle on fast settings.

I was a little giddy, so my screen shots don't show that much!

It wasn't long before the escorts were annoyed. Seven of them at one point.

It was surprisingly easy to get away though after I dived to max depth and got below the thermal layer.



Even though another carrier was still floating, I decided I had a good encounter and just legged it! I'm still on my way to the Tokyo area...

[LeeVanSpliff]

Heh that's a glorious start of your captain's career!

And yeah, getting away from destroyers seems somewhat easier in SH4 than it was in SH3.

[Syxx_Killer]

I've never been able to send three flattops at once to the bottom. I'm envious! I sent an escort carrier to the bottom out of a task force once. The only Jap fleet carrier I ever came across was a lone Hiryu puttsing along at 5 kts. It was a pretty easy kill.

[BettingUrlife]

A target-rich environment is what we all love to see and even better when we are in a good position to take advantage of it!! And it gets better again when we can slip away from the escorts.

It's times like this after a successful attack and getting away when I always remember that Pink Panther movie and Closeau is the crowded lift and lets off a fart (can I use that word here?) and acts like he didn't do it, so everyone is looking around trying to figure out who did the dirty deed!!! It's a different situation but analogy is the same I think.

And I have to agree with LeeVan, getting away from DDs seems easier in the game, just keep heading into the middle of the target area and the enemy will overshoot you.

[DanFraser]

You guys are going to hate me even more. Update coming soon...

[DanFraser]

I decided upon the Osaka area as a place to have a look at first. After skirting round a very tempting convoy in the mouth of the area I scouted around all the ports but didn't find anything until Kobe. I came upon heaven itself. Outside the bay were a Kongo class, Ise class and another Shokaku carrier.

Shokaku:


When I edged closer to line up for the Shokaku I discovered more inside the harbour area itself. There was another Shokaku and a Hiryu carrier inside!

Shokaku #1 going down:



I then headed in to the harbour and lined up all my tubes for the two carriers...

Shokaku #2 going down!


Hiryu is added to the list!



I then circled round the north end of the harbour and lined up for what would be a pain in the back side of a ship, the Ise.

Two torpedoes went flying and made good hits.


Didn't sink,

so another was let loose...


Shallow waters are a pain!

I circled round to fire my last torpedo and that finally finished her off!


Once I've returned to base, I fully expect a Life Presidency and the Japs to surrender within a day.

[LeeVanSpliff]

Originally Posted by DanFraser

You guys are going to hate me even more.

Actually I didn't feel any of the promised hate. Not until continuing my patrol last night.

I'm patrolling the mission area. I sank two ships earlier, while traveling to the area. I have 6 torpedoes left (sailing in an S-18 class sub to optimize the way I suck). I was down to 54% fuel and really needed to find some Japanese ships to fire my torpedoes at so that I could head home.

A contact showed up on my radar. I measured angle and range and did a mark on the map (using "no map contact updates"). For the next hour or two I did this ever 10-15 minutes, getting a rough idea which way and at which speed the contact was moving. Meanwhile I sent my crew to battle stations and disabled the recharging battery to get the most speed out of my S-18 and get in position to intercept.

In the early hours of dawn my crew spotted a few ships. I sent a contact report (that said "convoy" ... the radio guy could hardly have known it, seeing how the only thing I could make out was three tiny dots on the horizon). I dive, lie in wait and ... discover that the "convoy" is really two sampans and a fishing boat.

Back on the surface I gun the crap out of the outdated ships. One sinks without me getting kill for it (it could have been a submarine in disguise) and the "engage enemy freighters" that I got when reporting the "convoy" is not completed. I still have 6 torpedoes but somewhat less fuel.

The following day my crew relaxes and I evade some aircrafts. In the late afternoon a huge, beautiful blip shows up on my radar. After a few measurements I realize that it's moving away from me and that I'll have to burn some fuel to catch up with it.

I wake my crew and send them to battle stations and a long, demanding chase takes place. At 5AM my crew is completely trashed and I have even less fuel than when I started. I still have my six torpedoes and I'm very much looking forward to shoot some of them into the hull of a freighter. When the first rays of sun light up the ocean I see my clueless target. One fishing boat. Damn IJN must have set up a decoy system using worthless ships to nag the hell out of me.

Greatly aggravated I surface, man the deck gun and sink the ship in four or five shots. I still have six torpedoes, but I'm down to 40some percent fuel. Furthermore the high speed chase took me out of my mission area where I probably need to patrol for 40 more seconds before fulfilling the requirements. While sailing back my captain is filling out a request for an immediate transfer to the infantry.