Beware of Greek ships bearing deadly gifts

[bookworm_020]

Came across a neutral Convoy (???) with only one escort (1 flower corvette) while sailing my IX U-boat to it's patrol grid. It contained 3 neutral ships (I want to sink, I want to sink!!) and a 50-50 mix of coastal / small merchants and C2 / C3's.

I trimed the Flower from the convoy, then turned my sights on to the rest of the convoy. A single torp for the bigger ships (C2's and C3's) when deck guns to finnish them off if they don't go down. The coastal / small merchats, I found after a little trial and error, could be sunk using my twin 37mm ( I changed it's date of avaiblility)

I suddenly come under attack, but there are no warships or planes around, and the neutrals are doing anything aggressive. I then spot this....



The Greek's are armed and it's only late 1940!! I decided to sort him out by giving him two tin fish for dinner!!

I wiped out most of the convoy (two costal merchants left, along with the *%@$! neutrals). I have stumbled over a simlar convoy since then and have found a greek ship again armed and ready to turn me swiss cheese (or the greek version anyway)

Just thought I'd issue a warning to all who maybe in a simlar hunting environment.

[Wulfmann]

Italy invaded Greece on Oct 28 1940 so from that day on the Greeks were enemies for the Germans, although reluctantly as the Germans generally loved Greece and Metaxa was a fascist so they were pissed El Dunce brought them into the war against Germany.

More ships were turned over to the Greeks by Britain than any country outside the commonwealth and they served well being highly regarded as front line equals.

There is a Greek Hunt class in one convoy out of Gibraltar that has seemed to have my number in 1943-44.
It must be the infamous Adrias.

Although SH3 give the Greeks the Hunt class type I they never had one but did have a number of Hunt Type II and III with the type IIIs being transferred as new ships. They also had two DDs that are in the C-Class in SH3.
They also had a bunch of Flower class corvettes.

The Greeks DDs were noted for fearless almost reckless courage moving in close to shore point blank and shooting it out with the enemy land units.

Wulfmann

[HunterICX]

I always shot the greece, because I shoot first and Identify later

[melnibonian]

Actually Britain was making efforts since 1940 (during and after the German air campaign against them) to get Greece into the allied side. The Greek government refused almost all allied help in order not to give the Germans and the Italians any excuse for attack. After the Italian campaign of 1940-1941 (October 40-February 41) failed the Greek government was still trying not to provoke Germany by refusing to accept any British help. The shipments of allied military equipment started arriving in Greece a few weeks before April 1941 when all efforts to avoid the coming German attack had failed.

The destroyers and the new naval units that Wulfmann refers to where given to the so called ‘Cairo Government’ (the exile Greek government in Egypt) in 1942 after Greece has been occupied by the Germans.

As far as the naval war is concerned there where a number of Greek steamers and merchant ships that have been sunk by German U-Boats in 1939-1941 (before the Italian invasion) but most of them where part of allied convoys. The onslaught of the Greek merchant fleet by the U-Boats happened after the German occupation of the country.

[Jimbuna]

Consider the armed merchants as 20th century 'Trojan Horses' perhaps! :hmm:

[Biggles]

All I know is that I had some rough times aganst Greek merchants in the game, I don't know why, but they always do some damage to me!

I'm always careful in the Med. cause there is loads of dangerous ships and little almost every square inch of the ship is patrolled by the allies so....