Mediterranean.

[Bridger]

Ive never tried the med before, so just started a new GWX 2.0/sh3com 2.7 med campaign, i wonder if its as challenging and hard as it really was?, well we shall see, any tips or advice on doing anything different in the med would be helpful,
ive been assigned U-596 type VIIc based at salamis, lets see if i can put a strangle hold on those 8th army supply lines.

[JU_88]

let us know how it goes....

[joea]

I'm in the Med in May 43.... got one small lousy tramp steamer on my first war patrol. Kept getting messages about my comrades getting sunk in the North Atlantic...and the Med is getting mighty small.....

[Jimbuna]

Convoys are more plentiful but the escorts are greater in number with regards to merchant/escort ratios. Water isn't as deep as the Atlantic either.
All in all a thoroughly challenging theatre of operations

[papa_smurf]

Just watch out for the superior allied air cover later on in the war........

[KeptinCranky]

Yep from where you are in Salamis now the hunting is best between Crete and Alexandria, be a bit careful around malta, that's Task Force central, and they're all unfriendly,

also be sure to identify before shooting, sinking italians is bad for morale...

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by KeptinCranky

Yep from where you are in Salamis now the hunting is best between Crete and Alexandria, be a bit careful around malta, that's Task Force central, and they're all unfriendly,

also be sure to identify before shooting, sinking italians is bad for morale...

It doesn't do much for the Italian morale either

[Bridger]

Assigned patrol grid CO42, departed from salamis, quiet transit to area carrying out training drills etc, no air activity observed. 2nd day on patrol..... on carrying out my 6 hourly sound check merchant detected to the sw of my grid.....long range and brg movement indicated an easterly course. i plotted a rough estimation of contact on chart and after conferring with my navigator decided to try and intercept........surfaced and proceeded at high speed to advanced position on his predicted track.............dived to periscope depth and merchant detected on predicted brg....... my sound man also detected warship noises...convoy?, weather report...calm seas but very hazy...still nothing visual, silent speed ordered, sound man reports 1 merchant and 2 warships........strange...a troopship?, warship visual blackswan class range 3900m...that is the limit of visibility, small merchant visual(whats he carrying?,gold bullion?, 2 escorts), range 3500m i cant increase speed so 1 tube made ready, door open.......i am going to have to chance 1 shot, long range.....aob 80 port, aim just fwd of bridge.........fire, go deep....remain silent speed, alter away, no indication of target zig ..........bang! one eel....one hit yesssss! what a feeling!, shes going down instantly, enemy counter attack was aggressive but inaccurate, stayed deep for 5 hours until destroyers faded then surfaced, reload eels and headed back to patrol area.

[Steel_Tomb]

Nice...those are the best kills when your already on your way out and you get a hit...really cool stuff

[Bridger]

Now on 2nd week of patrol, we have had 6 days of storm and these med ones are bad!, mountainous seas/heavy rain/ and worst of all visibility is zero its probably the worst ive seen in sh3 ever, spending a lot of time dived using hydrophone and have had a few distant sound contacts contacts, but due to visibility had no luck, an attack/identifacation of contacts wouldnt be possible in this weather.

[Cohaagen]

Med - lots of TFs, small convoys of one or two merchantmen with an equal number of small escorts. Probably your best theatre for bagging a battleship. Plenty of air activity, both Axis and Allied. Don't expect much help from the Regia Marina - they'd been decisively smashed by Cunningham and the Mediterranean Fleet by early '42.

The air cover over Malta is a bit heavy for late '41 and most of '42, when there was no unified air command and RAF priority was intercepting the near-constant bombing raids (even sending Blenheims up against the bombers). I thought about deleting Malta's airfield but ultimately concluded that it's simply a limitation of the SH3 engine, not GWX, and decided to leave it. You can't really choose to get attacked by just the odd Hurricane or Gladiator, even if you do believe it is historically accurate.

I'm in mid-'42 and haven't seen a large convoy yet. I expect it'll get hotter sometime soon. I would definitely reccomend the Med, especially if you're tired of the North Atlantic. SH3/GWX is a huge game and the Med is particularly well covered.

[gimpy117]

Originally Posted by joea

I'm in the Med in May 43.... got one small lousy tramp steamer on my first war patrol. Kept getting messages about my comrades getting sunk in the North Atlantic...and the Med is getting mighty small.....

yeah how do i acess messages...?? tru my radio officer or what?

[JScones]

IMHO Salamis has to be the prettiest port in all of SH3.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by gimpy117

yeah how do i acess messages...?? tru my radio officer or what?

Press the 'M' key

[Bridger]

Verdamnt!, very frustrating day. This med storm has lasted 4 weeks, so i have spent the hole day burning my fuel and chasing hydrophone contacts that im never goin to see, i closed one until he was very short range and blowing my sound mans ear off but still couldnt see through the fog.
I read today that during the first month of U-Boat operations in the med in Oct 1941, only 2 small barges and a coaster were sunk, well my patrol is certainly living up to that!, realism or what?