Sea Stories

[CJMars]

Greetings!

Some of you may have been seeing my name in various threads talking about how much I’m struggling with SH5. Well, I wanted to share this sea story and would love to have others share theirs. Also, I wanted to acknowledge the various captains on SUBSIM that gave me many great tips on how to improve my game. Thank you! I owe it to you all that I was able to pull off this attack.

So, to set the stage, I had just started a new campaign on TWoS, difficulty cranked except external camera (been having trouble with torpedos which is why external camera is on).

Just finished radioing in the Polish task force in Danzig Bay when the bridge watch pipes in, Smoke on the horizon at 023. I make my way from the helm to the bridge and check it out; sure enough, smoke. Not only that, but the ship was mast up, almost hull up. Ok, roger that, Halbe farht voraus! Take us to 40 meters if you please Mr Erdmann. Down we go. Hit our depth and set engines to 1 kts. Hydrophones report target is right where she should be, 023. Set course to 247.

Once the rudder straightened out, I killed the engines and waited about 5 minutes for my drift to subside. Target now at 359, dead ahead. Mark the chart to begin the 4 bearings method and start the stop watch. 15 minutes is a while to wait so I do some map work, setup what I’ll need for the 4 bearings and then hang back with time to spare.

At 12 minutes out I decided to start preparing my attack wheel (I use the Sub Buddy app for iPad. HIGHLY recommended). Check the target, after 12 minutes she’s at 359. Wait. She’s coming right at us! Exactly right at us because we’re stopped and drift has been maybe a meter or two. Crap. Ahead 1 knot, take us to periscope depth. Up we go. We hit 12 meters and I move up to the helm and take hold of the attack scope.

It’s 0848 on 1 Sept 1939, cloudy and overcast with the morning sun peeking through just aft of our starboard prop. Best not to risk my scope being spotted, so I raise my attack scope so it’s even with the water line. There’s a blur dead ahead, most certainly our target. Up scope just a tiny bit more and set the XO to the TDC. Ship identified as a Medium Composite freighter, the white and red flag of Poland flying high above her deck in the morning sun. A quick range measurement and she’s 6km away from us and closing. Speed unknown. I toy with the idea of a dead on bow torpedo attack, but decided against it. Instead, I determined that my best attack would be across her Port beam. Time is a factor, I check my speed tables. I need to make about 1 km away from her course so I can turn and stop without being too close. 6 knots at about 5 minutes will do that, perfect. Set engines to 6 knots, hard over to starboard 90 degrees.

The maneuver is pulled off. At 5 minutes I cut speed down to 4 kts and turned starboard another 180 degrees which should put me 90 degrees to he Port beam. Turn completed, cut engines and wait for the drift to bring me to 2 knots. Up scope. There she is, sailing straight on without a care in the world. Pulled up my TADS computer and set her length to 104 feet. Using the static line method, I time her at 54 seconds, or 3.5 knots. Hm, seems slow, but ok. Set TDC for 3.5 knots, set torpedo tube 1 to fast, magnetic pistol, depth at 7.8 meters, or 0.5 meters under her keel. Calm seas, 2 mps wind, that’ll work. Now we wait.

As she approaches bearing 015 to starboard I check her speed again. 25 seconds on TADS comes out to just under 6 kts. That’s better. Set TDC to 6 kts then verified my TDC gyro angle against the torpedo bearings chart. They’re 1 degree apart! Ugh. Well, I decide to use the chart since my TDC solution most certainly has errors. Fire point is 008, scope up, here she comes. She crosses the line. I see that she is running slightly faster than before, ok, I’ll just fire a bit early. Her bridge crosses the line, it’s now or never. LOS!

I take a moment to set speed, depth and course, lower my scope then move to external camera. I’ve been having trouble with torpedo attacks and it was suggested I use the external camera to evaluate what my solution is doing. First of all, damn she’s close. Maybe 450 meters. My torpedo is speeding along heading right for her. The bubble trail reaches the middle of her hull in just a handful of seconds then BOOM! Directly amidships! I move the camera under water to see the damage. At 0.5 meters under her keel, the torpedo explosion blew her hull plating away completely to the water line! She’s going down. Total tonnage is 4073.

We sail away into the morning sea, the freighter would take 20 minutes before she silently slipped under the waves. We set course for Danzig Harbor, hungry for more.

[Foeke1]

I see you take great pride in your achievements and rightfully so, Herr Kaleun!

I hope you'll find your next targets just as satisfying. Good to hear you trusted your charts more than yourself, I find it pretty common for me as well :p Just keep trying to understand what part of your own calculations were off and you'll be off to a flying start!

[GrenSo]

Originally Posted by cyloradi

Happy for your achievement. seems like you trust your charts a lot.


good luck for a flying start


https://aginjector.xyz/

Reported as Spam

[CJMars]

I’ve been reported as Spam? Why?

[les green01]

Originally Posted by CJMars

I’ve been reported as Spam? Why?

not you but someone posted a spam