U-45: Lost at Sea

[Keelbuster]

Well that does it. I just lost my baby on Patrol 27. It happened in the narrows north of Curacao, against 4 destroyers of a small convoy. It was perfectly still weather, in the middle of the night. I got lazy and they spotted me on the surface at 6500m. I tried to evade them at PD but fell in the asdic sweep. I was rammed at PD by the first destroyer which disabled my attack peri. The load/gauge bug froze my hydrophone so I had to observe the whole affair from the obs. scope at 60m, listening and watching for the destroyers to pass overhead. I thought I was doing okay - couple of decoys, a bit of distance, and then I saw a ring of splashes above me. Hedgehogs. Boom - all I hear is 'battery down to 25%' and then an instant later 'Your Uboat was Destroyed'. Bastards. Strangely, I actually had a dream about this last night. I kinda cursed her as I've been stealing to start a new campaign under TW2 with an IXC (Ducimus, you happy now?). Anyway, all say goodbye to August Wessels and U45(VIIB), champion that claimed 1,050,000 tonnes by the time of her sinking in August, 1943. All hands lost.

I still have not survived this war on DiD. Rats.

Kb

[andy_311]

Sorry about the loss BUT i never manage to nab a convoy out of Curacao in my last 4 careers.

[Ducimus]

Honestly im sorry to hear it Keelbuster.

I know you were attached to that career game, and ive gotten the same way a couple times. How you managed to operate in the caribean so much amazes me a little. I mean, yeah theres milk cows, but there realy isnt much in the way of convoys. Well , thers like TWO, i think. The rest are single or tandem merchants.

As for starting your next career with TW2, be advised, you'd better know your stuff, which im sure you do. If i didnt have so much time and effort invested in my own game, id have probably given TW2 a whirl too. I've read about WW2 subs since i was a kid, so to me the entertainment would be in seeing just how close TW2 comes to what ive read. All i can say is keep your profile low and slim, run silent and run deep (pun not intended).

As for the IXC, your biggest difference is it dives slower, and turns slower. If your detected at periscope depth your in for a rough time. Keeping a slim ASCDIC profile is hard to do but not impossible. If your surrounded by multiple tin cans however, forget the asdic profile and go deep. Oh yeah, be prepaired to be find yourself hanging on the edge of crush depth in a situation where you can't maintain depth without making more noise by putting more power to the E motors. The IXC did this before TW2's uboat changes, and it probably does so more acutely now.

Early war your in for a treat. If you love convoysalot, you'll love it more in an IX boat doing night surface attacks.

[CCIP]

Over a million tons with DiD?

That just kills. I wouldn't get that even if I tried.

[Ducimus]

Originally Posted by CCIP

Over a million tons with DiD?

That just kills. I wouldn't get that even if I tried.

Its not that hard really. All depends on when you start. I mean, one career game i started in 42 and had around 650 -700K before i bit the big ashcan in 44.

[Der Eisen-Wal]

still a career worth celebrating. congrats

[Keelbuster]

Originally Posted by CCIP

Over a million tons with DiD?

That just kills. I wouldn't get that even if I tried.

Cheercsh. Yea. She was a biggy. I didn't even realize it until Ducimus posted the 1 mil challenge, then I checked and realized I was damn close. I barely got over it though. I started at the very beginning of the war, and kept the VIIB all the way through. I don't remember ever being attacked by an airplane in the whole campaign. I managed to spend a lot of time around halifax and the carribean. I used all the Utankers that became available. Though unrealistic, I did 4 or 5 reloads on the one that sits off of halifax. That took up most of 1942. I spent the rest of the year out in the middle of the north atlantic using that Utanker that appears there. I spent a good part of 1943 out of bergen, finding NOTHING in the Arctic sea or the Denmark strait. It was balls-up. When my schnorkel finally arrived, I transferred back to 10th flotilla, and they gave me a grid way over in the carribean. Weird, given that i was still sailing my trusty old VIIB. But there was a Utanker half way, so I decided to give her a go. Hit a convoy on the way. It was nice - I used TIVs for the first time. The first one never picked up the scent of the escort (I guess she was moving too slow). The next time, I was being chased away from the convoy by a black swan. I lead her at flank so she was barely gaining at 180, and fired a TIV set below the keel. It finally found her and blew just in front of the propellers. At first it didn't seem serious, but she slowed, and finally her stern went way under and took her down. I never got the 'she's going down' message, indicating that the game itself was surprised by this subtle, but vicious kill

At the Utanker, I, refueled,rearmed, and headed for Curacao. I hit a small convoy (large cargo, small merchant) and used up 5 torpedoes on the large cargo. She was a bear. Then I follow up on a sound contact and it's a convoy. I had never seen one there either (gap directly north of Curacao). I never got to see what was in it either. From the silhouettes, it looked like medium cargos. 3 lines of ships, 3 deep (8 or 9 total) with at least 4 escorts. And at least one of those bastards had hedgehogs. And, once again (this always happens to me), I got the insta-crunch death following a hit. I can't remember the last time I had to deal with flooding...think it was in multiplayer Sub-vs-Sub. Anyway, on I go.

I'm trying the IXC because I wanna explore the carribean and the gulf of mexico a bit. Never been there, and the SCR/RND layer looks active there. And I've hunted the western approaches dry. I expect it to be a bit dicey (TW2), but for the beginning I'm going to be a bit balsy in order to see how far I can push things. I'm starting Mid-41 because the early years are so damned boring. One thing I might go after is the DC damage fix so that I'm less likely to get the insta-crunch. It's damned frustrating.

Blah blah blarrrharha..

Kb