FINALLY!
My laptop crashed back in March, so I bought a new desktop. Installed SH3 and then DLed the GWX pack. Installed and toodled along through August 1939, then had a very respectable first patrol, sinking just under 60,000 tons, primarly hunting in the English Channel, which proved to be a shooting gallery full of Large Merchants and Ore Carriers. Fun was had by all.
Second patrol started out dismally. Patrolled N of Ireland and sank two Coastal Freighters. Then zip, zilch, nada...sighted nothing...not even a freakin' Elco. So we headed South to our old hunting grounds of the Celtic Sea, which in the past had proven fairly profitable. Sighted a convoy, and in the fourth row from starboard, second ship from the front...*drumroll* H.M.S. RODNEY!!!:o:o:o And when I poked my periscope up for a look, she was 2,310 YARDS AWAY, with only ONE DD escorting the whole convoy!!! Four torpedoes fired in first spread; ALL FOUR HIT; one dud. Battleship slowed while convoy went bats**t; was able to quickly reload and then snap-shoot two more torpedoes (had to do it one at a time, so I did this twice; not fun when the sole escort is hell-bent on finding your sorry a$$ and is less than 500 yards away!). Anyway, the two snap-shot torpedoes were hits as well. 0659: GOT HIM!!! FINALLY...after owning this game for over TWO YEARS...I find a British battleship and SINK HER! Not only that, but I went UNDETECTED by the escorts! WOOT! :woot::woot::woot::yeah::yeah::yeah: Headed back to port where I got the U-Boat Front Clasp, the Iron Cross 2nd Class, and traded in my Type VIIB U-51 for the Type IXB U-123. I took several pics, but I can't seem to find where the game saved them to...anyone know where screen caps are saved? If so, tell me and I'll post some pics ASAP! Just thought I'd share my much-long-anticipated triumph with you guys! -Matt |
U-331, Patrol 4, August 9th, 1941
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Quote:
A Knight's Cross awaits you upon return. |
After instaling GWX 3.0 Gold
Partol: 3, date 11 november 1939 It is very difficult route to BF 17, sailing around British Kingdom, wheater is terrible all time. I managed to track single tanker by hydrophones (manually!) and followed him for over 1 hour. After reaching good T i Fired two torpedos and sunk it. Then it went not that good... Two days later radio operator reports convoy near me, so I plot new course, setup ahead flank and go to estimated location. Wheater conditions are terrible - visability less then 400 meters, heavy rain. I was able to setup boat in front of convoy, regular T, stopped engine and waited. DD passed me around 150 meters from bow, then first ship is visable in periscope. Rest I can only hear. Setuping manual torpedos for 3 contats, firing them "by feel" one after another. I manage to sunk one medium freighter and tanker and - ! - I hit HMS Rodney in stern! I found that after seeing him going down, but unfortunatelly, damage caused by that torpedo was not enough to sink it, and he was dwelling with 2kts, leaving a convoy with DD escort. As I mentioned, wheater was this terible, that I had to make marks on map to be aware of situation, lost sights with Rodney many times, while escaping escort and fighting it with torpedos. My bad move was I fired 4 into that DD and all missed, and then I realised I have only 1 torpedo left to reload (other 2 were in external magazines) and goind surface vs Rodney is BAD idea. Three hours later escort goes off and leaves battleship alone. Followed cripled Rodney for another 3 hours, but wheater, unfortunatelly, went worse even, to visability less then 100 meters and I passed on sinking Rodney. Now, I will try to reload tubes and catch up convoy. |
5th Patrol, February 1940 (GWX 3.0, 70% realism): I selected Reinhard Hardegen’s photo for my profile in SH3 Commander. I requested and a Type IXB boat, and auspiciously received U-123 (how cool is that?). We head out of Wilhelmshaven and make for grid AM52. I plot a course along the eastern seaboard of England to maximize my changes of picking up a stray heading to/from one of the many port cities there.
After suffering minor damage from an aircraft attack, we receive a radio message that there is a slow-moving enemy convoy off of Aberdeen, heading SSE. I’m not thrilled about the idea of going after a convoy in the shallow North Sea, but the map indicates there is some deep water off of Blyth, so I head there to wait. Sailing north, we intermittently dive to periscope depth to try out our new hydrophone. We pick up a merchant moving at medium speed to the North, so we plot an approximate intercept and surface the boat. The “merchant” turns out to be a small COT, so we unlimber the 37mm, load it with AP rounds, and have at it. Its good sport trying to sink a ship with a 37mm, as hitting below the waterline requires good timing and a fair amount of luck. It took about 30 rounds, but we managed to perforate her stern enough times to sink her. As fortune would have it, we stumble onto a lone C2 cargo ship. The weather is beautiful with barely a breeze and excellent visibility. It’s an excellent opportunity to give the crew a chance to hone their skills on the 105mm deck gun. After about 15 hits below the waterline on the stern of the C2, she settles slowly to the bottom. As luck would have it, we pick up the convoy off in the distance, heading our way. As it is close to midnight, I opt for a surface run, running decks awash at 7m to cut down on our silhouette. I can’t see the merchants yet, but the hydrophone is picking up seven merchants and two escorts. The sea is calm and the sky is cloudless and there is a sliver of a moon, but there is enough light to be able to detect us at a fair distance if the lookouts on the escorts are paying attention. I have misjudged the course of the convoy, so my choices are to move at high speed to intercept them from the flank, or move further south and set up position further to the west. I opt for the latter. We race ahead for a few hours, then set up in what I believe will be a good position. Unfortunately, I either misjudged their course again, or they changed course, as the convoy is still too far to the west for me to intercept without having to move at flank speed. I disengage for a second time, race south a few more hours, and set up position further to the west. Much to my chagrin, I notice that I’m no longer in the deep water, but in the 33m depth that I typically encounter this far from England’s coast. Diving deep to avoid detection is out of the question. I need to re-think this, and fast, as dawn is approaching soon. At this point in the real world it’s late at night, I’m tired, and I have to be up early for work. My judgment isn’t as sound as it typically is, so I opt for a rather aggressive strategy: I’m going to sink both escorts, then surface and take out the entire convoy with my deck gun. We set up position directly in front of the lead escort, facing directly at her to reduce my sound signature. We dive to periscope depth and wait for her to come to us, intermittently turning the screws at 1 knot just to maintain depth. The V&W destroyer is making S-turns in front of the convoy. We open bow tube 1 and work up a solution for an electric eel. Fate smiles upon us again, as the V&W shows us a lovely broadside at about 500m. The eel takes her down quickly. We move into position on the second escort, a Tribal class destroyer, which is on station to the northeast of the convoy. No such luck as with the V&W – she’s not making S-turns – I think she has heard us (probably Bernard in the WC after eating too many beans). In trying to get out of the path of what is definitely going to be a painful depth charge run, we’re turning left full rudder and increasing speed as the escort approaches. The first depth charges thankfully miss us, and the Tribal starts to circle to come at us again. As we’re still at periscope depth, we open both stern tubes and set a quick snapshot solution to try to catch her as she crosses our stern. Unfortunately, one tube is loaded with a steam eel, while the other is loaded with an electric. I fire the steam eel at the very tip of her bow. Immediately after, I fire the electric amidships. My hope is that they’ll see the steam eel and order emergency reverse. The steam eel misses – perfect – and then the electric impacts – but it’s a dud. Curses! The Tribal is circling and I know that if it catches us at periscope depth, its goodnight Irene. She’s pinging us – she knows where we are. I order emergency reverse and right full rudder to get us out of her path and open bow Tube 2. Now we get lucky – she passes directly in front of our bow at a scant 320 or so meters. I take a snapshot with a steam eel aiming at the forward turrent. This time there’s no dud and the Tribal sinks like a stone. At this point I’m jubilant and ready to order the boat to the surface to go after the convoy but the hydrophone operator advises me that there is, in fact, a third escort. It had been stationed far to the northeast of the convoy. It is making for us with all haste and a quick peek with the periscope confirms that it is a J-class destroyer. It’s late, I’m tired, and I know that I can’t save the game while we’re submerged or I risk CTD errors. I want this over so I can hit the sack. Foolishly, I fire two eels at the oncoming J-class, one to the port and the other to starboard, hoping she will turn into one of them. She does neither and each pass harmlessly to either side. No S-turns, she knows where we are (undoubtedly aided by the fact that my crew is frantically trying to load both the bow and stern tubes). The captain of that tin can apparently knows his stuff. Wanting to give my men as much time as possible, I keep the boat pointed at the J-class destroyer and order full reverse. As the escort closes, I order left full rudder. What follows is an analysis after the fact, as I wasn’t doing this consciously: As the destroyer approached, it missed us on its first pass, so it started to circle. By alternating between right full rudder forward and left full rudder in reverse, I was able to pivot our boat within the turning circle of the destroyer. I found the boat pivoted faster to the stern, so I had to utilize higher speeds moving forward. As the destroyer crossed my stern or bow, I’d cut loose with a snapshot solution. I missed once, was too close for the eel to arm the second shot, but I broke her back with the third. The hydrophone operator confirmed that there wasn’t anything but merchants in the vicinity – victory at last! So I ordered a course change to point us at the merchants, got the crew ready for surface action, and ordered us to the surface at full speed ahead. We surfaced into a beautiful sunny morning…right next to an Elco boat! My first thought was to use the 37mm, but the rate of fire was far too slow. I hit it a couple of times with the 37mm, but to no great effect. As the Elco was to our stern, the deck gun was out of the question. I took control of the 20mm and immediately saw results. That is, until my gunner decided to scream like a girl when the mount was hit. Fortunately the gun was back in action shortly thereafter and we were able to rake the deck of the Elco with some success. At this point the Elco passed to our starboard side and was going to cut across our bow to avoid the fire from our AAA guns. The deck gun crew, not wanting to sit idly by, led the Elco slightly and managed to hit it on the first shot. And second, third, and fourth. That was the end of the Elco boat, which exploded with a terrific amount of force. We had considerable damage to the hull, but could certainly manage shallow dives if necessary. The issue at hand was to take advantage of the lovely weather to attempt to move eels from our external reserves inside the boat, and plot a course that would take us ahead of the fleeing merchants, which were still sailing in formation. As some of them looked to be 8 to 10k tons, my plan is to fire a single eel at the largest four, targeting their engine rooms, to stop them while taking out the smaller four with deck gun fire. The game is saved at this point and I’m looking forward to my next opportunity to play! All in all, probably not very realistic, but great fun nonetheless. |
U-331, patrol 4, the 11th of August, 1941
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U-331, patrol 4, the 12th of August, 1941
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U-331, patrol 5, the 8th of October, 1941
http://i46.tinypic.com/2nu1zk9.jpg
While adding new mods MaGui Final, H.sie's newest realism mod and Rik007's Sh5 water I lost the save of patrol 4 made at sea. Silly me, not remembering that one should only add mods while at a port.:stare: |
End of career
So, Shameus was sunk near Dunkirk at 14 may 1940.
I was sent to AN87, place where you can walk by foot, and not good for underwater see boats. But hey, its operation "Dunkirk" and Bdu wants all hands to stop those pesky alies to evacuate from there! After patroling north area of AN87, we received message about "bunch of sheeps" near Dunkirk. I said to my crew "lets try approach". Things from now on were BAD as bad it can be. Due my personal mistakes... After 2 hours going full ahead to Dunkirk, sea started to remind of a GIANT rollercaster. My Boat was constant under water, so I decided to go submerged and plot route in manner, which will allow me to reach short range from port after 900pm, in the night. During short time, a group of 5 DDs was sighted just around 15 km from me, and other warships were hearable at stern, around 20km's. Few minutes later I discovered, that I am betwean 2 Task Forces mainly forged of destroyers. That was just start of this short patrol. Navigating submerged to Dunkirk, tring to avoid short contact with any of groups, I saw small torpedo boats and armed boats behind me. Dunkirk was in my reach, not more then 10 kms. Recognised there some BIG fishes, few french units (2 were sunk by shore), and two or three more english DD's. Remember about those 2 TaskForces that were around me? Me too! But, as I was admiring view, a SNEAKY bastard boat got me and started to ramm on full run, then when my boat went a bit too much off water, I got shot by his gun and hell arised. All destroyers: from both task forces (that was 9 total) and from Dunkirk started to run to my posittion. After heavy, I mean heavy deepcharge, 2 hours of fighting with floods I was close to stay on bottom (37 meters), but then a bomb exploded right at engine and my fuell leaked out, few members died and two minutes later I was part of history. /salute |
U-331, patrol 1, the 12th of October, 1941
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U-331, Patrol 1, the 16th of October, 1941
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I don't have work tonight, and my homework is done. So... shall I raid the areas around the Dunkirk evacuations or take my chances and go convoy hunting?
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U-45 (VIIB) is currently on patrol in AM 53 - we've been out for 16 days in near constant storms. Limited visibility, rain, heavy seas. Our only contact was a coastal freighter spotted in the fog at close range - we backed down at flank speed and fired a magnetic torpedo, but it prematured shortly after firing. We lost the ship in the fog and have had no sightings since.
The captain is planning on working his way down the west coast of Ireland, hoping the hunting is better in the Western Approaches. Otherwise this patrol is a bust. Our first two patrols resulting in approximately 60,000 tons combined, so this is a disappointment.... The war continues. |
U-331, patrol 1 final report, 16th October, 1941
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U-331, patrol 2, the 20th of November, 1941
http://i50.tinypic.com/2e2i7wh.jpg
This is also the end report of this patrol - when I radioed in the status report after the battle I got a message ordering me back to port. I guess h.sie's hardcore realism patch/mod does this kind of stuff too. |
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