Tell us what you are upto in your current campaign

[Leandros]

U-65 - IXB - Kaleu Hansen - June 120600 1944 - Wilhelmshafen - Patrol 26

With only 1 torp left I decided to go to Wilhelmshafen rather than back to Lorient north of the UK or through the Channel. The enemy's ASW capability is so much improved that I consider we need more weapons for pure self-defense on such a long trip.

Problem with diverting to any other than the home-base is that the weapons load they give you is quite straight-forward - mostly TIII's. I like the TI better.

Before we were able to set course for Wilhelmshafen we had two more fruitful encounters. One with two medium-sized tankers steaming together and another with a pack of hungry destroyers. They remained hungry...

After that we had to hide for another task force containing several destroyers together with a couple of larger vessels. According to the sonar operator, cruisers. We only had one torp left at the time.

The shallow sea on the English west coast looks like a graveyard. We cruised over to one of the sunken destroyers for her flag to take home.

Going to the port command now to hear what new desperate assignment the HQ has for us.

Fred

[mrbannon]

Originally Posted by Leandros

U-65 - IXB - Kaleu Hansen - June 120600 1944 - Wilhelmshafen - Patrol 26

With only 1 torp left I decided to go to Wilhelmshafen rather than back to Lorient north of the UK or through the Channel. The enemy's ASW capability is so much improved that I consider we need more weapons for pure self-defense on such a long trip.

Problem with diverting to any other than the home-base is that the weapons load they give you is quite straight-forward - mostly TIII's. I like the TI better.

Before we were able to set course for Wilhelmshafen we had two more fruitful encounters. One with two medium-sized tankers steaming together and another with a pack of hungry destroyers. They remained hungry...

After that we had to hide for another task force containing several destroyers together with a couple of larger vessels. According to the sonar operator, cruisers. We only had one torp left at the time.

The shallow sea on the English west coast looks like a graveyard. We cruised over to one of the sunken destroyers for her flag to take home.

Going to the port command now to hear what new desperate assignment the HQ has for us.

Fred

THose are great looking screenshots. What's your MOD setup?

[Leandros]

Originally Posted by mrbannon

THose are great looking screenshots. What's your MOD setup?

Thank you, I have GWX version Gold 3.0.

I run it on 74% realism - I rely on a very good torpedo officer (the computer) and like to get the views. It is, after all, supposed to be entertainment.......I also use the SH3 Commander. Otherwise, not much modding as much of it is already in the version. I am afraid of doubling up. It has happened.

Fred

[Leandros]

U-65 - IXB - Kaleu Hansen - Jul 302134 1944 - North-West Scapa Flow - Patrol 27

Left Wilhelmshafen evening Jul 25th. Mission: To get back to Lorient safely. We were given the usual torpedo mix in Wilhelshafen, mostly TIII's. One Falke.

Decided to play it safe, followed the Norwegian coast north and cut over to the passage between Færøyene and The Scyllis. I have good experience from that area. Several RN ships ran around but we kept low. As it were we were able to sink three pairs of merchants in the period 28th-30th.

I have now set course westwards to gradually turn south towards Biscaya as we only have 6 torps left. However, at 2040 we received a report on a large convoy north-west of us, heading SSE. I decided to avoid it as we do not have much to defend us with if we are going to make an impact on the convoy as well.

That was all well untill quite recently - a Wildcat carrier fighter flew over. With other words, there is a carrier with that convoy. What shall "Vati" say if we didn't do our best to dispatch of it?

I shall call an officer conference.

Fred

[Leandros]

U-65 - IXB - Kaleu Hansen - Jul 310619 1944 - West Scapa Flow - Patrol 27

We only barely got within the outer escort screen of the convoy, an Isles corvette passed behind us, approx. 600 meter's distance. Just before that I fired a TIII on magnetic against the carrier, it was in the midst of the convoy - distance ca. 3.000 meters. There was an impact sound almost exactly on the second. Some minutes later I fired the last forward torpedo, a TI on impact against an Ore Carrier in the rear of the convoy. Seemingly no luck. The Isles continued on its course. Ideal weather with satisfactory visibility and a rather rough sea. There must have been more than a dozen escorts.

We went in pursuit on distance, hoping that the carrier, a Casablanca type, had been damaged to the extent that it would drag behind the convoy. No luck, though. After several hours I decided to sidestep the convoy, it was obviously going to pass through the sound between The Orkneys and Scotland - Pentland Firth. I hope to get ahead of it to give the carrier the grazing shot. Rather risky as that sound is narrow and not very deep. We shall se how it develops. I do not want to take unnecessary risks...........

Just an hour ago we detected radar signals from carrier planes, had to make a quick dive, so it is obviously still afloat. We are on the surface again now, going full blast.

Fred

[Leandros]

U-65 - IXB - Kaleu Hansen - Jul 310941 1944 - western part of Pentland Firth - Patrol 27

We made it - the convoy is now approaching from the west.

Fred

[Leandros]

U-65 - IXB - Kaleu Hansen - Aug 010113 1944 - south-east AM34 - Patrol 27

Oh, boy - finally out in the open! What a nerve-wrecking business. The convoy passed just south of us. We could observe the whole of it as it slowly sailed by. Alas, no carrier! We had decided not to attack if the carrier wasn't there. With a dozen escorts around, having only 4 conventional torps left, all in the aft, and the long way home we found it better to use them om some lone merchants along our return route.

So, we set a westerly course to get out in the Atlantic. There were still some outer screen escorts we had to get by before we were safe, one of them emitted a rather strong sonar signature. We approached it carefully to investigate. Eureka, it was the Casablanca carrier toddling along at 7 knots a few miles behind the convoy. And no escorts to see! It was markedly down by the bow.

We lined it up for our aft torpedoes and gave it one impact and one magnetic. It rolled over fairly quickly. However, we had been a little careless when approaching it, using the schnorkel to cut down on time. This attracted several escorts from the convoy which was quite far ahead.

A Buckley, a J&K and one Fletcher entertained us for a couple of hours. It was a miracle that we got away. I suspect much because of the very heavy seas and the effective Bold 3's. We were finally able to get out of the ring. Even then, an hour later another destroyer passed us by very closely. It dropped one salvo of D/C's and launched hedgehogs before it continued on its way. He wasn't too far off but we lay still so he didn't find us.

Only a few minutes ago we received a message that our base was changed to Trondheim. Wonder why? Anyway, we need to be careful, nothing left but the topside artillery to defend us with.

Fred

Below: The Casablanca getting it.

[mrbannon]

Originally Posted by Leandros

U-65 - IXB - Kaleu Hansen - Aug 010113 1944 - south-east AM34 - Patrol 27

Oh, boy - finally out in the open! What a nerve-wrecking business. The convoy passed just south of us. We could observe the whole of it as it slowly sailed by. Alas, no carrier! We had decided not to attack if the carrier wasn't there. With a dozen escorts around, having only 4 conventional torps left, all in the aft, and the long way home we found it better to use them om some lone merchants along our return route.

So, we set a westerly course to get out in the Atlantic. There were still some outer screen escorts we had to get by before we were safe, one of them emitted a rather strong sonar signature. We approached it carefully to investigate. Eureka, it was the Casablanca carrier toddling along at 7 knots a few miles behind the convoy. And no escorts to see! It was markedly down by the bow.

We lined it up for our aft torpedoes and gave it one impact and one magnetic. It rolled over fairly quickly. However, we had been a little careless when approaching it, using the schnorkel to cut down on time. This attracted several escorts from the convoy which was quite far ahead.

A Buckley, a J&R and one Fletcher entertained us for a couple of hours. It was a miracle that we got away. I suspect much because of the very heavy seas and the effective Bold 3's. We were finally able to get out of the ring. Even then, an hour later another destroyer passed us by very closely. It dropped one salvo of D/C's and launched hedgehogs before it continued on its way. He wasn't too far off but we lay still so he didn't find us.

Only a few minutes ago we received a message that our base was changed to Trondheim. Wonder why? Anyway, we need to be careful, nothing left but the topside artillery to defend us with.

Fred

Below: The Casablanca getting it.

I can't wait to finish my shakedown cruise so I can get some of this wicked awesome action! (FYI, I would have made a post about my current "patrol", but it's a two-day pre-war patrol of A098, which is pretty much useless.)

[Leandros]

U-65 - IXB - Kaleu Hansen - Aug 151200 1944 - Trondheim - Patrol 28

Just left Trondheim - mission: To try out the escort killer concept with special torpedo-equipped boats. That is us. The recent enormous U-boat losses due to the increasing number and efficiency of the Allied escort forces has finally awakened our leadership - much helped by me and my officers' insistence to get better support/weapons after our latest hair-rising mission. This combined with the local naval commander in Trondheim being an old classmate of mine, and a recent influx of home-seeking torpedoes in Trondheim, with fewer and fewer boats (and commanders) to utilize them, did result in us getting no less than 9 Type IV, V and XI torpedoes for this mission. Hope these have had a proper production quality control. I was praised by the BdU for having improved my merchant/warship ratio. 6 out of 7 being merchants on the last patrol.

We have been assigned grids AM52 and 53 as our patrol area.

We arrived in Trondheim on Aug. 4th after an uneventful journey from west of the Orkneys. The worsening war situation hastened our departure here. We have been assigned Brest as our new main base.

Fred

Below:

1. Captain's Log Patrol 27
2. Full AA readiness

[Leandros]

U-65 - IXB - Kaleu Hansen - Aug 200549 1944 - east AM51 - Patrol 28

Have just arrived outside the North-Western Approaches. A large convoy was reported coming in from east-north-east. We soon picked up the radar emissions from its escorts. We seem to be positioned in the middle of its track now. I am not particularly happy with the situation. This just isn't good attack weather!

Fred

1. Nice weather!
2. Convoy approaching

[Leandros]

U-65 - IXB - Kaleu Hansen - Aug 25th 1944 - Trondheim - after Patrol 28

We arrived in Trondheim yesterday afternoon. Another patrol in which we had our heads banged by the numerous and aggressive escorts. We ended up with scopes, sonars, radar and batteries destroyed or damaged, but got away with it.

While our mission was to concentrate on the escorts we lost focus when we discovered that there was a large passenger liner in the center of the convoy. We had to get that one! With that we lost much of the advantage on the escorts as we had to proceed with some speed inside the convoy to reach the liner. This attracted a number of escorts from all directions. In the following melee' I made a couple of mistakes. A TI was fired instead of a Falke IV as intended. A TI aft shot was misjudged, and missed, so we lost some of our headstart. Anyway, after having secured 3 hits on the liner with conventional torps we went down for reloading. At that time we had at least sunk one and paralyzed two other escorts.

We proceeded slowly on opposite course of the convoy. However, when it had passed us over we were discovered again. We went to periscope depth and were able to hit a couple of more before we had to go down again. They were too many. Anyway, we ended up with scopes, batteries, radar and sonar destroyed or damaged and went deep. With a combination of speed, course and depth changes we were off the hook after a couple of hours. The Bolds worked beautifully! At one stage we had considerable leaks but our excellent repair crew saved us for another day.

On the surface again I set course north-west at maximum speed. We had earlier received a message that all French bases were being abandoned so it was back to Trondheim.

Alas, we had surfaced too soon! Suddenly there was artillery fire coming from aft, a destroyer! Now comes the beauty of the homing torpedo: We had one left in a forward tube and without any optics to assist in a firing solution I set up a manual aim for it to cross our wake a few hundred meters aft of us. There it ought to catch on to the destroyer that was fast overhauling us. It did!

After that we made a wide detour North of the Shetlands for Trondheim. Fortunately, nothing was encountered on this route but, we came back with almost half our conventional torp load.

Even if we were badly battered on this patrol I believe the concept is valid. If there had been more U-boats we would have let the others concentrate on the big fish in the convoy. As I see it, the ideal number of escort hunters for each convoy would be 3. One up front to draw off and destroy the forward screen and one on each side to pick off the other escorts as they are speeding forward to join the action.

Further down the convoy track could be placed any number of conventionally-armed boats to take care of the now more or less escort-less merchants.

The new torpedoes are working quite well, even if some items need to be considered. The target speed need to be within 12-20 knots. First, it needs a signal (noise) to hook on to the target, a certain speed, that is. Secondly, the target cannot move too fast as the torpdo shall not be able to catch up with it. This speed range is actually quite feasible. An escort shall usually move faster than 12 knots as it zig-zags around the convoy. It also needs to consider the threat from conventional torpedoes. When hunting it cannot move as fast as 20 knots as its passive sonar shall be screened by engine and outside noise and its maneuverability decreases.

The enemy is said to have developed a counter-measure against homing torpedoes - The Foxer. This in itself is an advantage for us as it gives off noise which screens ours and puts a limit on the escort's speed. It is also quite cumbersome to handle as it is towed behind the vessel like a mine-clearing device. A factor to be considered is the possibility of "friendly fire", that the torp can home back on the U-boat. This is possible but can be minimized by correct tactics. First of all, my experience is that the torp should be fired as early as possible, mainly to have it done so that the attention can be switched to eventual other targets. It is less effective within a convoy as it can hook up to a merchant instead of an escort.

Finally, it is not a sure killer and shall normally not sink a merchant. But it shall almost always paralyze an escort and therefore hinder it in its mission - to protect the convoy. On this latest patrol there were 3-5 escorts which were seemingly not sunk, but left still in the water. The homers often damage their propulsion and steering systems.

Fred

Below:

Captain's report.

[Leandros]

U-65 - IXB - Kaleu Hansen - Nov. 161924 1944 - AN27 - Patrol 29

We left Trondheim on afternoon Nov. 12th for grid BE33 - Bristol Channel Approaches - but are now halfway across the North Sea on our way back to Trondheim.

We were taken off the escort hunter project but were able to scrounge together 4 extra homers in addition to the 1 already assigned for our 29th patrol.

We are a little p***** because of all the trouble we have had with enemies as well as local bureaucratics lately. We were blamed for returning a boat with only approx. 35% hull integrity two times in a row and not enough to show for it. We do have some ideas, though.

Anyway, almost across the North Sea on our way to BE33 we picked up radar signals from a group of warships. We were ready to pick a fight to give a little back for what we have received on the last two patrols, so we headed for them. However, they turned westwards and we were not able to catch up with them.

That was as well as east of the Orkneys we picked up another group of signals. Approaching them we could also register sonar signals from merchants - a convoy. As there were no more than four or five signal emitters we decided to give it a try - to prove our theories.

The convoy was heading south and we managed to get across its front to its starboard side. There we positioned us in front of its starboard screen and made us known. It was 5 of them and when it was all over we still had 1 homer left - and plenty of conventional ones for the merchants.

In a following fight we were pressed down by aircrafts 4 times. The second time we decided to stay surfaced as we were loading down spare torps and have very good AA equipment and crews. Unfortunately the deck gun crew was also on deck, having just started to fire on the nearest vessel in the convoy. Well, the three of them were killed by machine gun fire from the Catalina. OTH, we shot it down. After that sorry event, we dived when other aircraft showed up. In the end all but small merchants had been sunk by torpedo or gunfire. In the end there was no deck gun ammo left. It was not a large convoy but good enough.

We rounded it all up by returning to a Victory freighter. We had given it several torps earlier but it looked quite healthy in spite of being stopped. Suddenly it started off again at 5 knots. We used the last torp, a Zaunkønig, and it worked beautifully even at the ship's slow speed.

Stabsoberbootsman Vogel and matrosenhauptgefreiter Ebeling have been buried at sea. Stabsoberbootsman Wittenberg fell overboard after being hit by the Catalina and was lost.

Fred

Below:

1. Catalina on its way to the bottom of the sea
2. Other aircraft hunting us - Sunderland
3. Captain's log Patrol 29

[coinbird]

After not having played a subsim in years I suddenly got the urge to play again. After trying to make SH V fun I gave up and went back to the tried and true SH 3 with GWX gold edition. The graphics may feel a little dated today but the game play is so much better than SH V that it can be overlooked.

I started up a campaign beginning in 1939 out of Kiel in a little sardine can known as the type IIA. I ont have too much exciting to report over the next few months that followed other than what just happened on my last patrol.

On the night of February 20th after having decided to stretch the operational limits of my little coastal sub I spotted a task force just west of Scotland and North of Ireland. I could barely make out a silhouette of a battleship in the task forces center. It was too dark and too far away for me to get a confirmed visual on which battleship it was, especially since I am still a rather inexperienced captain! I took my best guess and identified it as the Nelson.

I was now approximately 3.6ish km away from the battleship and wanted to get closer still but I saw two destroyers moving about oddly and getting rather too close for comfort. Quickly, I set tubes 1 and 3 to fast and magnetic. I took a final range, which was still about 3.6 km distance and took a quick 20 second speed-reading of the battleship.

After having launched tubes 1 and 3 (didnt shoot tube 2 for a full spread) I dived deeper from submerged para scope depth to approximately 115 metres. My crew could hear the bang of only one torpedo.

The following depth charge attacks were done by three or for destroyers and lasted maybe two hours when my hydrophone officer reported a battleship going down. Not too long after that the destroyers moved on.

A revenge class battleship has been sunk by a single torpedo of a type IIA sub!

[Leandros]

Congratulations!

Fred

[Leandros]

U-65 - IXB - Kaleu Hansen - Feb. 041253 1945 - AN14 - Patrol 30

Left Trondheim in the morning of Jan. 26th. Of all things we were assigned grid DH89 - that is just South of the Canaries - as our patrol area. How stupid is that, to use time and fuel on such distant areas when everything is going down the drain up here in Europe.

Anyway, it keeps us out of the hottest areas and I set up a course north of the Shetlands to proceed out in the Atlantic from there. Nice weather around the Canaries this time of the year. Went langsam fahrt to save fuel for the long distance. Who knows what has happened in the world when we are finished down there.

However, north-west of Ireland our engines started to act up. After a dive to avoid an enemy warship giving off a radar signal we were only able to achieve max. 11 knots on the diesels after we surfaced. Funny enough, we still get 12 knots on the schnorkel when submerged.

I decided to turn back to Trondheim, nothing doing to continue on such a long stretch with dubious engines. I reckoned we might rather find some targets on the way back. For that purpose I set a course between the Shetlands and Orkneys. That is usually a rich hunting area, having a little patience.

Almost there we picked up radar signals from warships in the south-east. At the same time, after having submerged, we got a merchant on the sonar from north-west. I decided to try to pick off the destroyers first. We proceeded northwards on full engine-power with the schnorkel up. That made them react! Problem was I let the schnorkel stay up a little too long so they got us well targeted with their guns resulting in damage to the periscopes. That made it a little complicated in the following round-about. Anyway, a mix of homers and conventional torps finally put them down. But not before we had a bad scare. The sonar operator suddenly warned that it seemed one of our homers had missed its target and came back on us!. So it did! I immediately ordered crash dive and not much later we could hear it whizzz over the aft deck...I ordered engines stop. Well, a lesson learned. The fun thing is that it turned back on its original target again, the second destroyer, and sank it. The merchant got away. We have now downloaded spare torps and are ready for new adventures. Laying low now.

Fred

Below:

1. Passing the inner guard vessel at Trondheim
2. Leaving Norway behind
3. Destroyer just having got it
4. There it goes