Greed, you evil temptress!

[kylania]

So I'd done 8 patrols so far from Pearl Harbor or Midway. Each time was the same, go East, patrol for a few days, whatever. I saw a few single merchants while getting constant radio messages about fights to the North or South, especially around the Solomon Islands.

So for patrol 9 I decide to take a small detour south, skirting along the north of the Solomon Islands and see if I can't get me some of that sweet sweet action. Just as I'd begun my final eastward leg back to my patrol point I get a message. Down near Truk there's reported to be a Japanese Fleet showing up the next morning. I check the charts and sure enough, from my current position I can be there in time! Finally! Off I go.

I approached the small island area around Truk from the west and south, since there's a deep channel approach there. As I was nearing the area I got a radar contact. From the track it appeared as if it would pass just across my course. Since it was on the western area of the island I assumed it would be a merchant or more likely another worthless fishing boat. I went to the bridge to check conditions to evaluate an attack and saw there was a HUGE storm happening. Not wanting to risk wasting time on a low level target or miss the fleet I was heading to I continued on the way. We passed the radar contact an hour or so later and sure enough it sounded like a small merchant. I decided to save my torpedoes for a larger target (Hi Greed!) and continued.

Once I was close to the island circle of Truk I got multiple radar contacts all around. Their movements seemed to indicate patrol boats. I plotted my ingress around them hoping that the storm would shield me from detection. It did.

Nearing Truk finally I had a momentary radar contact just outside the harbor at the beginning of the deep water there. It was stationary... (Oh Greed, you're still here, I'd thought you'd left!) I approached slowly and submerged approaching the marked spot where I saw the contact. From the periscope I could see absolutely nothing. The storm was in full swing and it was the early morning hours (2-3am) so visibility was nil. I knew something was there, but not what.

While inching forward I caught a small glimpse of a shadow through the rain and night in the periscope. Correction, three giant shadows, like Empire State Buildings rising from the sea. This had to be a battleship! (Whoa, Greed, stop pushing, we'll get it... don't worry.) From the size of it I had to be close, but I couldn't get a lock with my periscope. Checking through the RecManual I decided from the shadows that this had to be a Fuso class.

Now, without being able to get a lock I was unable to use the stadimeter to get range. Since I couldn't "technically" even see it due to the storm I wasn't even getting a visual map update showing it's position either! Damn this storm! But I knew it was stationary, and it looked close, so I took a shot. 6 Torpedoes were let loose. 2 duds and 4 misses! (Greed, you promised me!!) At least I knew it was close and based upon the time to hit for the duds, I had an approx range now.

After hitting it with duds, it didn't react at all. Which was odd. I was also not getting any sound contacts around either. With a quick wink to Greed, I turned around to bring my stern tubes to bear and let loose. 2 hits! However, even though I could now see a fire through the distracting storm, I still couldn't get a lock visually. This is where I started to get dumb. I waited till my tubes were refilled than decided to wait till day break to see if I could see it better. So we waited.

Come morning the storm was still raging. While I could make out the shadows now (I was even closer!) I still couldn't get a lock. But, given my dud ranged location and Greed's gentle pushing I fired another 6 torpedoes into it. Much better results this time! 1 premature, 3 hits and 2 misses. After a few minutes I could tell the shadows were leaning to the side a bit. She was going down! I felt totally psyched about my first battleship kill as I plotted my course slowly out of the area.



I turned around to thank Greed for her help in getting me this battleship but when I looked for her, she was gone. Instead I found myself looking at the sonar man who was reporting two contacts closing fast! No worries. It was still stormy and we were in partially deep water, we'd be fine.

The two warship contacts found me FAST! Their initial depth charging was slightly off and harmless so I felt secure and continues along the trench. My movements were limited since deep water wise there was only a thin channel I could follow. After a few hours of inching away their depth charges finally hit me. Obs periscope and deckgun damaged. Some minor hull damage. Nothing too bad. During the attack I'd checked depth and had some 95ft more to play with, so hoping it would keep sloping down and I dropped to around 190ft instead of 140ft.

Fast forward a bit and I get hit again. This time big damage, engine rooms flooding, control room flooding! We started to loose depth quickly. Someone screams in my ear that batteries are down below 25%, another voice raises saying we're losing fuel. I check damage and sure enough, the Engine room has been decimated. Lost all engines, most batteries and my fuel tanks. Since the story is pretty much done at this point I decide to get some revenge. I emergency surface and prepare to at least hit back a bit before I get blown up.

The storm is STILL in full swing and when I surface I can't see anything. Through the rain and fog I catch a glimpse of a shadow moving. Just than the scouts call they see a ship. I hop into the AA guns while my deck gun (now repaired) takes a shot. Seeing the fire the ship turns into us trying to ram us. As it approaches we light it up with gun fire. We actually destroy it just before it hits us and we're gently nudged rather than overrun. That was way too easy...



The second ship approaches from the other side. This one we destroy easily before it even comes close. Now I'm heartbroken. These two subchasers which hunted us all day long and ended up crippling my ship could have been destroyed in a short surface battle? Seriously?!



We ended up repairing what we could over the course of the following day and night. Flooding was under control and with the pumps working we got the Engine Room and Control Room dried, but still unusable. Sunrise the next morning radar contacts starting showing up. Fast moving patrol boats whirling around us, but not close. The continuing storm kept visibility to nothing. In the afternoon however the sun started to peek through the retreating clouds and one of these new, larger destroyers got sight of us.



He didn't even bother shooting at us really, just rammed us at full speed. We capsized and lost pretty much everything else as he rolled completely over us pushing our stern down into the sea. Minutes later we were gone.



Throughout 8 patrols I myself had never received any medals. My crew had been awarded several Bronze and Silver Stars earlier though, but nothing for their captain. After this failed patrol I got the Purple Heart and the Navy Distinguished Service Medal. I suppose I should thank Greed for getting me my first, and last medals...