Torp Damage vs lg merchants

[Eagle Eye]

Hail all Captains!

While on patrol I sighted a single large merchant In calm waters. Licking my chops I fired a pair of steamers at her running magnetic and both exploded perfectly under her, I hit her directly under the stack and just fore of bridge near what I thought would be a fuel bunker. She kept steaming with a slight loss in speed and no list or increase to her draft. I stalked her for awhile thinking it would just take a bit for her to go down...but nothing! So I lined up another shot, this time impact, hit her again bringing her to a stop but still no sign of taking on water. eventually I turned and hit her with my aft tube. and she rolled over and went down after about 15 mins. This is in early 1940. I've had this happen previously with a lg merchant are they usually this tough? Or am I aiming at the wrong spots? I took out a crusier with two shots and I figured an armored warship would be harder to take down? Anyone else run into this or any better tactics to use. I don't want to use 4 or 5 fish to take down one merchant.

[High Voltage]

This very question presented itself to me numerous time when i first started playing SH3 and I was getting frustrated emptying half of my torps into just one ship.

The answer is that part of what determines how fast your target will sink is where your torps strike her and part depends on what kind of cargo she is transporting. You can sometimes sink a medium merchant with just one well-placed shot while that same ship may end up taking four torps to send to the bottom on a different encounter.

Depending on your target, you may want to target the boiler room, ammunition depot..etc. Many threads have been devoted to this very question

One thing you must remember is that multiple hits in the same spot do not increase damage, so if you have a ship that's refusing to go down make sure that your follow-up torps target different sections. (BTW I've heard a few Kaleuns warn me to avoid hitting diametrically opposed spots on a ship as this may flood the ship while keeping it balanced and thus negate any keeling over action:hmm

Hope this helps and Good Hunting!

[raduz]

Originally Posted by Eagle Eye

Hail all Captains!
I fired a pair of steamers at her running magnetic and both exploded perfectly under her, I hit her directly under the stack and just fore of bridge near what I thought would be a fuel bunker.

As far as I know, you can only hit the critical area (like fuel bunker) with a torpedo set to impact...

[melnibonian]

Are you playing stock SH3 or you use a mod? If you're using GW1.1a/NYGM then it's more difficult to sink ships with a single shot (it can happen but it's not easy). If you're using GWX it's much simpler, but the torpedo damage is randomised so you might have just been unlucky.

[Eagle Eye]

I have GWX. I know there is a random element but I've had this happen with two lg merchies now. Both times Ifired two steamers and got two hits with virtually no effect both times it took multiple hits and i had to linger in the target area much longer then I'd prefer.

Next time I'm going to try to space out my shots a bit more as suggested above.


But no way I'm letting an 11000 ton target escape It just seemed strange that any merchant could take 4 torpedo hits and still last a long time. But thats the War for you.

[melnibonian]

usually when I'm in a situation like this:

1. I use my deck gun and finish them off
2. If option 1 is not possible then I stay at periscope depth and follow them until they sink. The hydrophones have quite a range so you can be quite far away but still get the kill when they sink

[firepower41]

Finish him with deck guns, or just stay with him. He'll sink.

Are you in a Type VII? Don't underestimate the loadoat limitations of the German Uboots. It's better to be able to get off a maximum number of shots in a convoy attack than to limit your flexibility in a convoy situation for the sake of a large freighter. I'd say it really depends on your situation - because I would even go so far as to let it go if it meant I had one less torpedo in total to fire at a convoy at one time. On the other hand if I were already out of reserves or had an empty bow tube, I'd probably make sure he went down with eels.

Kretschmer always said: „Ein Schiff, ein Torpedo." It's food for thought.

[Karl-Heinz Jaeger]

Originally Posted by Eagle Eye

Hail all Captains!

While on patrol I sighted a single large merchant In calm waters. Licking my chops I fired a pair of steamers at her running magnetic and both exploded perfectly under her, I hit her directly under the stack and just fore of bridge near what I thought would be a fuel bunker. She kept steaming with a slight loss in speed and no list or increase to her draft. I stalked her for awhile thinking it would just take a bit for her to go down...but nothing! So I lined up another shot, this time impact, hit her again bringing her to a stop but still no sign of taking on water. eventually I turned and hit her with my aft tube. and she rolled over and went down after about 15 mins. This is in early 1940. I've had this happen previously with a lg merchant are they usually this tough? Or am I aiming at the wrong spots? I took out a crusier with two shots and I figured an armored warship would be harder to take down? Anyone else run into this or any better tactics to use. I don't want to use 4 or 5 fish to take down one merchant.

Even the best shot can be ruined by even a slight rise or fall of the target ship in the water. For medium to large targets, I always use a salvo shot, as close as I can, set to one or two degrees spread, depth three metres and fire dead amidships. I very rarely have to man the deck gun after doing this. It really depends on hit location, but generally speaking two fish is usually enough to send them down to the depths.

A little off topic, perhaps but I'll post it nonetheless is the torpedo mishap that befell me last night against a Large Cargo. Fired a two fish spread from <800m, only to watch them both bounce off the hull. Duds! Verdammt! I readied my two other bow tubes and fired. One premature, and the second another dud. Bernaaaaaard! I wasn't about to let her get away, so finally I swung the boat around and fired both stern tubes, almost exactly the same shot, this time a little over 900m and those last two sent her skyward. Bah! Six torps on a single ship. Oh well, I guess it's historic right? Lol

[Eagle Eye]

Originally Posted by firepower41

Finish him with deck guns, or just stay with him. He'll sink.

Are you in a Type VII? Don't underestimate the loadoat limitations of the German Uboots. It's better to be able to get off a maximum number of shots in a convoy attack than to limit your flexibility in a convoy situation for the sake of a large freighter. I'd say it really depends on your situation - because I would even go so far as to let it go if it meant I had one less torpedo in total to fire at a convoy at one time. On the other hand if I were already out of reserves or had an empty bow tube, I'd probably make sure he went down with eels.

Kretschmer always said: „Ein Schiff, ein Torpedo." It's food for thought.

I hear what you're saying. But having already hit him with two I couldn't let him go.
I'm going to keep trying next time i run into one I'll try the spread method with two fish set to impact. Hopefully they'll be good hits. I should have risked the deck gun but it was very close to england andi worried about aircraft and DD's showing up.

[Jimbuna]

Download the shipchart from my sig ...that should help you

[firepower41]

Originally Posted by jimbuna

Download the shipchart from my sig ...that should help you

That's rather useful, mate!

[melnibonian]

Originally Posted by jimbuna

Download the shipchart from my sig ...that should help you

Just to clarify a few things about the Ship Chart: It is made for stock SH3 and not for GW/GWX, so the critical areas are not totally compatible. It's good though as you can use it as a rugh guide in GWX

[Tachyon]

Btw, if you really want a ship to sink fast... ( I may be wrong, correct me if I am), from my experience I've found that aiming at the bow of the ship usually results in the Merchant sinking after a couple of minutes. I sank the Carrier HMS Illustrious with 2 fish in the bow.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Tachyon

Btw, if you really want a ship to sink fast... ( I may be wrong, correct me if I am), from my experience I've found that aiming at the bow of the ship usually results in the Merchant sinking after a couple of minutes. I sank the Carrier HMS Illustrious with 2 fish in the bow.

A few people testify to that :hmm:
I've tried it on the odd occasion and must admit my experiences tend to support what you are saying

[melnibonian]

Originally Posted by Tachyon

Btw, if you really want a ship to sink fast... ( I may be wrong, correct me if I am), from my experience I've found that aiming at the bow of the ship usually results in the Merchant sinking after a couple of minutes. I sank the Carrier HMS Illustrious with 2 fish in the bow.

I agree with this, but it really depends on the ship and the weather conditions. If the sea is calm it can take days for the ship to sink (and there is a big if here). If the seas are rough then it always goes down within a few hours.