RUB Warning!

Now that I've got your attention, it's probably not what you were thinking from the title.

Thanks to my new best friend JBClark, I finally have a copy of the latest RUB, Rubini's Harbor Mod and SH3 Commander. Yay!

I looked in the RUB SCR map file, and found that my minefields are there! Again yay! Some time ago I got to be part of the Ops Mod, if only a very small part. My bit was to take as many maps and descriptions of the minefields laid around Britain during the war. I was also going to do the historic Norway and Bismarck missions, as well as the evacuation of Dunkerque and D-D missions, but I have a hard time getting on line these days, and uploading and downloading is pretty much impossible. Meanwhile, Rubini has done Norway and Bismarck, more power to him.

My warning is this: If you're using RUB, go into the mission editor and look at the SCR map. By mid-1940 the British coast is completely covered in minefields! German destroyers laid several in late 1939. These are clost to the surface, so familiarize yourself with them. By the end of 1940 there are British fields all over the place, mostly deep enough to pass over but sure to be a threat to and submarine running submerged. Also in 1942 several U-boats laid small (six-to-eight mines) fields off the US coast. Some of these were never discovered until the Germans gave the Allies all the info after the war.

Just thought you should know.

Also, If you're not using Rubini's lates harbor mod, get it! You'll find merchants, destroyers and U-boats of all types docked there, and cruising in and out. Simply wonderfull!

Likewise the latest SH3 Commander. I've finished one patrol with it, and I already have a crew composed of none of the stock SHIII names. You can even have it choose a name for your captain, though I like to do my own. It also created a career beginning for me, including date and place of birth, date of entry into service, date of promotions and finally date of first command assignment. It wil also let you start a career any month of the war, something SHI had but no other sim since. Oh, it also assigns you a U-boat type and number from the historic flotilla. I love it!

Oops...gotta get home and start playing again.

[Hunterbear]

Now you tell us Sailor Steve, hehe!

I just ran into some of those unexpected minefields in the SE corner of England near the Southend ports and died a horrible death with all hands lost. (I was chasing some merchant shipping when I hit that minefield) New career for me, hehe.

You think you could mod a version of the nav map with pencil lines or something drawn on it that alerts you that there were reported minefields laid in the area (doesn't have to be precise for allied minefields, just vague enough to put us on alert) so we give those coastal areas a wider bearth.

What kind of intelligence did they have during the war on the location of allied minefields? I know they couldn't have known of all of them, like you stated about some of the German minefields. Other than other ships or subs being lost, did they just surmise where they should expect them to be and generally avoid certain approaches?

I guess I better open up that SCR file and start printing out some screenshots to avoid another untimely death by mines.

Great Sailor Steve, just great!

[HEMISENT]

Thanks Steve.
I'm currently on my fifth patrol out of Wilhelmshaven mid-1940. I was going to cruise the east coat of England on the way back to port looking for single merchants. I've had great luck there in past missions Pre-RUB/Ops/Rubini.

[Charlie901]

IIRC the Brittish heavily minned the channel from shore to shore at the straights of Dover late '39 or early '40.

After several U-boats were sunk by these mines they were ordered by BdU to no longer traverse the English Channel, for the rest of the war.