Convoy Blues (fairly long)

[Foxendown]

I've not been playing SH3 (with GWX) for long, but my latest patrol has been
something of a low point because of results that felt unrealistic.
Here's a brief description of two convoy attacks (one by day, one by night) near the
Canaries in May 1941.

1. When I attacked at night, which, based on historical events,
should have been the safer option, the escorts seemed to know exactly
where I was, but I couldn't see anything until I was right on top of
one of them. The night was so pitch-black that I didn't see how I could
have used manual TDC. Even with auto tdc I didn't survive long
because one escort seemed to come out of nowhere with no warning from
my crew. It seems to me that at night you are always on the
defensive, which was I understand not the case in real life.

2. With my day time attack I tried to be stealthy, but as I was
submerged I failed to get into a firing position before my batteries
were depleted. On the surface, in good weather, the escorts saw me at
about 10-12, 000 metres.

3. Once they had seen me, the escorts came out to attack me one by
one . Their tactics were suicidal and I sank them one after the
other. They did the same thing each time: headed straight for me at
full speed and I put an eel along the length of their keels. They
didn't learn from experience or act in a co-ordinated way.

4. After that I tried to approach the convoy, but already in May 1941
it proved to be very well armed with accurate weapons that scored
hits at long range. So I submerged and of course I was too slow and
running down the batteries again. But when I ran with decks awash,
they didn't see me at all, even at point-blank range! They manoeuvred
but didn't fire.

So I'm going to have a successful career sinking escorts
(at least until hopefully they get better later in the war and get
hedgehogs), but I can't imagine slipping between two destroyers
800m apart without being detected like the kaleun who sank HMS
Eagle. It's early days yet and my experience of SH3 isn't extensive,
but I'm already wishing that the escorts were a bit less observant
but better co-ordinated in what they do (and I that could be more stealthy so I
can get closer to the merchants).

BTW I've read some of the very interesting and helpful threads about
tactics and will try to apply them as I enter my third career.I'm
sure that at least some of the above must be down to my lack of
experience of SH3 and I'm happy to be put right on any aspect. Also,
I appreciate that this is a game not real life (and one which I have
enjoyed and will continue to enjoy enormously).

[joea]

May 41? I think the escorts might already have radar, so much for night attacks to start. Second, submerged how fast are you going to deplete your batteries?? Which exolains getting heard by the escorts.

[Mooncatt]

yeah i thought that too, you shouldnt be killing ya batteries on 1 attack the most mine drain to is half and thats after the attack is over and the dds are all over me and takes hours to get away from em.
oh yeah and damn this black text it will not change back to white again
edit.......mmmmmm odd its changed back on its own :s

[Steel_Tomb]

Are you leading the convoy or heading straight for it? Try to guess the path of the convoy and just wait for it on the surface, I did that lastnight with a convoy and managed to sink four ships in the middle of the night without the escorts even getting close to my position not a single DC dropped . I think the escorts on GWX are leathal in comparisson to what they were in stock SHIII!

[Jimbuna]

I think the escorts on GWX are leathal in comparisson to what they were in stock SHIII!

No need to 'think' matey....THEY ARE!!

[Steel_Tomb]

Too true I just sunk by HMS Belfast on the SP mission, impossible to get away I was at 2knts silent running at 245ish metres, still got me how do you defeat escorts?!?!

[Jimbuna]

Read the ASW evasion section in the GWX manual (you can get it from my sig if you don't already have it)

[Brag]

Position yourself ahead of convoy.
Silent running
speed 2 knots
Ordered Depth 14 meters.
Plot and track movement of lead escort. adjust your course to avoid the escort.
inside the convoy, select your targets.
Fire your torpedoes (quickly)
ahead flank
order depth 140 meters
reaching 80 meters reduce speed to 1 knot,
chances are 50-50 DDs will never find you.
If DD drops on top of you, go to ahead flank. 10 degrees port or starboard rudder.
when DCs begin exploding, back to 1 knot.after 2-3 hours , the DD will have lost you.
Your batteries will still be at over 75%.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Brag

Position yourself ahead of convoy.
Silent running
speed 2 knots
Ordered Depth 14 meters.
Plot and track movement of lead escort. adjust your course to avoid the escort.
inside the convoy, select your targets.
Fire your torpedoes (quickly)
ahead flank
order depth 140 meters
reaching 80 meters reduce speed to 1 knot,
chances are 50-50 DDs will never find you.
If DD drops on top of you, go to ahead flank. 10 degrees port or starboard rudder.
when DCs begin exploding, back to 1 knot.after 2-3 hours , the DD will have lost you.
Your batteries will still be at over 75%.

If only I was so confident

[Brag]

Originally Posted by jimbuna

If only I was so confident

LOL, Jim. confident Kaleuns get killed quickly. I'm only confident that escorts will do the dirty on me.

[Steppenwolf]

Echoing what others have said about the battery life. It's important to remember that your battery usage increases almost exponentially with your speed.

For example, in a Type VIIb, with a fully charged battery, you can run "approximately" (depending on your exact speed in knots and other variables):

Flank - About a little over 1 and a half hours
Full - About 2 and a half hours
Standard - About 5 hours
One third - About 12 hours
Slow - Can go several days.

[Foxendown]

Thanks for all the input-this really is a helpful community.

I can see where I'm going wrong-I need to let the convoy come to me by positioning myself correctly instead of trying to chase it. I'm depleting my batteries by running too fast and also making a lot of noise in the process. As for radar, well I missed that trick: I thought it came in later. Still, my lack of awareness was good for my immersion I suppose, that is, radar coming as a nasty surprise. There weren't many uboat skippers saying "It's 1st March 1941, the Brits are due to start using radar today" .

I'm still left with a sense of uneasiness about how easily I sank three escorts . Perhaps I just got lucky. I would have thought realistic tactics would involve zig-zagging as they approached the most dangerous end of a uboat and also working as a pair to divide my attention. Oh well, if aggressive tactics work I will keep it up-better than sitting quietly in the deep waiting to be killed by dcs and there is no doubt about the deadliness of the GWX escorts once they've got you "on the ropes". It must be playing all those flightsims that makes me addicted to a quick shoot-out.

Seriously though, thanks everyone for the advice.

[Brag]

When attacking, a destroyer will stop zigzagging at about 400 meters from you.

[Foxendown]

I noticed that they will react pretty sharply if you launch a steam-powered torpedo at them at short range, otherwise as you say they just keep going in a straight line......so an electric powered torpedo works a treat, because the AI doesn't seem to contemplate the possibility that you might use one, only responding to what it can 'see'.

[Keelbuster]

Originally Posted by Foxendown

I'm still left with a sense of uneasiness about how easily I sank three escorts .

Are you using manual TDC? I find it's hard to sink escorts with snapshots at zero gyro. Basically, the only way I do okay at manual TDC is when the escort or merchant doens't know i'm there, is travelling in a straight line at a known speed. Now and then I'll take a zero gyro snapshot, but it rarely hits. On the other hand, it's 43 for me now, and I'm filling all the aft tubes with wakehomers. Now that they've got hedgehogs, I've got to fight back. You've got every right to sink the b@stards.