Unescorted convoy in 1945??

[Bubblehead1980]

TMO 2.0
RSRD

100 realism

Left Mios Woendi on January 5, 1945 for a special mission(instertion of Australian commands at Pare-Pare Bay and peninsula on Celebes Island) Upon completion of oporder began patrol in the Makassar Strait.Around 1800 hours on January 14, 1945 off coast of Borneo, contacted a convoy at 11 miles on SJ radar hugging the coast of Borneo, apparently heading for Balikpapan.Moved in for night surface attack, although it would be risky since had full load of Mark 18 torpedos with their short range and in extremely shallow waters, moved in for the attack.Much to my surprise, this convoy of 9 ships, including several mid sized and small tankers was UNESCORTED(!)

After a 31 hour(game time) ah well it was a do nothing day) running battle along the coast of Borneo in which all 24 torpedos were fired and one deck gun attack(from 4200 yards, sunk an Akita Maru this way) was made while torpedos being reloaded, 6 of 9 ships, including 2 medium tankers and one small were sunk.The convoy was too close to Balikpapan by this time and was out of torpedos, so I headed for Darwin to refit.

Although unescorted, the convoy was a challenge due to the speed they maintained and wild zigging they did after first attack, even after lost contact and regained, they rarely stayed on a course for long, which made plotting an attack difficult and thus why out of 24 fired, a few missed.

I was surprised this convoy was not escorted in 1945.Error or is this accurate? I know Lurker used a convoy history or whatever but surprised they were unescorted.I looked this convoy up in the ME a minute ago, it was from Surabaya, Java so a short run but surprised it had no escort.

Also shocking was the lack of air cover, no air contacts during the entire battle.Think the campaign needs some work in the Borneo, Java Sea area.Add some air cover and some patrols.

Fun battle though.


Update:Refitted at Darwin and went to patrol Api Passage on other side of Borneo for almost 2 weeks, no contacts.Then went to Area D4 just south of Gulf of Siam(Thailand), sank an Akita Maru en route.Then, after a long high speed chase, sank a Nippon Maru tanker traveling at 16 knots alone and zigging often heading for Singapore in area D4.

Encountered a 3 ship, 3 escort convoy on Feb 10 1945, surface attack foiled, forced me to run away.Attacked in deeper water submerged next morning, sank one ship and the lead escort, was hiding well but the flank found me after attack, Type D escort...lucky charged damaged engine room bulkhead, stern torpedo bulkhead, floodined, destroyed diesel engines, stern tubes etc.I sat on bottom at all stop(didnt take hull damage) and was depth charged relentlessly then they lost me, falling for decoys and guessing the bottom helped.Flooding was controlled, hull damage from sitting on bottom and moving when depth charged was now 35 but not bad considering.

Escorts lost me eventually, I survived sitting on bottom but badly damaged, if only had diesels I could make it home.Had to give up on an outstanding patrol.....9 ships sank.This game really needs some work when it comes to the long standing issue of being stranded.