1943 has not been a good year

[RoaldLarsen]

I'm following a campaign in which I keep one career operating for each flotilla modeled by the game. (In 1939 and 1940, I had two careers per flotilla to balance out the smaller number of active flotillas.) When a Kaleun is killed or retires, a new career takes his place, starting at about the time the previous career ended. I run each patrol in chronological order, and have just come to the end of 1943.

1943 was not a good year for the U-bootwaffe, at least, not for the type IX boats. The increased effectiveness of allied aircraft is having a deadly impact on the slower-to-dive type IXs. The greater presence of aircraft is affecting all boats, as more time must now be spent submerged, thereby lengthening the time spent to cover any given distance. More sub losses and more time spent submerged is cutting into tonnage totals, even with the introduction of better weapon systems.

The table below is a summary of all the patrols I have run in 1943. The column labeled "Fl" gives the flotilla number. "SD" is number of days at sea. The column headed "A" indicates the number of aircraft shot down. The final column is encoded to save space. "Sunk" is self-explanitory, "A" means the patrol was aborted due to malfunction or sabotage. The other single character indicators show how much damage the boat took.
0 = no damage,
L = light, Hull Integrity > 90%
M = moderate, 60% < HI <= 90%
H = heavy, 30% < HI <= 60%
S = severe, 0% < HI <= 30%

The contrast between outcomes for type VII and type IX boats is so great that I have separated them into different sections. Othewise the table is ordered chronologically.

Boat# Type__ Fl Patrol Start/End Date SD Tonnage A Fate
U-443 VIIC__ 29 1943/01/21 1943/02/04 15 __7,730 _ 0
U-266 VIIC__ _7 1943/02/01 1943/03/08 36 _35,016 _ H
U-603 VIIC__ _1 1943/02/03 1943/03/02 28 _48,954 _ L
U-607 VIIC__ _7 1943/02/19 1943/02/23 _5 _______ _ Sunk
U-212 VIIC__ 11 1943/02/21 1943/03/11 19 _24,737 _ 0
U-443 VIIC__ 29 1943/03/09 1943/03/25 17 _20,143 _ H
U-603 VIIC__ _1 1943/04/09 1943/06/14 67 _35,729 _ L
U-266 VIIC__ _7 1943/04/24 1943/05/02 _9 _______ _ H
U-212 VIIC__ 11 1943/05/01 1943/05/01 _0 _______ _ A
U-443 VIIC__ 29 1943/06/07 1943/06/27 21 _34,630 _ 0
U-212 VIIC__ 11 1943/06/28 1943/08/07 41 __8,618 _ 0
U-266 VIIC__ _7 1943/07/05 1943/08/03 30 _27,574 _ H
U-603 VIIC__ _1 1943/07/31 1943/08/25 26 _50,756 2 L
U-409 VIIC__ 29 1943/08/27 1943/09/03 _8 _40,177 _ 0
U-212 VIIC__ 11 1943/09/10 1943/10/10 31 _45,896 _ L
U-409 VIIC__ 29 1943/09/26 1943/10/18 23 __4,176 6 S
U-603 VIIC__ _1 1943/10/02 1943/11/02 32 _26,367 1 0
U-266 VIIC__ _7 1943/10/06 1943/11/28 54 _11,522 _ 0
U-212 VIIC__ 11 1943/11/22 1943/12/13 22 _13,639 1 M
U-603 VIIC__ _1 1943/12/31 1944/03/03 64 _46,834 4 L

U-159 IXC___ 10 1943/01/10 1943/03/15 65 _22,038 _ H
U-161 IXC___ _2 1943/02/13 1943/03/17 33 _42,741 _ Sunk
U-190 IXC/40 _2 1943/02/21 1943/03/06 _5 _28,601 _ Sunk
U-178 IXD2__ 12 1943/03/13 1943/03/14 _1 _______ _ Sunk
U-191 IXC/40 _2 1943/03/23 1943/04/03 12 __7,345 _ S
U-196 IXD2__ 12 1943/04/23 1943/10/18 179 52,646 _ S
U-159 IXC___ 10 1943/05/21 1943/05/21 _0 _______ _ A
U-191 IXC/40 _2 1943/06/27 1943/07/19 23 _______ _ Sunk
U-533 IXC/40 10 1943/08/06 1943/08/13 _8 _______ _ Sunk
U-539 IXC/40 10 1943/09/22 1943/10/02 11 _25,733 _ Sunk
U-193 IXC/40 _2 1943/10/30 1944/01/14 77 _31,098 3 S

All the sinkings and almost all the damage were caused by aircraft. Of type IX patrols, 55% ended in the loss of the sub, a third of these while still in the Bay of Biscay. The surviving boats all came back badly damaged. Of type VII patrols, over a third came back undamaged and only 1 in 20 resulted in the loss of the boat and only one was severely damaged.

The ace of the year is Voker Vogel, commanding U-603 of the 1st Flotilla. In just 5 war patrols he has sunk 208,640 tons and shot down 7 planes. Despite (or maybe because of) having a type VIIC he also managed to conduct the third- and fifth-longest patrols of the year. Also worth noting is the April 23rd patrol of U-196, which lasted almost half a year.

This is a summary of my patrols since the start of the war:

____________________ ___1939 ___1940 ___1941 ___1942 ___1943
Number of Patrols___ _____26 _____40 _____27 _____34 _____31
Days at Sea_________ ____436 ____528 ____420 ____681 ____962
Days per Patrol_____ ___16.8 ___13.2 ___15.6 ___20.0 ___32.0
Tonnage Sunk________ 648,396 850,593 681,374 921,375 692,700
Tonnage per Patrol__ _24,938 _21,265 _25,236 _27,099 _22,345
Aircraft Shot Down__ ______0 ______1 ______5 ______7 _____17
Subs Lost___________ ______1 ______2 ______0 ______4 ______7
Patrols per Lost Sub ___26.0 ___20.0 _____∞ ____8.5 ____4.4
Tonnage per Lost Sub 648,396 425,297 _____∞ 230,344 _98,957

You can clearly see the effects of the increased allied air power in 1943. The patrols have become longer, as u-boats can now rarely run on the surface. Tonnage is down and losses are up. The much greater number of encounters with aircraft results in more aircraft being shot down.

The tonnage totals for 1940 and 1942 give an indication of the First and Second Happy Times.

Overall, I think these results come fairly close to mirroring the historical experience, insofar as the patterns of activity change from year to year. Of course, overall tonnage is way too high, and that is directly related to there being too many contacts, which is primarily due to there being too many ships in the game, and secondarily to those ships being too easy to find. Type VIIs seem to be a bit too immune to aircraft, of which there are too many. Escort vessels are not effective enough. Anti-aircraft fire is too effective.

Simulating 1943 has been quite a challenge. RL is about to get busy again, so I expect to be taking some shore leave before I tackle 1944.

My thanks to the modders who improve this game, and especially to Jaeson Jones for SH3 Commander, which is the key to me being able to customize the experience to my taste. And a special thank-you to Neal and all the regulars here at Subsim for creating and maintaining such a wonderful online community.

[TheDudTorpedo]

A very well written and informative post

My current career has me in August 1943, and I fully agree - what a tough year it is! My tonnages have come right down and I am spending far more time submerged

I echo your sentiments about SH3 Commander, although I do not use it to its full capability - a great piece of work there, as with all the other mods around, incl. GWX3 Gold

[mookiemookie]

I've always been too scared to tackle 1943, but I'm making a stab at it now. It's a whole different animal. I've all but given up on trying to attack convoys. I can't even get close enough to get off a torpedo because of allied radar.

Here's my latest 1943...or as the U-boat men called it, the zauergherkinzeit (sour pickle time)...story: I came within a hair's breadth of being sunk last time I was spotted by convoy escorts. I was trying to sneak ahead of this convoy so I could submerge ahead of them. That was the plan, at least, until I spotted two DD's hard charging directly at me. I got under quick, but they started crapping all over me. I had my damage control team furiously pumping water out of 2 rapidly flooding compartments while 3 DD's circled me overhead. I was at 150 meters and gradually sinking due to the extra water weight. I couldn't go silent as I needed that damage control team to work, so I was dancing around the depth charges as they rained down for 2 and a half hours by going flank speed and twisting and turning when the DD's went over top of me. My guys finally finished the pumping and I could go to silent speed and creep away from the escorts. It was friggin hairy there for a while. That DC team is getting medals for sure if we make it back.

The Longer Repair Times mod is one of the greatest ones out there and I wouldn't have had nearly the tension in this case without it!

[Oneshot/Onekill]

I personally have never started a career in 1943, i've always started in 1939 or 40 and worked my way up from there.. I just don't survive long enough.

[nikbear]

I have only ever had 1 career get past '43 and it made going on patrol an utter nightmare planes were everywhere and the only ships to be sunk were the few single merchants that could be found,convoys were a total no go Tonnage dropped off totally and just making it back to base was an acheivment in its self,usually with damage that could not be repaired at sea.The only saving grace out of all of it was that later you can get the TypeVIIC/41 which enabled you to dive deeper should the need arise,but what little comfort that brought was far outweighed by the number of Hunter/killer groups patrolling the sea's around the UK,by '43 they are so numerous and skilled that once they get a sniff of you......you are going to be down for along time,realtime. If you get away all you will think about is getting home back to base,but its a big IF,because more often then not you will not stand a chance,no wonder the moral amongst the U-boat crews simply ebbed away.Its hell Thank you RoaldLarsen for you detailed breakdown and stats,its good to know that what I've always thought is true,as the war draws to a close,get in a TypeVII!

[RoaldLarsen]

Originally Posted by mookiemookie

I've always been too scared to tackle 1943, but I'm making a stab at it now. It's a whole different animal. I've all but given up on trying to attack convoys. I can't even get close enough to get off a torpedo because of allied radar.

I have managed quite a few convoy attacks during 1943. In fact, on more than one occaision I was able to attack the same convoy 3 times.

The way I deal with radar and Asdic is to make sure I stay out of range. I try to be at least 10km off the convoy's track when passing it, and to arrive at the interception point at least 45 minutes ahead of the convoy, submerge to periscope depth about 1-2km off the convoy's track, perpendicular to the track, rig for silent and wait for the lead destroyer to pass me. Then I creep forward and am usually able to get within 1km of the juicy targets in the middle.

This approach seems to work for up to 6 escorts. If there were any more, I doubt there would be enough of a gap between the lead escort and the forward flank escort for me to sneak through.

The scope only goes up briefly and at the last moment, three times. The first time is to select targets, usually two forward and one aft. This lets me set torpedo depths, and choose which eels to aim at which target. The second peek is to get range to targets, and is used only if I am not doing a fast 90 attack (if I am, range is not needed). The last one is for bearing to target as I fire.

After firing my torpedoes, and again after torpedo impacts, I do a hydrophone check to see if I am being attacked by an escort coming in from the perimeter. If I am, I go to flank speed, head away from the attacking escort across the path of the convoy a bit, and then, before I reach the edge of the pack of merchants, turn to a parallel course, run for about 300-500 metres, then slow engines to 100 revs, all the while diving to max depth. At the turn, I drop a single Bold.

If I am not being attacked I head slowly towards one edge of the merchant pack, and then turn to the reciprocal course of the convoy, always slowly diving deeper, and head out the back, but off the centerline so as to avoid tail-end Charlie.

Once clear of the convoy, I reload, surface, do an end run, and repeat.

I use hydrophones extensively to adjust my plot of the convoy's track and thereby adjust my location during the move to the interception point, and then to fine tune my distance from convoy track. If the convoy chooses to zig, I miss.

The attack from inside the convoy still seems more effective than standing off outside the convoy and firing from long range. It is easier to get hits, and the presence of ships all around you masks your presence from the enemy escorts. Evasion from within the convoy is easier because the escorts have to dodge the merchants, and (in theory - I don't know if the game engine works this way) the merchants should make it harder for the escorts to hear me or see me. With escorts mounting hedgehogs now, it is more important to stay undetected, or if detected, to leave the spot where you were last seen, but leave a Bold behind so the escorts will have something to keep them occupied.

The method seems to work. I haven't lost a single boat to escorts during my 31 patrols in 1943. In that time I estimate I made close to 40 attempts to attack convoys. Some of my more successful attacks have netted: a Fiji cruiser, or a pair of troop transports, or an ocean liner and a T3, or two T3s or a troop transport and a T3, or a T2 and a C3 and a C2.

One time, after I had fired my initial salvo at a slow Gibralter convoy, I wasn't sure if the warship sounds I heard were actual pursuers, or just escorts doing normal sweeps. I turned parallel to the convoy and found myself right next to a troopship. I used my observation scope underwater to put myself right under the troopship and to match course and speed (which was slower than I had orginally thought - which explained my misses in the first salvo). I stayed there while I reloaded a forward tube, then reduced speed to let the range increase to about 300m, then fired and hit the troopship's props. After the search had given up, I was able to finish off my former cover.

It doesn't always go smoothly. I have been picked up on Asdic a couple of times by the lead escort, when I got too close to his path. I have been picked up on radar during the approach to the interception point. Once this happened in dense fog. The escort had centimetric radar and my boat only had Metox, so I didn't detect his radar signal. He burst out of a fog bank 400 metres away. I don't know which of us was more surprised by the ecounter, as he didn't fire a single shot. I crash dove, and he rammed me, damaging the conning tower. After somehow surviving the first depth charges, I was able to leave a Bold and evade.

Another time, a flank escort picked me up on radar as I was attempting to pass while loading an external torpedo. Fortunately, this time I detected his radar signal. I had to run full speed on the surface for about 12 minutes until the eel was safely inside the hull. He closed to within about 400 metres, but for some reason, never fired his guns. I zigged when he zagged, dove, dodged his first depth charges, then dropped a Bold and made a high speed run away while in his baffles, and lived to tell the tale.

[RoaldLarsen]

Originally Posted by nikbear

...the number of Hunter/killer groups patrolling the sea's around the UK,by '43 they are so numerous and skilled that once they get a sniff of you......you are going to be down for along time,realtime. If you get away all you will think about is getting home back to base,but its a big IF,because more often then not you will not stand a chance,

You are right about the increased number of hunter-killer groups. That is one aspect of the changed situation in 1943 which I failed to mention. I think I omitted them because they have had very little effect on me. Perhaps I have been lucky.

I think that the reason why hunter-killer groups haven't been much of a problem for me is because of the airplanes. I am almost always submerged, except in weather so bad that planes cannot fly. Because I am submerged, I can hear the hunter-killer groups on hydrophone And because I am submerged so long, I have to go slow. My usual submerged cruising speed is 1.8 to 1.9 knots. During daylight hours it will sometimes go to 2.9 knots. Since I am going so slow, I will hear the hunter-killers long before they can hear me. This gives me plenty of opportunity to avoid them.

If I am surfaced for a long period, it is because the visiblity is bad. They will have to use radar to detect me, and I wlil usually detect it in time to get away with a crash dive and a Bold. This has happened a couple of times.

If a hunter-killer group ever does catch me on the surface, I expect to be toast.

[mookiemookie]

Thanks for the tips. I'll give it a shot your way!

[RoaldLarsen]

Originally Posted by nikbear

I have only ever had 1 career get past '43 and it made going on patrol an utter nightmare planes were everywhere and the only ships to be sunk were the few single merchants that could be found,convoys were a total no go Tonnage dropped off totally and just making it back to base was an acheivment in its self,usually with damage that could not be repaired at sea.

That pretty well describes the 31 nightmares I've had over the past few months (Except for the bit about convoys. See my post #6 ITT.). I know what it did to my morale. 1 in 4 sunk. I can only imagine what it must have been like for the real crews. I think I would need to take a break even if RL wasn't about to enforce one.

Originally Posted by nikbear

its good to know that what I've always thought is true,as the war draws to a close,get in a TypeVII!

Amen to that!

I wonder if I will ever have a type IX skipper who will get enough renown to see if Tarnmatte on a snorkel is an effective counter to the aircraft problem.

Looking forward to 1944 I expect to have fewer patrols, as turnaround time increases, and build/maintenance quality declines. By the end of the year there will be only two flotillas operating instead of the 7 I have currently, so I will be replacing fewer careers. Patrols will become shorter as there will be fewer assignments farther afield. Losses will increase, tonnage will decline. I am hoping to be able to have a patrol survival rate of > 2/3. The rate of suffering will go up, but the overall volume will go down. I guess I'll have about 18-20 patrols, about 400 sea days, about 6 or 7 lost boats and only about 250,000 - 300,000 tons sunk.

[bookworm_020]

If you think 1943 is bad, wait till you get to 1944!

[mookiemookie]

That's it, I'm going to Penang!

[nikbear]

Well you seem to have the number crunching sorted RoaldLarsen,I wish you and your crews every bit of luck with your future patrol's,please keep us informed of your outcomes,I'm intrigued as to how it all pan's out and if the theory of it being safer in a TypeVII later in the war is correct or weather its safer to take a TypeIX Further afield where air cover might be more sparse,hopefully borne out by your stats we might have a better idea.Best of luck

[Oneshot/Onekill]

Would'nt the Type XXI be the safest boat late war?

[nikbear]

It would,but it's kind of cheating really.Only one TypeXXI ever made a successful attack on an enemy,and even then it was a dummy runit was a little to late to change the war,so where its great to run "What if?" Scenario's,its not really accurate.Feel free to have a go and see what might have been,but thankfully for us all it never was

[Oneshot/Onekill]

The last time i commanded a TypeXXI was back in 05 or 06, w/SH3vanilla.

I havn't made it past 1942 since GWX.