What Has Been Your Highest Tonnage Total?

[tbarak]

While our non-modded tonnages seem excessively unrealistic, Lieut. Commander Guther Hessler sank 14 merchants for a total of 87,000 tons in one mission in around early 1941! It was the highest single mission tonnage. Donitz hesitated to award him with the Knight's Cross since Hessler was his son-in-law and there was fear it would appear to be favoritism.

I don't think the awards made much sense. For example, Albrecht Brandi received the highest award, Knight's Cross, Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds (only two were earned by sub-mariners) yet he only sank 12 ships for a total of 31,689 tons. Others like Prien - in addition to the daring Scapa Flow raid - managed 197,218 tons and received only the Knight's Cross. As the war dragged on, the criteria for the awards was progressively made easier too.

[Keelbuster]

It occurs to me that tonnage is not that meaningful without the year and the submarine that pulled it off. Pulling 50k in a IXB in 40 is totally different than pulling 50k in a VIIC in 45.

Maybe we can normalize our tonnage by the number of torpedoes on the boat when it left port?

Tons Per Torpedo (TPT) = Patrol Tonnage/available torps.

So, for a VIIB that leaves port with 14 torps, its TPT on a 50k patrol is
50000/14 = 3571.

For the IXB that leaves port with 21 torps, its TPT on a 50k patrol is
50000/21 = 2381.

This obviously doesn't address the differences in difficulty that hold in different years of the war, but it attempts to correct for the loadout of different subs. Thus, a Type II can still have a great TPT but a low overall tonnage.

Secondly, it doesn't address deck gun kills. However, with NYGM tonnage war these are so hard to get that it should only bias the TPT slightly (i.e. 1 or 2 DG kills per patrol, which were already torpedoed anyway).

Third, it might be neat to think about a way of incorporating patrol length into the equation. The idea would be to somehow correct for extremely long patrols where one cherry picks for large tonnage in an unrealistic way. But maybe cherry-picking is part of the fun?

And, it's not obvious how to normalize for difficulty settings (%realism). This would be a good thing to add (since settings like 'dud torpedoes' makes a major difference to tonnage. Maybe something to think about.

Finally, TPT assumes that you fired all your torpedoes. Otherwise, the best way to get a high TPT is to get 1 lucky shot on a KGV and then go home.

Anyway - so what's yer highest TPT?


Kb

[Heibges]

Doenitz used Tons per Day at Sea to evaluate his boats.

Here are the stats from my current career. If you routinely use you hydrophones to find your targets, expect these figures to be about doubled.

Total Tonnage:165,282grt
Total Number of Patrols:13
Total Number of Ships Sunk:30
Total Days at Sea:554
Ships Sunk Per Patrol: 2.3
Tons Per Day at Sea:298grt

Total Allied Tankers:6
Total Allied Tanker Tonnage:56,871grt
Total Allied Passenger Liners:1
Total Alliend Passenger Liner Tonnage:14,902grt
Total Allied Troop Transports:1
Total Allied Troop Transport Tonnage:8,006grt
Total Allied Merchants:21
Total Allied Merchant Tonnage:83,091grt
Total Allied Warships:0
Total Allied Warship Tonnage:0
Total Neutral Tankers:0
Total Neutral Tanker Tonnage:0
Total Neutral Merchants:1
Total Neutral Merchant Tonnage:2,412grt
Total Neutral Warships:0
Total Neutral Warship Tonnage:0

Patrol 1.....U-10(IIa)...Days at Sea:29...Tonnage:2,412grt
Patrol 2.....U-10(IIa)...Days at Sea:27...Tonnage:1,994grt
Patrol 3.....U-10(IIa)...Days at Sea:33...Tonnage:0grt
Patrol 4.....U-10(IIa)...Days at Sea:26...Tonnage:7,901grt
Patrol 5.....U-105(VIIb)...Days at Sea:58...Tonnage:24,473grt
Patrol 6.....U-105(VIIb)...Days at Sea:59...Tonnage:10,333grt
Patrol 7.....U-105(VIIb)...Days at Sea:33...Tonnage:17,383grt
Patrol 8.....U-105(VIIb)...Days at Sea:56...Tonnage:0grt
Patrol 9.....U-105(VIIb)...Days at Sea:23...Tonnage:5,092grt
Patrol 11...U-565(VIIc)...Days at Sea:60...Tonnage:0grt
Patrol 13...U-565(VIIc)...Days at Sea:56...Tonnage:0grt
Patrol 15...U-565(VIIc)...Days at Sea:35...Tonnage:64,599grt
Patrol 16...U-565(VIIc)...Days at Sea:59...Tonnage:31,196grt

[tbarak]

I guess my highest would be 104000/14 = 7428

I think most people end up shooting off all their torps in any given mission. I find I'm always out of torps, and cannon shells, and well into my star shells. :P

[BigBadVuk]

around 230000 but 100% realism(and GW installed) now it is decembar 1940

[Keelbuster]

230k...6 x Nelson?

[Keelbuster]

Originally Posted by tbarak

I guess my highest would be 104000/14 = 7428

I think most people end up shooting off all their torps in any given mission. I find I'm always out of torps, and cannon shells, and well into my star shells. :P

My best in a VIIB/41, 100% with man targetting was 58k/14 = 4128

So I got about a medium cargo on average for each torp.

In the early war - 39 I was patrolling around scapa flow, and I actually had to return with 4 torpedoes before my fuel ran out. It was pathetic...

Kb

[BigBadVuk]

U mean tonnage in 1 single patrol,eh?

i missed that...around 50000 when i was lucky to get passenger liner and after that so unlucky to have 6 Duds in a row

[Keelbuster]

Originally Posted by BigBadVuk

U mean tonnage in 1 single patrol,eh?

i missed that...around 50000 when i was lucky to get passenger liner and after that so unlucky to have 6 Duds in a row

Har - i see. Yea - sometimes the worm turns - you get lucky on some salvoes and you lose it on others. I attacked a convoy once with a salvo of T2s and they were all duds/misses. I left the area undetected and lined up for an other attack - no one knew anything had happened

Question - do merchants/DDs hear the torpedo explode when it finally sinks? You can hear it in the sub, and that's when your WE says 'torpedo missed'. I'm wondering if DDs will pick up on the sound and start looking for you. I don't know if that's ever happened for me (usually they've detected me some other way)

KB

[tbarak]

Had my highest ever the other day. ~60% realism, mid-'42, VIIC, 178,000 tons in a patrol that lasted under a month!

All tankers, mostly T2s, a hand full of T3s and two small tankers. I resolved just to sink ships with =>T2's displacement but my fuel - and patience - were running out. Lots of planes downed too. Caught my first sighting of a battleship, the King George. Was too far away to engage and moving too fast to catch. I'll get 'em in the next career.

[gi_dan2987]

GWX 37,000 GRT 100% realism (IMO if you play with less than that then what's the point? afterall the point of a simulator is to SIMULATE real life conditions to the best of its ability) Still going strong well into 1943

[Paul Riley]

In an old career using the stock version I once managed to total over 1.000.000 GRT.
After playing with GWX3 for around 3 years now this total will likely be lower,but i'm still racking up some decent tonnage
I play with 85% realism and manual targeting.The only things I keep on are:
- map contacts (its realistic for your watch officer to provide you with contact updates while you attend to other tasks.Why do you think the officers are even IN the game?,to assist you when needed)
- stabilize view (German optics were very good)
- external view (I sometimes like to watch my UBoat in 3rd person,but NEVER use it in a plotting or attack scenario!)

[Sailor Steve]

[Gerald]

In one of my career, so the numbers are high, and I mean really big ..... and I'm sure that there is a record in itself .... maybe

[Brag]

This is a pre GWX zombie of the good ole days when you could park on Tanker Alley and zap away without changing position while singing the hoochie woochie.