Tell us what you are upto in your current campaign

[Pohl]

March 15, 1941

On my way to AL63 I came across a Tribal Destroyer range of 5.4km and traveling at 25 knts, I'm at periscoped depth trying to be at least at 3 km away from him to fire a torpedo, if It fails I'll surface, attack it with deck gun and inmediately return to periscope depth, hoping for him to run straight into me then I'll launc 1 torpedo take a hard turn and hopefully hit it.

[BulSoldier]

Well in the most recent patrol i was going to the north coast of Ireland, or atleast that was the mission.

Along the way I decided to move close to the british coast in order to pick of some coastal merchants.But that was not to be the case since an two engined aircaft came (i think it is anson but i never verified it) and well since the depth was only 29 meters i decided that going unerwater was not very good solution.The plane attacked my boat probably 5-6 times at that time we fired 800 !!! rounds with some hit but the plane just could be downed.Pretty annoying indeed.

No damage was suffered however and that was the good news.Along the way some 200 kilometers SE from scapa flow i saw what i believed to be some ocean liner.Funny though i got wrong solution and fired(and indetification) at the ship, it happen to be not a liner but empire freigher.However the torps hit beacause later when i tried to repeat the measurments with the true ship it happen to be just right

Later we came to a large mearchant (this time succesifuly identified) and was launched toward the bottom.

Anyway some 80 km NW of scapa flow at bright daylight i come across another airplane.First thing to do (with only 200rounds) was to dive but after i saw it was a swordfish i toldmyself "Pff a swordfish, we gonna send it to the bottom", well as you know the KMS Bismark crew probably was thinking the same.Next thing to happen was to surface the boat , fire few rounds them BANG the bombs fell just left and right of the sub barely missing us.No really major damage was done but quite scary experience.THe plane was set no fire but they managed to retreat.
There havent pass one hour after this encounter and this time 2 swordfishes came.Since we detected them early i decided to engage (i forgot that i had only 51!!! munitions left) By the time when i understood why the gun stoped firing they were almost above us (one was downed however) we dived and a bomb detoneted just behind the bridge ! The whole sub had some floodings and quite a damage to repair that we couldnt fix before we came back to Wilhemshafen.For the next 2 days i was constantly hunded by swordfishes and better yet my sub could stay at constant depth below 2 knots.

Funny though after i finaly got to the base (i though my hull integrity was below 50% because of the extensive damages to the subsystems) i saw that it was 98%. I was quite annoyed considering that with only 4 torps i sunk 16k tons i the patrol seemed to be going quite well

It seemed that the reason for the small hull damage was that beacause we were already below the water the bombed detonated at some distance (however there was quite a whole in the external steel hull)

[Synthfg]

September 42,
Sailing in Circles around the Approaches to the Straights of Gib, picked off a couple of small convoys and a lone tanker, + a couple of small float planes,

Currently submerged hiding from a pair of Hurricanes
Plenty of fuel and ammo remaining

[Murr44]

January 26th 1942. We finally sank something today!After 2 extremely boring days (the only excitement was being attacked by two Hurricanes: no damage was sustained) we got a map contact in CN63. We were 1 grid square to the east & above it (it was sailing on a north-westerly course) so I decided to go for it. We raced over there through the night, alternating between full & flank speeds, and came into visual contact with our intended victim (a 2400 ton small merchant) about dawn. Got to within 3000 meters & submerged. Reduced speed to slow and let the merchant come to us. Just then the hydrophone operator picks up a small freighter being escorted by a "Bathurst" class (never seen one of those before) corvette close behind us (within visual range). The small merchant got to within 1800m of us & I launched a TIII which detonated underneath the small merchant's bow. Because of the escort's close proximity I launched a TII set to impact to finish her off. That torpedo impacted dead center on the small merchant & she went down. Not wanting to take any chances with the escort we submerged to 120m & crept away. We wouldn't have caught the other freighter anyway as it was too far away & we couldn't make a stealthy approach on the surface as it was daylight now with clear skies and 0m waves.

U-74 out...

[Sgtmonkeynads]

Mission 8: not much 22,000 tons bad weather and crews tired. Off the coast of spain. feb 1940
recieved my knights cross with oak leaves and swords upon return.

mission 9: left port, but forgot to switch type of torpedoes so I just docked right a way. I recieved the front clasp and war badge for the first time ever while playing this game. Very happy but felt strange.

mission 10: Set out in my brand new IXB!!! No patrol grid given so I just set out for Englands east coast. Ran in to convoy, sank 4 escorts. rest were taken by gun. Ran out of ammo on the last ship, used flak gun in desperation, it went down in a fire ball.
4warships sunk, 15 cargo. triple didgit tonnage lost.
recieved my diamonds upon docking. First round was on BDU.

I feel as the British may put a price on my head before to long.

[Leandros]

Aug. 18th, 12:18 1940.

Have pulled eastwards towards the African coast after having patrolled the assigned kvadrant. Not an enemy ship or plane to see on the way down. Totally dead....

Aug. 25th, 22:17 1940.

Moved up to the Western Approaches of Gibraltar. An East-bound convoy is approaching. Looks fat...!

[Paul Riley]

Originally Posted by Paul Riley

Latest Events (only important events recorded now)

13th Nov 1942
Day 8
09:30
AL24
Attacked by group of 3 PBY fighter bombers based at Iceland.Caught on the surface and unable to man guns or crash dive in time,forced to run at high speed outrunning the first attack run,managed to dive shortly afterwards,no damage.
This has forced us to change our tactics in this area now,submerging throughout the entire day,surfacing only at night to recharge.

14th Nov
Day 9
AL31
03:26
Looks like weather is starting to deteriorate as waves are picking up at 7mps,still clear however.
23:45
Finally entered our assigned patrol area.Patrol ends at 23:45 on the 15th November,after which we head for our 2nd patrol in the Denmark Strait,to intercept any traffic on its way to Russia,my primary objective.

15th Nov
Day 10
11:47
Picked up a merchant sound contact while patrolling our area.Preparing to shadow submerged in daylight,ready for a night surface attack.If waves calm down we may go in for the kill submerged at close range,if not or they worsen then it will have to be a surfaced attack at medium range (2500-3000m)
Merchant course seems steady at 335 degrees.
Will attempt to run decks awash in daylight at 10kts,with sound checks every 15mins.Merchant also appears to be moving not much faster than us as we still have good sound contact on it as sound strength (volume) still sounds quite strong.
12:59
Bomber formation suddenly appeared ahead of us while running decks awash,immediately dived without delay,bombs way off,no damage.
14:17
Another Bomber attack,this time they were almost above us,then opened up with MG fire on the rim of the conning tower,frantically dived again,no damage,bombs landing quite close this time.
There is a blessing however to all this chaos with the planes,the more we have to endure them the more we understand and begin to hate them.We are getting the better of them slowly but surely.
16:21
While stalking our current contact we pick up another contact,this time moving much slower and sounds heavier,making it our new target,breaking off from our current pursuit.
Decided to run decks awash for 30mins,then submerge for 30mins,hoping to lessen chance of air attack considerably while still allowing us to make vital ground using the diesels,taking the stress out of draining the batteries too soon...could be an excellent tactic.
Tactic is working very well,making good ground on target,who is now steady bearing east,and appears to be heading away from us.
Looks like we may have our first contact with some Russian shipping after all
16:50
Almost sundown,after which we will recharge our batteries while running at high speed on the surface to intercept our new target.
The men are in high spirits now after realizing our new tactic when having to shadow targets submerged,all the while being in dangeous (air attacks) areas like this one.

End of report
.................................................. ..................................................

So far so good

Events in the last 3 or 4 hrs real time

19:00
Finally black up top now,safe to make our interception proper now.Proceeding towards target at high speed while recharging.Making about 12kts,which seems adequate.We expect visual contact any time after 20:00
19:59
Finally made visual contact on target.Looks like a Coastal,heading from Iceland to GB.Making initial course observations from directly behind target for approx 30mins.
Target vessel is heading on course 115deg at about 6kts.
Proceeding to move up onto the port flank keeping at a distance of between 2500-3000m,ship just about visible through the binoculars,that is close enough.
Drew up level with ship and monitored his speed for a final 30mins.Target is confirmed at 6kts.
Prepared an ETorp for 1st attack,range 2500m,impact,depth 3.Also made meticulous preparations this time with the ETorp,due to our disappointing result with the last attack made with them.
All settings finally ready for attack.
20:52
Fired 1,AOB 90,aiming point just forward of centre.Torpedo makes its slow crawl to the ship,crew can barely look at the stopwatch,seconds later BOOM!,torpedo slams into the bow of the ship causing fires on the deck.An EXCELLENT shot!
Ship however still afloat after about 30mins,meaning we will need to send another to finish it off.Will wait 1 hour for ship to finish zig zagging,allowing us another perfect opportunity.
22:00
As planned ship has returned to original course.As we have already set our speed to his crippled speed of 5kts we already have most of our settings ready for the attack.
New range - 2600m,chose steam torp in order to save our dwindling supply of ETorps,depth 1m in order to try and cause more fires nearer to the ones already blazing.
22:14
Aiming point - forward masts.Tube 2 fire! Seconds later again another huge explosion,this time ripping the ship into 3 seperate parts,going to the bottom in seconds.
Patrol report sent in just before diving to 50m and returning to previous contact spot of last engagement.We could spend a few days,even 1 week in this spot,hoping of course that ships will in fact sail past this spot again.

Tonnage - 2.620
Total so far - 2 small merchants for 5.238 tonnes.

7 torpedoes remain (5 steam,2 ETorps) + 3 Falkes for emergency/and or rare opportunities against important warships,like BBs etc,which I have yet to encounter in my career.

End of report
.................................................. ................................................

Finally a great result from the ETorp at medium range.As this was a perfect shot it has definitely lifted my confidence using them.
Shame about the low tonnage so far.
Will try our best to get as much use out of the deck gun as possible on the remainder of this mission.

[Leandros]

Sept 5th, 06.37 1940.

The Gibraltar-bound convoy was indeed fat. The stats below is for a later one. After having replenished at Lorient on our way back to Wilhelmshafen we met this one in the North-Western approaches. In the midst of it a Revenge-class. Took only two torps to sink him - one magnetic and one impact. Eventually we had to let the rest of it go as the weather was extremely bad and we had expended inboard torps.

Now we are ready for another one.

[Captain Birdseye]

Currently 10/10/1939

Sunk HMS Ghurka off the coast of Ipswich. Looks like she was patrolling the eastern entrance into the channel. Our crew saw the trademark "bone in mouth" charge towards us. Two torps as she turned her stern towards us, lord alone knows why... Got one into her engine compartment, the other a dud.

Took her a whole of two minutes of frantic explosions and chaos to sink.

RIP.

[Paul Riley]

Originally Posted by Leandros

Sept 5th, 06.37 1940.

The Gibraltar-bound convoy was indeed fat. The stats below is for a later one. After having replenished at Lorient on our way back to Wilhelmshafen we met this one in the North-Western approaches. In the midst of it a Revenge-class. Took only two torps to sink him - one magnetic and one impact. Eventually we had to let the rest of it go as the weather was extremely bad and we had expended inboard torps.

Now we are ready for another one.

How on earth do some of you manage such single patrol tonnage,with still 11 torps left?! was all that done with the deck gun alone?,oh I meant the RAIL GUN , I mean it took me 20-30 shots from my DG a while ago before the ship sunk.If you are using GWX is the DG in GWX able to deliver more punishment to ships?.Looks more like a King Tiger tank sunk all that tonnage

Cheers.

[Leandros]

Originally Posted by Paul Riley

How on earth do some of you manage such single patrol tonnage,with still 11 torps left?! was all that done with the deck gun alone?,oh I meant the RAIL GUN , I mean it took me 20-30 shots from my DG a while ago before the ship sunk.If you are using GWX is the DG in GWX able to deliver more punishment to ships?.Looks more like a King Tiger tank sunk all that tonnage

Cheers.

On this particular patrol - Lorient-Wilhelmshafen the deck gun haven't been used yet. The weather has been too bad. But the Revenge class weighted in heavily..........then a couple of large tankers and merchants. I try to save the torps for the larger ones. Earlier I used a lot of effort on ASW vessels but Karl doesn't like it....

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Paul Riley

How on earth do some of you manage such single patrol tonnage,with still 11 torps left?! was all that done with the deck gun alone?,oh I meant the RAIL GUN , I mean it took me 20-30 shots from my DG a while ago before the ship sunk.If you are using GWX is the DG in GWX able to deliver more punishment to ships?.Looks more like a King Tiger tank sunk all that tonnage

Cheers.

I suspect one or two might be using my Additional Ammo mod

[mr chris]

Originally Posted by Paul Riley

If you are using GWX is the DG in GWX able to deliver more punishment to ships?.Looks more like a King Tiger tank sunk all that tonnage

Cheers.

GWX actually decreases the damage a hit with the deck gun gives by around 50% over stock SH3.

Taken from the GWX website accessible from the link in my sig.

• U-boat Gunnery — improvements include:
  • Ability to spot aircraft is inhibited by visibility conditions and size of aircraft
  • Destabilized gun sight views will rock up and down as your U-boat pitches and rolls.
  • Hits by deck guns cause about 50% less damage.
  • Shell hits above a target's waterline will not cause significant damage compared to shots below the waterline, which cause the ship to flood.

[Sgtmonkeynads]

I admitt that I do use the extra ammo mod. I figure that the captain, Me, would do everything in his power to get the most ammo on board. I kind of imagine my crew stealing it, poker games, and other "McHales Navy" tactics to procure the goods. If any one here has missing ammo from their stock...uh....it's in the depot.

Now I'm on my way to Bermuda.

[Leandros]

Originally Posted by jimbuna

I suspect one or two might be using my Additional Ammo mod

What is that, please...?