Battleship Task Force 1939

[Sheldon]

Hi everybody!

I used to just lurk here but now that I've registered I may as well participate. My first (non-technical issue) post is about battleships.

I recently had to re-install the game due to a glitch so I have started a new career. Last night, on our first mission, my inexperienced crew and I had finished our patrol and were returning to Kiel heading ENE just north of Scapa Flow when we spotted an enemy task force sailing due west. Normally I just try to sneak away from warships but I decided to take a peek. Imagine my surprise when I magnified the scope and found myself looking at a battleship! Scanning the horizon I could see there were a few destroyers escorting a line of five Nelson class battleships!

After wiping the drool off my keyboard, I tried desperately to bring our boat to bear and in range but they were just too far out and at a bad angle. Even at flank speed I could barely get within 5,000 metres before the window of opportunity closed. Hoping for luck, I fired off all four bow torpedoes at the first battleship in the line but my AoB wasn't the greatest. Alas, I was unsuccessful.

If it was later in the war I would have just fled ... but in 1939 I usually feel pretty safe. I have never before seen such a juicy military target in any of my campaigns. Do they appear very often and I just haven't noticed? I assume a few torpedos would penetrate a battleship or was I wasting ammo regardless?

Anyone else stumble onto such a fleet?

[nikbear]

I've never seen that many BB's but task force's do appear quite frequently if you know where to look Mind you,if you do sink one of there heavy chaps they go apesh1t crazy.
Sinking BB's is very doable,I prefer the Contact pistol set 2m's above keel depth,and it usually takes at least 2,more like 3 to make sure,although some on this forum have got lucky shots and taken one down with 1 eel
The only other piece of advice is make sure that you have plenty of depth to play with,because with that many DD's around in one place and angry,Its going to get very messy very quickWelcome aboard

[meduza]

Welcome aboard, Herr Kaleun!

It's not that you see a large task force every day, but every now and then you'll bump into one.

They can often be found NW of Hebrides, around Scapa Flow and North of Ireland, along Northern Approaches.

[Bent Periscope]

I noticed that the GWX file Campaign_Scr also list when task force will materialize. However there is detailing such as:

[Group 374.Unit 2]
Name=HMS Nelson#1
Class=BBNelson
Type=11
Origin=British
Side=1
Commander=0
CargoExt=-1
CargoInt=-1
CfgDate=19380101
DeleteOnLastWaypoint=true
DockedShip=false
GameEntryDate=19390925
GameEntryTime=700
GameExitDate=19390927
GameExitTime=2000
EvolveFromEntryDate=true
Long=-362133.312500
Lat=7046376.500000
Height=0.000000
Heading=120.963997
Speed=12.000000
CrewRating=3
DelayMin=0
ReportPosMin=720
ReportPosProbability=25
SecondsUntilReport=-60.000000
RandStartRadius=0.000000

How do you find the Long and Lat on the SH3 map? Do I have to do something on SH Editor (something I've never used).

What does:

DelayMin=0
ReportPosMin=720
ReportPosProbability=25
SecondsUntilReport=-60.000000
RandStartRadius=0.000000

all mean?

My most improtant question is finding the Long & Lat.

Thank you,

BP

[Jimbuna]

Welcome aboard matey

Five Nelsons on parade is indeed a rare sight

[Synthfg]

Being as the British only built 2 I'd say 5 nelsons is an extremely rare site indeed
you sure your periscope wasn't broken or that you hadn't been running the diesels under water

Edit,
BB's 1 Magnetic, 1m below Keel depth, aim for under the fore turrets

[Sheldon]

Heh. I'm sure the scope wasn't broken. Eye exam is current as of a few months ago.

I had never actually seen a battleship before in this sim/game. When I was first looking I had a hard time figuring out the silhouette until I got a bit closer. That's why I was so shocked. If I see one again I'm going to do everything in my power to sink it!

Thanks all for the suggestions and comments.

[BulSoldier]

In my campaing is mid '40 so it is shortly after norwegian campaign.You can notica quite a lot enemy task forces, howeever unless you intercept them or you spot them at a very nice angle for attack, it is quite dificult to approach since they tend to move quite fast.
I prefer actually firing all 4 torps to impact just to make sure i bring one down, and i am not big fan of mag pistols.However it is known that with magnetic you can bring down the beast with just one (if the aal dosnt blow your boat especially that early).

[DaveU186]

NW of the Hebrides as already said, and in the Northern approach to the Irish sea is a good place to find them early in the war. Very heavily protected as you'd expect but you can't beat sinking a BB.

[fisherstoys1]

Head off to the Medd.
I found more warships there than anywhere.

Grant