BEST BATTLE EVER!!

[woodenboat]

I'd like to know about some of the best battles anyone has fought. Tell me what happened.

I ask this because I just fought one AMAZING fight and lived to tell about it. I just GOT to tell someone! Here's what happened.

I'm in the Celebes sea on a normal patrol mission running on the surface at night. I'm on a NNE heading and I run up on a fat convoy with nine merchants and four Fubuki class escorts running in a perfect diamond formation around the merchants. They are covering each of four corners of the convoy. The convoy is on a SSW course - right down my throat. I go below the thermocline, go silent and finally to full stop to wait until the lead escort passes overhead. Then I float up to periscope depth when I figure the escorts have passed overhead. It's still difficult for me to see all of what's happening because of still being new at this but I look for all of my sonar contacts to be splaying out like spokes on a wheel. That's when I figure I can come up for a Peek-a-boo. I don't really know what has tipped off the destroyers but three of them have zoomed in to the middle of the convoy and are all but waiting for me when I pop up. The fourth escort is on her way and coming at flank. Dammit! I HATE when that happens! In the fray that follows, I try to shoot one of the destroyers off of my tail and, of course, I miss! Dang it. You people didn't really believe that I was going to brag about what an incredible marksman I am, did you? However, as luck would have it, that fish still hits an old split freighter. The freighter goes dead in the water but she doesn't sink. She doesn't even catch fire but she does come to a full stop.

As the fur ball continues, I'm trying to keep from getting hammered by four angry destroyers and things are happening so fast that I can't even get any sort of shot in. All the destroyers are too close for my fish to even arm. I can see that this doesn't look like it's going to end well at all. But then, I suddenly see myself lined up with this freighter that is not moving. I pull immediately along side and go to full stop. I even have to apply a little reverse to stay alongside.

Now, you gotta picture this. I'm on an exact parallel course with the freighter. My periscope is almost scraping her hull because I am THAT close. It is the perfect wall of protection. WHAT A STROKE OF COMPLETELY FANTASTIC LUCK!! The Fubukis pass both in front of the freighter and behind her laying patterns each time. Oh sure, there's a lot of noise and smoke but I'm not taking any damage at all! Then I realize that these guys are running the same circular patterns like laps in a race car. And they cannot get in close enough to kill me. Two of them are going clockwise and the other two - counterclockwise.

Now remember that, in another thread, I quoted what Master Sunzi said in his teachings of The Art of War - "Never Become Predictable."

I simply line up my torpedoes right where I know the Fubukis are going to be - two with my bow tubes and two with my stern tubes. I simply wait for each escort to come around the stern of the old freighter or by the bow. I get a gorgeous, beautiful, green triangle on every shot. I shoot four torpedoes and four Fubukis die in four glorious balls of flame and exploding shrapnel. Does anyone think it possible to actually perfect this technique? Hmmm

With no more threat, I pick the rest of the convoy off one by one until I have sunk all of them. Yes, that includes the old split freighter that provided my shelter. It sort of broke my heart but I got over it.

So tell me guys, what was YOUR best battle ever?