First Liberty ship encounter

Nangleator · 04-01-09, 01:42 PM

I've played stock SHIII up into summer '43 a few times, but always in VIII's. I've been in a IX for ten patrols now, and ran into my first Liberty Cargo ship off Newfoundland.

Bernard must have been at the helm.

It loomed out of a heavy fog, and I scrambled to learn the keel depth of the ship before loosing two torpedoes. He was steaming along quickly, and even though I got two hits, he still disappeared into the fog at about 7 or 8 knots. I surfaced and made chase. My plan was to just regain visual on him long enough to run an eel up his kilt and stop him. I wasn't ready for the immediate sighting I got, and was shocked to see him listing heavily, almost beam on to me and stopped.

Liberty ships have some guns on them. Rather a lot, it turns out.

I got off a snap shot from the front tubes and ordered a crash dive. Between my own indecision and the graphical challenge to my old computer hardware, I received quite a lot of damage, and spent most of the rest of the encounter moving the damage repair crew around. Well, the snapshot saved my butt, and I got a report of the enemy vessel's demise. By the time I ordered the last damaged compartment repaired, I realized I might be having another encounter. I was headed towards the sinking position of the ship at flank speed.

External view showed that I passed no less than about 6 meters from the sinking wreck. I'd like to say "No sweat," but I was sweating.

04-01-09, 01:42 PM	#1
Nangleator Mate Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Billerica Posts: 58 Downloads: 4 Uploads: 0	First Liberty ship encounter I've played stock SHIII up into summer '43 a few times, but always in VIII's. I've been in a IX for ten patrols now, and ran into my first Liberty Cargo ship off Newfoundland. Bernard must have been at the helm. It loomed out of a heavy fog, and I scrambled to learn the keel depth of the ship before loosing two torpedoes. He was steaming along quickly, and even though I got two hits, he still disappeared into the fog at about 7 or 8 knots. I surfaced and made chase. My plan was to just regain visual on him long enough to run an eel up his kilt and stop him. I wasn't ready for the immediate sighting I got, and was shocked to see him listing heavily, almost beam on to me and stopped. Liberty ships have some guns on them. Rather a lot, it turns out. I got off a snap shot from the front tubes and ordered a crash dive. Between my own indecision and the graphical challenge to my old computer hardware, I received quite a lot of damage, and spent most of the rest of the encounter moving the damage repair crew around. Well, the snapshot saved my butt, and I got a report of the enemy vessel's demise. By the time I ordered the last damaged compartment repaired, I realized I might be having another encounter. I was headed towards the sinking position of the ship at flank speed. External view showed that I passed no less than about 6 meters from the sinking wreck. I'd like to say "No sweat," but I was sweating.