My first 'I know how to use the TDC' patrol

[Captain Vlad]

Will be posting this in sections.

Finally decided to switch to manual targetting a while back. Two patrols in the Seadragon have put a high amount of tonnage under my belt, but those aren't the 'real deal' to me as I used them as a learning exercise, saving and reloading frequently.

Things I learned from those patrols are A> I can score a hit with the TDC and B> I shoot pretty good deflection (for before I had really figured out the TDC)

Anyhow, this is my first 'whatever happens, happens' not for practica manual targetting patrol. Not telling it 'in-character', as the idea was to let whoever is reading it know what I was thinking. Enjoy!


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Part One

Febuary 28, 1942

The USS Seadragon, currently operating out of Surabaya, Java, sets
forth on a late night. Her assignment? Patrol the Makassar Straight,
that section of ocean between Borneo and the Celebes that always seems
to pull Captain Vlad in.

During the last two patrols I've been fumbling about with manual
targeting. I've scored nice tonnage on both, though mostly by closing
to 600 yards or less and firing my torpedoes by eye. I can obviously
sink stuff using this method, but having to approach to that range
every time is tedious, and in convoys, is a virtual guarantee that
I'll be detected before I can fire. While a ship going under usually
follows the Japs noticing me, I like the first warning to be my fish
exploding under a bad guy's keel.

So, after DLing a nice tutorial vid, and practicing in the sub school,
I managed to sink two ships at the tail end of the last patrol
actually using the TDC. I aim to put my new skills to use on this
excursion.

Setting out from Surabaya, I quickly detect warships on my
hydrophones. I'd say it's too far south to be Japanese...but this is
late Febuary 1942, the time when the Japanese blitzkrieged through the
South Pacific with speed that made the Germans look bad. Surabaya, I
know, will fall soon. Could this be the invasion force? I change
course to intercept.

It's not the invasion force. It's a mixed task force...US and Dutch.
A De Ruyter style cruiser and escorting destroyers, apparently making
for home. Whatever they're up too (headed for the Battle of the Java Sea?),
I wish them well, and head northeast from Java, toward my patrol zone.

The transit in uneventful. I like that you really do have to
look for ships with RSRD. Last patrol, this same area was overrun with
Dutch merchants.

That isn't the case anymore. Most of the same waters are now under
IJN control, and any contact is likely to be enemy.

For several days, though, there are no contacts. I slow to 5 knots
after I reach my patrol zone and roam about the area, periodically
checking the sonar for distant propeller noise. HQ even shifts my patrol
zone south a bit, to the mouth of the straight near the city of
Makassar. I see lots of lovely Pacific sunrises and sunsets, take an
wild ride through a wave tossed sea, but I see no shipping. After a
week and a half of this, I'm told to continue patrolling the straights
at my discretion.

I head north. I think I was cruising a bit far south to run into many
ships, since Balikpapan, halfway up the straight, is the biggest port
in the area. I take station in the northern entrance to the straight
and begin my usual search routine (patrol at very low speed submerged
during the day, on surface at night). I don't even really get started
when I get that rarest of the rare when using RSRD: A radio contact
report.

It's not a flash traffic...no enemy warships in the area...just red
square on the map showing the last reported position and course of a
Japanese ship. She's not far off, either...I set an intercept course,
increase to flank speed, and head off to catch her.

The weather's been calm the last few days, but now the seas are
choppy. I find the enemy vessel near sunset. She's heading straight
for me...easy kill, or should be. I submerge.

I then discover one of the little irritations of using manual
targeting. It can be exceptionally hard to get good readings on range
and speed when the waves are high enough to obscure the enemy until
he's quite close. I decide to give it a try anyway: I ID the ship
(Small Composite Freighter), figure out a rough range, speed, and
course...doing all right. At one point, I check the hydrophones. I
forget why. I can hear my target getting closer, but there's
something else...another ship, very distant, to the west.

Unfortunately, while pondering this, I manage to botch my torpedo
approach...my target passes by my intended 'shoot point' as I'm
swinging the stern 'round. I'd planned to fire a pair of aft
torpedoes. Oh well! Messed up approach, small, lightly armed
target...that's a recipe for a deck gun attack. I sound
battlestations and blow ballast. She's less than a thousand yards
away when I open fire with my three incher. 15 rounds, and she's
listing heavily. 20 rounds, and she's on fire. The waves swamp her,
and down she goes.

I check the hydrophones. The other contact is still out there. I
secure from General Quarters, crank back up to flank speed (I'd slowed
considerably during the approach/attack), and roar off after the
propeller noise.

It's night by the time I catch up to her. She's a medium freighter of
some stripe, and while I have an easier time doing TDC calculations on
her, she's much too far away to engage. When I submerge, I'm going to
run into the same problem I did with the smaller ship, and the waves
are looking bigger...

I try anyway, deciding to cut her off on the surface and
submerge in her path. Despite the waves, though, visibility is good,
and she spots me and turns away. I'm in a stern chase, now, with
about 10 knots advantage. I draw up parallel to her and briefly
consider turning in for a close range by-eye torpedo attack. The seas
are still calm enough that using the deck gun isn't too unbelievable
so I do just that. I open fire, adjusting for my misses until I see
the flash of a hit, then I open fire in earnest.

I figure she'll take quite a few shells to put under. I figure wrong.
3-inch shell number 15 hits her amidships and she explodes like a car in an
'80's action movie. Somewhat surprised, I secure from battlestations and
report my kills.

HQ decides it's time to sent me somewhere else, and I receive
instructions to proceed to the Api Passage on the western side of
Borneo. I set course and head that way.