How i sank a Destroyer with my deckgun

Nemo66 · 03-17-15, 03:55 PM

Winter 1940, Type VII B on patrol somewhere near the Western Approaches.

It was a dark deep night in, nothing to see at all, so i decided to dive to use my hydrophones. Almost immediately i got contact with a destroyer, coming up behind me. I decided to wait near his course with engines off, and take a close look at him. As he passed by, only a few hundred meters away, i saw that he was not going very fast, only 11knts.

A crazy idea came to my mind. I decided to follow him, right in line with his course, and to attack him surprisingly from the back with my deckgun when i was close enough.

So i followed him underwater with 5-7 knots, slowly turning more and more into his course. It took quite some time but finally i was just in the line of his course, my bow directing exactly towards his stern. He was 6000 meters away now, and i surfaced to 7,8 m. Half submerged i followed him with my diesels at flank speed giving me 12 knots, just one more than his speed. I came closer and closer, but of course this also took quite a while. I was totally blending in with the dark night, showing my lowest profile to his stern, an area where i knew, his lookouts would be doing their job not too concentrated.

I knew that i would have to get kind of close, because with my first few rounds i had to take out at least his stern turrets to have any chance at all.

I was at about 900m when i fully surfaced. This was the critical moment, if he would spot me now he would shell me to pieces.

But nothing happened and i set my speed to also 11knots, i did not want to come any closer. Then i ordered my guncrew to shoot at his weapons, but went to the gun myself before they could shoot. I knew they always need some rounds before they really hit a target, and i knew i had to hit him hard with the first few rounds. But i knew also, that he would do a turn to give me some broadsides, as soon as he realized what was going on. I knew that i had to manoeuver my boat very soon in order to stay in his back. I wanted my guncrew to fire while i would be manoeuvering, therefore i gave this order to them. I loaded AP amo because it's way more effective against warships.

OK, everything was prepared now. I aimed very concentrated at his stern turret, took a deep breath, and fired.

My first shot hit his D-turret and blew it right off the deck. YEEHAA! Reload. Second shot hit the backside of his bridge. Reload. 3rd shot hit close to his C-turret but did not damage it. Turret C fired at me me but way too short. Now he had realized what was going on, speeded up and started to turn to starboard. I left the gun for a few moments to navigate and stay in his back. My gunners hit him with their 3rd or 4th shot and his C-turret was full on fire, but still shooting at me.

Standing at the bridge his shell dragged me a new vertex and missed my head only by an inch.

I went back to the gun and hit the C-turret again and it blew off. The destroyer had turned now for about 30 degrees and i saw his turrets A and B turning grimly towards me. I targetted them, and right before they fully were turned, i had hit both of them several times, taking them out of business. The Destroyer was a bit on fire, and couldn't use it's heavy guns anymore, but he still turned to starboard. I realized that he was firing at me with his stern and starboard AA guns. I give order for peri depth, only to get my guncrew fast inside the boat, just one moment before 2cm shells started raining all over my deck from bow to stern. At once i give order for 7,8m again, but i only put one single sailor on the bridge, to keep the risk of crew losses small. Now i navigated my boat with diesels on his course again, so what we did now was a great turn on the same circle. I was fully in his back again, and he could only shoot with his stern AAGs. I fully surfaced again now, and gunned his bridge and deck to pieces. He was still firing with a few AAGs but he did not really hit my boat anymore. He still tried to turn to starboard but i followed his manouvers and let auto-gunners do their job. They hit him regularly now and his stern was fully in flames. Now he showed me a bit of his broadside again, and i ordered to shoot below waterline. He got one hit after another and his speed went down to only a few knots. I slow down too and keep the distance. Now most of the AAGs had been taken out too, and i man the gun myself and give him the rest. Now it was not a fight anymore, only one of us was still shooting. I realized that he started to sink by starboard. I gave him a few more shells but he was done.

Maybe 4 minutes after my first shell he was on his last way down to the seaground. Bon voyage! I did not loose any crew and took no damage at all, he had been assasinated too surprisingly.

The destroyer was a River-class if i remember right, and i had a VII B or maybe C, i don't remember exactly. It was pre-radar time of course, and it was done in one of my careers with a stock 1.4b version.

UKönig · 03-17-15, 05:42 PM

Nice work! You got pretty lucky.
As a surface combat vessel the U-boat is a washout. Hopelessly outclassed by virtually *all* of its opponents. Too low in the water, low lateral stability, visual range too short. Weapons awkward and cumbersome. Rate of fire too low. Too slow, both on the surface and under it. Still, it's a good feeling to accomplish something difficult and "fight above your weight" and win.
I have taken out armed trawlers with the deck gun. I think I even managed to score a few lucky long range shots against a corvette as it was approaching, so that by the time it got within 2km I was already the victor.
But as a general rule I do not fight above my weight class. I will take on surface vessels no bigger than a corvette, and only under specific circumstances, otherwise ...we go under. Attack from stealth, or just creep away and hope he doesn't notice or loses interest.

Kensai7 · 03-18-15, 11:23 AM

I had come across a video on YouTube that did something similar. In that case, the destroyer was returning fire but the dude was super lucky into sinking it first. If I find it again I will post it here.

Sailor Steve · 03-18-15, 11:52 AM

Real life: Destroyer with four or five guns, fire control system, trained for surface warfare. Submarine with one gun, iron sights, no fire control, much less stable platform.

Game: It's a game. You can get away with all kinds of nonsense.

Quote:

Originally Posted by UKönig

But as a general rule I do not fight above my weight class. I will take on surface vessels no bigger than a corvette, and only under specific circumstances, otherwise ...we go under. Attack from stealth, or just creep away and hope he doesn't notice or loses interest.

We used to have players doing a lot of posting about how they sank corvettes by surfacing behind them. Nicholas Monsarrat (The Cruel Sea) told a story of a U-boat that surfaced behind his corvette. The 40mm gun mounted aft took care of the boat's gun crew before they could even get the water plug out of the gun. The U-boat surrendered after that.

I try not to do things that wouldn't work in real life, no matter how easy the game makes it.

UKönig · 03-18-15, 12:05 PM

Oh, no contest!
A U-boat vs a surface vessel gets its ass handed to it every time. If you wanted to fight a surface battle, you should have just brought a surface ship.
Those 'specific circumstances' that I mentioned are really, 'when I know he can do nothing about it -ie-no return fire.'. If there is even the smallest chance that a gun can still be trained on my boat, I will not engage on the surface.
If I wanted to do something like that, then I would just put 'unlimited damage' on and go to town. All the rules would be thrown out the window at that point.
But the game is not that fun (my opinion) if there is no (simulated) risk.

GoldenRivet · 03-18-15, 01:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

Real life: Destroyer with four or five guns, fire control system, trained for surface warfare. Submarine with one gun, iron sights, no fire control, much less stable platform.

Game: It's a game. You can get away with all kinds of nonsense.

We used to have players doing a lot of posting about how they sank corvettes by surfacing behind them. Nicholas Monsarrat (The Cruel Sea) told a story of a U-boat that surfaced behind his corvette. The 40mm gun mounted aft took care of the boat's gun crew before they could even get the water plug out of the gun. The U-boat surrendered after that.

I try not to do things that wouldn't work in real life, no matter how easy the game makes it.

additionally if the destroyer went ahead flank and rolled 3 or 4 depth charges off the rack with a shallow enough setting the u-boat would have probably suffered some pretty substantial damage

rowi58 · 03-18-15, 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

...
I try not to do things that wouldn't work in real life, no matter how easy the game makes it.

Exactly. Only in case of emergency. Once i reloaded external torpedos (with h.sie's patch) and could not dive soon. A "Hunt II" destroyer attacs me and (stupid destroyer commander) opened fire at about 6,000 m distance. I replied fire (manualy) and with one lucky shot i destroyed his bow 4-Inch-Twin gun. The rest was easy - but i'll never ever do this again.

Greetings
rowi58

Zosimus · 03-19-15, 08:30 PM

I sank a destroyer with a deck gun once. It was out of ammo and couldn't return fire. No way I would try to surface in the wake of a destroyer and follow it at 7 knots for awhile until I got the hang of shooting at it.

sublynx · 03-19-15, 11:42 PM

The AI is too stupid to shoot any crewmen from the U-boat's deck with light weapons, to weave to make shooting at it more difficult and it does not try doing the obvious - ramming the U-boat.

The sim is not a simulation of surface ship warfare.

03-17-15, 03:55 PM	#1
Nemo66 Bosun Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: munich, germany Posts: 68 Downloads: 14 Uploads: 0	How i sank a Destroyer with my deckgun Winter 1940, Type VII B on patrol somewhere near the Western Approaches. It was a dark deep night in, nothing to see at all, so i decided to dive to use my hydrophones. Almost immediately i got contact with a destroyer, coming up behind me. I decided to wait near his course with engines off, and take a close look at him. As he passed by, only a few hundred meters away, i saw that he was not going very fast, only 11knts. A crazy idea came to my mind. I decided to follow him, right in line with his course, and to attack him surprisingly from the back with my deckgun when i was close enough. So i followed him underwater with 5-7 knots, slowly turning more and more into his course. It took quite some time but finally i was just in the line of his course, my bow directing exactly towards his stern. He was 6000 meters away now, and i surfaced to 7,8 m. Half submerged i followed him with my diesels at flank speed giving me 12 knots, just one more than his speed. I came closer and closer, but of course this also took quite a while. I was totally blending in with the dark night, showing my lowest profile to his stern, an area where i knew, his lookouts would be doing their job not too concentrated. I knew that i would have to get kind of close, because with my first few rounds i had to take out at least his stern turrets to have any chance at all. I was at about 900m when i fully surfaced. This was the critical moment, if he would spot me now he would shell me to pieces. But nothing happened and i set my speed to also 11knots, i did not want to come any closer. Then i ordered my guncrew to shoot at his weapons, but went to the gun myself before they could shoot. I knew they always need some rounds before they really hit a target, and i knew i had to hit him hard with the first few rounds. But i knew also, that he would do a turn to give me some broadsides, as soon as he realized what was going on. I knew that i had to manoeuver my boat very soon in order to stay in his back. I wanted my guncrew to fire while i would be manoeuvering, therefore i gave this order to them. I loaded AP amo because it's way more effective against warships. OK, everything was prepared now. I aimed very concentrated at his stern turret, took a deep breath, and fired. My first shot hit his D-turret and blew it right off the deck. YEEHAA! Reload. Second shot hit the backside of his bridge. Reload. 3rd shot hit close to his C-turret but did not damage it. Turret C fired at me me but way too short. Now he had realized what was going on, speeded up and started to turn to starboard. I left the gun for a few moments to navigate and stay in his back. My gunners hit him with their 3rd or 4th shot and his C-turret was full on fire, but still shooting at me. Standing at the bridge his shell dragged me a new vertex and missed my head only by an inch. I went back to the gun and hit the C-turret again and it blew off. The destroyer had turned now for about 30 degrees and i saw his turrets A and B turning grimly towards me. I targetted them, and right before they fully were turned, i had hit both of them several times, taking them out of business. The Destroyer was a bit on fire, and couldn't use it's heavy guns anymore, but he still turned to starboard. I realized that he was firing at me with his stern and starboard AA guns. I give order for peri depth, only to get my guncrew fast inside the boat, just one moment before 2cm shells started raining all over my deck from bow to stern. At once i give order for 7,8m again, but i only put one single sailor on the bridge, to keep the risk of crew losses small. Now i navigated my boat with diesels on his course again, so what we did now was a great turn on the same circle. I was fully in his back again, and he could only shoot with his stern AAGs. I fully surfaced again now, and gunned his bridge and deck to pieces. He was still firing with a few AAGs but he did not really hit my boat anymore. He still tried to turn to starboard but i followed his manouvers and let auto-gunners do their job. They hit him regularly now and his stern was fully in flames. Now he showed me a bit of his broadside again, and i ordered to shoot below waterline. He got one hit after another and his speed went down to only a few knots. I slow down too and keep the distance. Now most of the AAGs had been taken out too, and i man the gun myself and give him the rest. Now it was not a fight anymore, only one of us was still shooting. I realized that he started to sink by starboard. I gave him a few more shells but he was done. Maybe 4 minutes after my first shell he was on his last way down to the seaground. Bon voyage! I did not loose any crew and took no damage at all, he had been assasinated too surprisingly. The destroyer was a River-class if i remember right, and i had a VII B or maybe C, i don't remember exactly. It was pre-radar time of course, and it was done in one of my careers with a stock 1.4b version.

03-17-15, 05:42 PM	#2
UKönig Captain Join Date: Apr 2014 Location: Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Posts: 495 Downloads: 1 Uploads: 0	Nice work! You got pretty lucky. As a surface combat vessel the U-boat is a washout. Hopelessly outclassed by virtually all of its opponents. Too low in the water, low lateral stability, visual range too short. Weapons awkward and cumbersome. Rate of fire too low. Too slow, both on the surface and under it. Still, it's a good feeling to accomplish something difficult and "fight above your weight" and win. I have taken out armed trawlers with the deck gun. I think I even managed to score a few lucky long range shots against a corvette as it was approaching, so that by the time it got within 2km I was already the victor. But as a general rule I do not fight above my weight class. I will take on surface vessels no bigger than a corvette, and only under specific circumstances, otherwise ...we go under. Attack from stealth, or just creep away and hope he doesn't notice or loses interest. __________________ Because I'm the captain, that's why!

03-18-15, 12:05 PM	#5
UKönig Captain Join Date: Apr 2014 Location: Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Posts: 495 Downloads: 1 Uploads: 0	Oh, no contest! A U-boat vs a surface vessel gets its ass handed to it every time. If you wanted to fight a surface battle, you should have just brought a surface ship. Those 'specific circumstances' that I mentioned are really, 'when I know he can do nothing about it -ie-no return fire.'. If there is even the smallest chance that a gun can still be trained on my boat, I will not engage on the surface. If I wanted to do something like that, then I would just put 'unlimited damage' on and go to town. All the rules would be thrown out the window at that point. But the game is not that fun (my opinion) if there is no (simulated) risk. __________________ Because I'm the captain, that's why!

03-19-15, 11:42 PM	#9
sublynx Sea Lord Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: In the conning tower of my VIIC scanning the sea through the periscope Posts: 1,698 Downloads: 173 Uploads: 7	The AI is too stupid to shoot any crewmen from the U-boat's deck with light weapons, to weave to make shooting at it more difficult and it does not try doing the obvious - ramming the U-boat. The sim is not a simulation of surface ship warfare. __________________ [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC] NYGM+H.sie v16+Stiebler 4C+MaGui WS

03-18-15, 11:23 AM	#3
Kensai7 Swabbie Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 7 Downloads: 25 Uploads: 0	I had come across a video on YouTube that did something similar. In that case, the destroyer was returning fire but the dude was super lucky into sinking it first. If I find it again I will post it here.

03-19-15, 08:30 PM	#8
Zosimus XO Join Date: Jun 2014 Location: Chorrillos, Lima, Peru Posts: 401 Downloads: 3 Uploads: 0	I sank a destroyer with a deck gun once. It was out of ammo and couldn't return fire. No way I would try to surface in the wake of a destroyer and follow it at 7 knots for awhile until I got the hang of shooting at it.