Convoy Sighted,now what?

[andym]

Ok,i am asking what to do here.I am on Patrol off the west coast of Portugal and get a miriad of reports,ship spotted etc,etc,take a gander through the attack scope and ive stumbled across a large slow convoy.Theres Freighters,Troopships,Tankers ....................and 2x Black Swan Class Destroyer and 3 possibly 4 flower class corvettes.So i shadow the convoy at PD silent run ning and on of the flowers comes over to investigate,after a few DC's which are all miles off i decide that discretion is the better part of valour and resume my ploted course.I complete the patrol of the required area and sink a few freighters then decide to try and catch up the Convoy.My question is this,do close the convoy then fore a spread of fish in the hope it hits something or do i pick off the escorts(doesnt sound like a good idea to me)?Any input greatfully recieved.

[mcf1]

Hi Kaleun.
It is always best to pick the most juicy targets to sink and try sneak past the escorts at 50 rpms and never use the T/C when near escorts it gives them some kind of advantage and they will spot you.
Once you sink a few ships dive to 50m or so and if possible use the convoy as cover to escape in silent running

[papa_smurf]

It is always best to pick the most juicy targets to sink and try sneak past the escorts at 50 rpms and never use the T/C when near escorts it gives them some kind of advantage and they will spot you.
Once you sink a few ships dive to 50m or so and if possible use the convoy as cover to escape in silent running

I would go for this option, and add this as well.................. SINK 'EM ALL!!!

Escorts are usually hard to hit because they can change speed and course rapidly. I usually don't target the escorts unless I'm in a very good position. I target the merchants, but if by luck I am in a good position to attack an escort I go for it.

[Brag]

Position yourself ahead and a little to the side of the convoy path. Let the lead escort pass you. Up scop, pick a couple od suitable targets, fire and dive deep.

You may want to read the articles on convoy attack on my kielman webbie.

[andym]

I keep reading about keeping the Revs down,is this a patch that neds applying to enable this?

[KeptinCranky]

NO, you can see your engine revolutions in 2 small dials in the Zentrale and in the Conning tower too, the connign tower are easiest to find, look for 2 identical dials close to eacht other, they're white in the VII an IX boats but red/black in the type II

don't have a screenie for you at the moment

The trick is that at less than 100rpm on the engines you are running silent (where engine noise is concerned anyway) this means setting the speed to slightly less than 2 knots in the speed selection dial, which is the alternate for the engine telegraph.

[andym]

Cheers,i'll have a look later.

[bookworm_020]

Aim for the biggest ships and the ones worth the most renown. Leave the escorts alone as they aren't worth the trouble, unless there is only one or two of them and the merchants aren't armed. Then you can sink them all!

[predavolk]

Originally Posted by Brag

Position yourself ahead and a little to the side of the convoy path. Let the lead escort pass you. Up scop, pick a couple od suitable targets, fire and dive deep.

You may want to read the articles on convoy attack on my kielman webbie.

Basically, that's how it's done. There are lots of posts here, and articles out there (e.g., Brag's) with more details on the finer points of getting it done. My biggest tip is that it's a lot easier to sneak past, and then evade the escorts, with rougher seas.

[Murr44]

Leave the escorts be. Sinking one will just p*ss the surviving escorts off & probably ruin your chances of sinking a better target (ie. Large Merchant). Don't be impatient; ie. by using TC: short of surfacing, this is probably the worst possible thing that you can do. Wait for your victims to come close to you. Regularly check with your hydrophone operator for the location of the nearest warship so you can "keep an eye" on where it is & what it's doing. Once you have fired your torpedoes go deep & sneak way from the convoy. As soon as the escorts detect a torpedo impact they're going to move to that area so don't linger at periscope depth to watch the results of your attack.

P.S. While enroute to intercept the convoy, you may want to adjust your torpedoes (fuse type & depth) so that you don't have to fiddle with them just prior to your attack.

[Biggs[CV]]

While it sounds like this is a big enemy convoy, you may wanna make sure your targets are not neutrals. I have seen a few neutrals scattered in convoys from time to time. Of course if you don't care about that.............Sink 'em all.

[Jimbuna]

With regard to the engine revs....click on the telegraph and the actual knot numbers will be shown....select 1 knot and go to silent running.

Now pray that's quiet enough

[mcf1]

and remember: No T/C

[predavolk]

Time compression does NOT matter unless you are detected. And at 8x TC, you can usually react just fine to evade if you are detected. What you're looking for is the escort to get too close to you (keep it at least 500m, preferably 1000M away) or the escort making an abrupt change of course/sweep pattern and heading in your direction and/or the escort pinging you.

Time compression DOES NOT affect your chances of detection, it only reduces your evasion time if you aren't watching closely.