My Holy Grail

[Ancient Mariner]

So I have started a new DiD career and on my first outing paid a visit to Uncle Winston's naval yard of Scapa Flow. After painting my brand new Type ViiB in a darker color scheme (many thanks to Laufen Zum Ziel) and a bit of luck( I nearly got bounced by 4 DD's NNW of the Shetlands,and the weather turning to absolute turds at the Western approaches of the base,i moved in decks awash.

I stumbled upon an auxilliary cruiser,which i soon had two eels in her side and sank(well bottomed out but counted as a sinking),I pressed on to come across the 1 ship that has eluded me,my holy grail if you wish,The Hood.

I decided to get to round the 900m mark(my favored distance for firing shots)set my fish to impact detonation(not sold on magnetics in '39),I closed in for the kill,as i got to round 950m i hit a subnet and had my bow an conning tower clearly visible ,one word flashed thru my brain at that because less than 200m away was another BB(a revenge class if I am not mistaken) and 300m in the other direction a destroyer,luckily the weather was the worst I have ever seen in GWX. Going full reverse I escaped the net and scraped along until i found a gap.

After getting through the nets I got into a brilliant spot to stick no less than 6 eels into her side,she croacked and groaned,had a few fireworks,YUSS!!!! I had finally done it......but then she settled on the seabed and I wasnt credited a kill

So thinking that discretion was the better part of valor I snuck out through the hornets nest,had a few close calls but the RN boys musta been on a bender that night before I struck so their ASW skills were lacklustre at best. I made good my escape.

All that for a lil over 13 850 Tons!!! Plus the Hood still eludes me,altho she'll be laid up for a good few months for repairs.

Lt z S, Joseph Becker
U35

[Ford Prefect]

I've had a couple of large ships settle and not count as sunk before now, one time the coast was clear so I waited it out and eventually it gave me the kill the other time I stuck another eel into her and blew it to bits getting the kill.

[KeptinCranky]

Wait, you went into Scapa in a DiD career???

AND ran into the subnets in the anchorage...

That's a good way to have a short career

Didn't you know that it's just as likely to run into the Hood at that time, oh about 100km west of Scapa, usually with another battlecruiser, a light cruiser or 2 and only 4 DDs I've sunk her once there and encountered the same group repeatedly in that spot.
Then there is AM36, also a Warship hotspot at that time. almost any type of warship passes through there with the exception of carriers (at least I've never seen one there).
Also the water is 100m deep, no subnets and you might bag another ship along with Hood

and you might have a 2nd and even a 3rd patrol in your career

[cawimmer430]

I know how you feel.

During my career in late 1940 I managed to sneak into Scapa Flow where there was a big destroyer of some kind (not sure of the name but it wasn't your typical V&W / C-Class / Hunt I or II destroyer and it wasn't a large battleship either) anchored near the entrance not moving. It was night and I had not been detected at all - perfect situation for a surprise attack. I lined my submarine up on the warships port side, 1000 m away. I fired three torpedoes, and then quickly crept away to get out of here before all hell broke loose.

Well, my three torpedoes slammed into ship and sent her to the bottom - except that I didn't get a kill message. The ship was on the murky bottom floor but its antenna masts and bridge were still above the water level. Damn! I was pissed.

Traveling at periscope depth, I get a sound contact bearing 0 degrees dead ahead, long range. Periscope up, ah, a small Elco torpedo boat traveling at fast speed towards me. I've not been detected yet and he wasn't veering off course. I retract my periscope and manually set the fourth torpedo to a 0 degree / fast / 1 km+ course and fired her away.

What happened next was pure awesomeness. My torpedo, traveling at high speed, impacted directly into the bow of the fast-traveling Elco torpedo boat. The resulting explosion was just awesome!

That little boat didn't stand a chance. I had given away my position but thankfully there were no enemy warships near me inside Scapa Flow - they were all waiting for me outside. My experienced torpedo officers quickly loaded all four tubes, then I went silent and crept out of Scapa Flow and managed to escape without ever being detected.

Well, I never was credited with sinking that warship inside Scapa Flow. Would be great if this game credited you with damaging ships. But the death and spectacular explosion of that Elco torpedo boat made up for it - a little.

[Ancient Mariner]

I know that doing the sneak attack on Scapa is a highly dangerous attack,like i said the weather played along & I had lady luck with me,I try to avoid shallow water when possible but had to prove to myself that if it could be done in RL I could do it too.

Will keep an sharp watch to try ambush the Hood when she is outside the "flow" next time though