Easy sailin' in '39?

[gord96]

I usually start my careers in the mid 40's to 41. Havent started in 39 in a while and not since I started using GWX 2.*

I noticed that the Brits dont do alot during this time. I have sunk several freighters in the channel, very close to the coast and in the Irish Sea. Any other time I would wait just a little bit to spot an aircraft followed by the hydrophone picking up a closing contact. BUt in good ol 39 not a single aircraft or DD has come to see whats sinking their merchant traffic.

Hehe I almost miss being DC'ed

[Tessa]

39' and 40' are prime for harbor raids and sinking all those pretty capital ships

[GoDeep]

I decided to begin at the beginning of the war with my current career. I can confirm that in '39 the RN and RAF are not as omnipresent as they are in the later years of the war. In my current patrol it is November '39 and I am patrolling in AN59, which is right off the British coast. I haven't seen any destroyers or aircraft yet, but that has also to do with the weather conditions. The wind has been awful enough to keep the RAF grounded, I suppose.
Overall, in my current career, I have had to dive only twice for an aircraft and the second time I wasn't even spotted. I have seen one taskforce of destroyers which I think was out to hunt me, but I could evade them easily, also thanks to bad weather.

So far I can hunt with impunity!

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by GoDeep

So far I can hunt with impunity!

Make the most of the quiet period.....it soon changes

[danurve]

Originally Posted by jimbuna

Make the most of the quiet period.....it soon changes

Amen to that.

After '43 the clunky old deck gun gets to be about useless, even tramps are armed. Although I did cripple a large lone merchant the other day with one last fish in the stern tube. So being out of fish I curved behind her and for the first time in a while got to use the 88 to finish her off. Wasn't long before 3 Mosquitos were on the way.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by GoDeep

So far I can hunt with impunity!

There was a reason why in real life they called it "The Happy Times."

[GoDeep]

Definitely! Later in the war, when surfaced, the crews always needed to have one eye on the sky to check for planes. And even later, it was virtually impossible for a U-Boat to be on the surface, especially after the Allies improved their radar and closed the air gap.
We can be grateful that Germany lost the tech war in the Atlantic. That, coupled with the ability to decode German radio traffic, was the end of the U-Boat.

I think SHIII, with GWX, models this very well.

[Kipparikalle]

Atleast AA-skills come in handy.

But are brit's stuffing up the DD's with gas after 42'? Cuz' I've managed to out-run task force of destroyers on surface. One time after another. Only because the destroyers seemed to be so ligh that their propellers lost their contact with the surface pretty often.

[STEED]

Originally Posted by jimbuna

Make the most of the quiet period.....it soon changes

The second happy times, yippee...............

Burning Tankers, what a sexy smell.

[papa_smurf]

I prefer to start all my careers in '39, and go up the east coast of Britain and sink lone merchants on my way to a patrol grid.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by STEED

The second happy times, yippee...............

Burning Tankers, what a sexy smell.

It certainly gives the old nostrils a clear out

[Tessa]

Originally Posted by GoDeep

Definitely! Later in the war, when surfaced, the crews always needed to have one eye on the sky to check for planes. And even later, it was virtually impossible for a U-Boat to be on the surface, especially after the Allies improved their radar and closed the air gap.
We can be grateful that Germany lost the tech war in the Atlantic. That, coupled with the ability to decode German radio traffic, was the end of the U-Boat.

I think SHIII, with GWX, models this very well.

GWX does do a great job on that, as painful as it is while trying to play during the later years of the war. Even though its been debated endlessly about "what if" the German's had been able to produce their new technologies faster, short of getting the XXI operational in like 42' despite all the brilliant scientist's in the navy, luftwaffe and the rocket program we still managed to overrun them. Though its not historically accurate by any means, waiting till late 43 for any new boats to become available is an eternity. Makes you want to set your days in port to 48 to make time go by faster and still be alive when the good boats become available (and then again you still don't get to play em for long).

Originally Posted by Kipparikalle

Atleast AA-skills come in handy.

But are brit's stuffing up the DD's with gas after 42'? Cuz' I've managed to out-run task force of destroyers on surface. One time after another. Only because the destroyers seemed to be so ligh that their propellers lost their contact with the surface pretty often.

A good skilled AA crew can still be effective even with the improved menace of planes in GWX compared to vanilla SHIII. Mid 42' and have shot down almost 50 planes with only 1 casualty to the AA crew (albeit lots of wound badges). AA comes in handy to knock out the first scout so you can change course to avoid the squadron's they'll send after they find your location; but no way would I ever get into a prolonged engagement with aircraft unless they were already heavily damaged and just needed one more hit to take em down before diving and moving away.

Unless its a task force of all DD's once you get far enough away seems that they'll tend to regroup to protect the biggest/most important ships in the group. With the supercharger you can hit 18-19 knots, albeit not the 30+ a DD can do but still enough to close enough distance such that they return to the task force rather than chase you down (hopefully).

[gord96]

it was smooth sailin!! no DD's, no aircraft. Then on my 7th patrol I managed to somehow hit a mine as i passed Helgoland (?). RIP U-19.

I think I will take Steed's advice and go sink some tankers in a nice IX.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by gord96

it was smooth sailin!! no DD's, no aircraft. Then on my 7th patrol I managed to somehow hit a mine as i passed Helgoland (?). RIP U-19.

I think I will take Steed's advice and go sink some tankers in a nice IX.

There's actually been a few posts on sudden mishaps in the Helgoland area recently

[gord96]

yeah it was very odd. I was just thinking how good this career was coming along how I was excited to take U-19 up to Norway in April for the invasion festivities. Next thing I know my boat has heavy flooding just easy of Helgoland. Then the instant death screen