Skin of my Teeth.

[Spike88]

So I'm patrolling around Singapore in S-32 my S class submarine. I decide to sneak into the Singapore harbor. Under the cover of dark I sneak in, only to realize it's empty and there isn't even a guard ship.
Realizing this was a waste of fuel and time, I decide to go to my designated patrol area between Sumatra and Borneo.

About halfway to where I'm going I'm told that my port of call has changed from Surabaya to Freemantle, Australia. A quick check of my gas and I decide to head straight there so I don't run out of gas. I set the course and set my speed for standard.


Before I get far my Watch crew calls out that they've spotted a ship.

I go to periscope depth and my Sonarman calls out that it's a Merchant. It's the Hakusika Maru.



I turn 90 degrees and order 1/3rd back so I'll be in the perfect angle and distance for a torpedo attack. When I'm in the perfect spot I order all stop.

About 20 minutes later it comes it's in the perfect position so I launch 3 torpedoes at it. The first one hits it right under the smoke stack. I'm treated to a nice explosion and roughly 8,500 tons.

The second torpedo, despite being useless, also impacts, and the 3rd was never heard from again(I believe it was a dud.)

Excited about my first major kill(The only two other ships I've sunk in a total of 4 patrols was a subchaser and a sampan worth about 120 tons total ). I order the crew to continue on our course.

I decide my best way to get to Freemantle without using a lot of fuel would to go through a strait between Sumatra and Java. Unknowing that this area has recently fallen underneath Japanese rule.

Right upon entering the straight watch calls out Warship sighted. Luckily it's a rather dark night so I wasn't detected. Yet.

I order periscope depth, new heading of 90 degrees, ahead 1/3, battle-stations and silent running. When the ship gets under I pick up at least 20 contacts. There is only 3 destroyers guarding a whole lot of Merchants.

Jackpot.

I order all stop and wait until the convey comes around me, with little to no work I was in the center. The nearest ship is a rather large merchant at 30 degrees. Perfect!

I notice that spotlights have turned on and there is pinging going on from the destroyers, but the merchants aren't taking evasive maneuvers.

When the ship I have in my sights is at 10 degrees I launch 4 torpedoes at it, and order a crash dive and hard to port. When I pass the thermal layer I order ahead 1/3, and rudder amidships.

A couple minutes later 3 of the four torpedoes impact. I begin slowly sneaking in the opposite direction that the task force is heading. Destroyers ping a little and drop slightly away from me. Seemed like they didn't know where I was. Still conscious about my gas, I let them all go on their way. The ship I hit never went down.

When I'm sure their gone I surface and continue on my way.

About halfway through the straight we're hit by something. We're in shallow water so I can't dive or I'll risk hitting the ground. I rush topside to see where the attacks are coming from and realize I'm being attacked by a shore battery.

I order flank and steer towards deeper waters. By the time I get there my hull is at 49% and several components throughout the ship are damaged. There is also light flooding.

I order periscope depth, ahead 1/3 and continue on my journey. Everything but my paint scheme get's fixed. When I get out of the straight I go back to the surface and ahead standard.

I get the report that we're down to 50 fuel.

About 300NM I'm running at 5% fuel, and going about 1KT.
at 160NM the tanks run dry. So I order periscope depth and continue at 1kt. For the next 3 days I form a routine of surfacing to get rid of my CO2, and then diving to continue my journey. About 8NM from my last waypoint(which was about 2-3NM away form Freemantle) I'm running at .50 KT with 1/100 Battery left.

I'm almost at the last way point when the Anchor icon shows up in the right hand side of the screen. I click it and end the patrol. Thanking the gods I made it.

If I hadn't, this post would take place in the FUUUU--- moments thread and I would've cursed like a sailor.

I really need to sink more so I can get out of this S class.

[Gibus]

It is possible that the coastal battery had pierced a fuel tank.
I think you have failed to return with the oars or under spinnaker.

[sergei]

Glad you made it.

Like Gibus said, you may have had a fuel leak from the damage.

Another possibility, maybe your batteries were damaged.
The game will keep trying to recharge them up to 100%, but can't because they are damaged. So you are effectively running with one engine at flank all the time. Really Fubars your range.
After taking damage check that the recharge goes up to 100% then turns itself off. If it doesn't, you have to remember to turn off the recharge yourself.

Hope that makes sense.

[Diopos]

Originally Posted by Spike88

...
About 300NM I'm running at 5% fuel, and going about 1KT.
at 160NM the tanks run dry.
...

Lowering your cruising speed doesn't save fuel. It is almost like shifting to 1st gear to save gas when driving. The "economic" speed for fleet boats is ~ 9kts. Not sure what's the best speed for mileage for the S-boats though ...

Originally Posted by Spike88

...
I really need to sink more so I can get out of this S class.

Yeap. I can relate to that!


.

[rein1705]

seems i can get pretty far at 9 knots but i can get a lot farther at 5. see at 9 knots a fleet boat is on 2 engines but in an S-boat you only have 2 engines so at 5 knots you'd be cruising on one.

[Spike88]

Originally Posted by sergei

Glad you made it.

Like Gibus said, you may have had a fuel leak from the damage.

Another possibility, maybe your batteries were damaged.
The game will keep trying to recharge them up to 100%, but can't because they are damaged. So you are effectively running with one engine at flank all the time. Really Fubars your range.
After taking damage check that the recharge goes up to 100% then turns itself off. If it doesn't, you have to remember to turn off the recharge yourself.

Hope that makes sense.

I do believe the batteries were damaged, as they did seem to want to charge after being 100% charged. I guess in hindsight I should of manually turned them off. And I wouldn't be surprised if I had a fuel leak as all the engines were damaged and there was a hole in the boat around that area.

Lowering your cruising speed doesn't save fuel. It is almost like shifting to 1st gear to save gas when driving. The "economic" speed for fleet boats is ~ 9kts. Not sure what's the best speed for mileage for the S-boats though ...

If I had known this I would of kept it on Standard until I ran out.

[Armistead]

I love the S boat and the 9kt rule seems to apply, more or less kiss your milage goodbye.

[Spike88]

Just sunk 20k worth of merchant shipping with my S boat.

The last two ships, a large mechant worth 8000 and a medium merchant vessel worth about 5000 were both taken down with my deck gun.

The large merchant ended up doing 25% hull damage, and wounded some of my crew, but eventually went down. Got two medals and an extra two medals to disperse amongst the crew. I installed improved SD radar and finally got SJ radar.

Although the patrol lasted about 5 days longer due to not noticing my base had changed from Freemantle to the other naval base on the other side of Australia.


Edit: does sinking life rafts give you negative renown?