Arctic Laufbahn

Kapitanleutnant Uli Eckertfinally retired from active service after 14 patrols with 350 000 tons of allied ships sunk. Now he's training fresh crews, providing them with best tactical knowledge available, which brought him fame and allowed to come back home safely.

Oblerleutnant z.S. Paul Nehman is his finest student. After nearly year of hard training he got the command of U-354 assigned to Bergen. BdU thinks that carefully selected and trained crew for this mission and equipped in latest technology type VIIC/2 boat should be a great addition to 11 U-flotille and provide solid results in sinking arctic convoys to Russia.

...

11 Juni 1942
18:00

Dead calm sea and the sky full of stars... this can't mean anything good. "Maneuver stations, ahead small." Besides it was beautiful in this peaceful fjord with mountains growing out of the water and dimmed lights of the harbor behind our bow, it was freezing. It was just a beginning. Before we reached full sea, took our last landmark fix for the rest of the patrol, our hull was shining like a glass. Thin layer of ice was already covering our deck. "Yeah, we've got the hardest job as usual...".

We performed a test dive to 100m, wow that VIIC is so responsive underwater! On the next day morning we had an opportunity to test our flakzwillings. Some lost Swordfish jumped on us from the sun but never even managed to came closer. Gut gemacht menschen! Maybe this patrol is not going to be that bad? After all we are one of the best equipped boats with FuMo-28 radar, active sonar, decoys and much more reliable VIIC type boat. Bigger conn tower provides space for two MGs and better protection against the bad weather. Just still wondering why the hell are we carrying that 88. I can't imagine firing it in those seas... need to drop it with next visit in Bergen... if we make it.



...

Yeah, just took my new career. This time no chit-chat, just hardcore. Jumped to 1942 to try some new toys and VIIC and more challenging DDs. Most importantly I'm going to navigate manually, no cheating, try to behave as realistic as possible (like reload externals only at stop, calm sea, can't dive etc). I've edited my crew manually. It is 40 people, 95% without any experience, everyone has its trained qualifications. Sailors don't count, they are just marked for more realism, just not to put a guy after loading torps, on the bridge and order him to hold heavy binoculars for next 4h. There are 2 watches, 2 machinery and 2 zentralle groups, one torp group. Every Leutnant has only one skill. I want be adding new skills, also medals are gonna be awarded very conservatively - realistic. Crew is going to gain experience mainly with patrols. Also watch crew wars leather jackets when not in stormy conditions. I hope it's better than standing in plain shirts in -20°.

PS Forgot to change funker to medic.

[TarJak]

Nice skin! Nice story.

Fubar skin but I think I'll try tweaking it a little as the bridge looks to bright in full sun.

Hmmm 1,5 day at sea with 4x 2cm flak = 4 Swordfish and 2 Martlet down. U-boat not a scratch. I wonder how many planes do they have left? Radar is great, even with it's narrow angle detects planes coming from the rising sun early!

After 5 hours of constant planes invasions we went to 100m, my man were completely exhausted. No they were not freezing because all the way up and down the ladder with another plain incoming. Killed so far 4 Swordfish, 2 Martlet and 1 Avanger which hit his wingman and both fell into the water nearby...

To make things better I'm just installing real batteries mod, longer repair time which makes thing more vulnerable and longer wakes to follow.

[Schöneboom]

Nice pix, Hadrys! I dig that icy skin -- where did you get it? One of these days I'll be heading north, too.

And I like that crew organization. Enough bunks for everyone except the officers. One of them must sleep standing up!

Originally Posted by Schöneboom

Nice pix, Hadrys! I dig that icy skin -- where did you get it? One of these days I'll be heading north, too.

And I like that crew organization. Enough bunks for everyone except the officers. One of them must sleep standing up!

Thx! I downloaded it some time ago from fubars site probably but can't remember exactly. I can upload it from my mods but it will take a while - 40mb.

As to the crew I'm very curious how's that going to work with longer repairs mod. After 3 days of patrolling I can see that this system really works. Fewer crew gets tired quicker, really needs rest so the second change can take its place. Before that I really didn't need to mess a lot with the crew. Now it's very important! Also immersion of knowing nearly every sailor.

[Iron Budokan]

I like fighting in the north, too. Being a Southerner, I guess it's in my DNA.

I also like what you did re: awarding quals to your men. I'm going to try something along those lines, I think. Makes so much more sense than, like you say, having a crewman working in the bow only to have to do a stint on watch and then head to the diesel room. Hardly fair to the poor fellow, even though I do tend to run my boat akin to a charnel house.

Seriously, I like the idea of qualifying even the sailors...more immersion and I'm all about immersion....

Originally Posted by Iron Budokan

Seriously, I like the idea of qualifying even the sailors...more immersion and I'm all about immersion....

Thanks for a good word. This is why I put this thread here. Hope it gives some new ideas, also to me.

Now I need to think out an arctic dress for my flak gunners as they normally sit in warm Zentralle. Also notice only one man in Funk compartment. You need to remember to put him on hydro after diving but don't bother about giving him funker quality. As I mentioned I need to change it to sanitater as in Das Boot It turned out that he is a much better hydroman than funker... Haven't tried Bernard thought...