Update from the log of Werner Faust, U-707

12:20pm 17th December 1940 - Another hydrophone contact at 9:32pm, a merchant travelling slow and heading west toward our position. Visual identification proved it to be an armed British Ore Carrier doing 5 knots. Diving into attack position we awaited its arrival at the firing point. 2 G7a's were fired on a 5 degree spread, one missed just in front of the bow, the other hit under the forward deck near the bow.
I was about to move the boat to take a rear tube shot when I noticed the merchant's bow was pitching quite heavily under the sea and scooping up tons of water onto the deck. I suddenly realised the ships captain, in his haste to get his ship as far from us as possible, was making the situation worse. As we followed parallel to its course, it was obvious this ship was going to go down eventually, so I held off firing again and simply watched and waited.
Large amounts of smoke began to pour from the deck at an area where I would guess the engine room to be and the bow was pitching more and more into the water as the merchant vessel ploughed onward. I couldn't understand why the crew weren't abandoning the ship yet, was i the only one to see it was a doomed vessel?
Finally, the lifeboats started to fill at 10:43pm as the crew decided to get to relative safety. at 10:45pm the ships screw stopped turning and the bow pitched under the water and this time didn't rise back above it. It wasn't long after that, that the bow finally started to pull the ship down, raising the stern a good 50 feet out of the water ( one the the crew snapped a photo while we stood watching this marvel ), at 10:48pm, the merchant had gone down, on its way into the murky deep.







Grid : AM52
Fuel : 60%
Torpedo's : 4 (3 G7e and 1 G7a)
Ships Sunk : 10 (1 tanker)
Tonnage : 52,751 (unconfirmed)

Nice job :cool:

Those are the figures SH3 is set up to award.
The 100 (Return to w/i 25 KM) is bugged.
I don't think GWX awards any of that.

Mine always come out so dry and dull (sorry), but this is my favorite reading thread.

Thankfully we can edit the cfg file :D

I am glad then I started this thread many moons ago,seems to be very popular :smug:

You got it right. Nice and easy.
Saw the realism jump. Good show!
I'd definately recommend (when you feel ready) the Weapons Officer before trying to jump straight into Full Manual. He realy does a good job.
Leaving him behind was the final, and biggest step for me.
(I wasn't quick about it either.)

Hey, that's right, this IS your thread!
Many thanks.

:smug:
Youre welcome pal.

So how do I make use of the Weapons Officer? Because I'm not sure if there's something I need to set up differently in the Realism options, or do differently in the game.

Before this career I tried a couple times to use him, I mean I clicked on things asking for identification of target, solution to target, etc., but couldn't really see how that affected what I was doing. I had better luck just getting into a good position and waiting for the triangle to go green. So I'm not sure if I was supposed to have done something different because I was asking for his assistance - maybe I was not doing what was necessary to make use of it.

U37 IX(A). 2. Flotilla. Patrol 8.
 

d. 21.jan.41. BF61.
22.07. Underway from Lorient, bound for Patrol Grid AK27.

d. 22.jan.41. BF52.
06.00. Pre-morning dive. 25 Meters (of 66). Course 270.
(My IX(A) doesn't play well with aircraft.)

d. 24.jan.41. BF19.
17.33. Sound Contact. Merchant. Moving Slow. Closing. Long Range.
18.55. C3 Cargo (7.909 GRT) Sunk. Course 040. Speed 6 Knots.
G7E Torpedo x 3, Deck Gun coup de grace.

d. 25.jan.41. BF18.
07.55. Sound Contact. Merchant. Medium Speed. Closing. Long Range. (Surface).
08.30. Ship Spotted. "We've been spotted, sir." (Dive. 20 Meters of 35).
DEPTH CHARGES! AIRCRAFT! Good thing we dived, and were at Full Ahead.

23.48. BF15. Ship Spotted. 031. Long Range. (Merchant).

d. 26.jan.41. BF15.
00.55. Torpedo Impact x 3. C3 Cargo. Course 055. Speed 8 Knots. Night Surface.
01.00. Dive to 50 Meters to reload. Target is D.I.W.
02.10. Torpedo Impact x 1. stern shot.
02.13. C3 Cargo (7.949 GRT) Sunk. G7E Torpedo x 3. G7A Torpedo x 1.
02.22. Status Report: 2 ships sunk for 15.858 GRT. 5 torpedoes remaining.

d. 27.jan.41. BF14.
12.07. Sound Contact. Merchant. Moving Fast. Long Range. Closing. (278T).
12.45. T2 Tanker. Course 079. Speed 10,5 Knots. Flagged USA. (Down Scope).

d. 28.jan.41. BE33.
07.56. Ship Spotted. 065. Long Range. (Destroyer! 100 Meters. 90 degrees to port.)
08.00. Sound Contact. Warship. Moving Fast. Closing. 143R. Long Range.
08.22. Warship Moving Away.
08.50. No Sound Contact.

d. 8.feb.41. AK27.
12.00. On Station.

THE CONVOY.

d. 9.feb.41. AK27.
05.56. Radio. Convoy. AK19. East. 7 Knots.
Full Moon. Clear & Rough. Making 15 Knots at Full Ahead.

d. 9.feb.41. AK01.
12.31. Radio. Convoy. AK01. East. 7 Knots.
13.11. Ship Spotted. (Destroyer. Periscope Depth.)
13.36. Lead Destroyer is a old Four Stacker. (USA or England?)
13.53. T2 Tanker (10.872 GRT) Sunk. G7A Torpedo x 3. Course 094. 7 Knots.
13.53. Coastal Merchant (2.045 GRT) Sunk. G7E Torpedo x 1. 094. 7 Knots.

15.05. Surface. Just one G7A left in Tube 6.
20.48. Destroyer Spotted. Wide ride around. No visual with convoy.
23.13. Ship Spotted. (Merchant. Periscope Depth. We are in front.)
23.20. Nearest Sound Contact. Warship. Very Fast. 075R. Short Range.
"Enemy is pinging us sir." (Go to 101 Meters. 60 degrees to port. Full Ahead!)
Flak gun damaged (E.S.P.?) at 20 Meters.

d. 10.feb.41. AK01.
00.53. Surface.
02.35. Destroyer Spotted. 5.000 Meters. 261R. (Evaded Undetected.)
03.44. Periscope Depth. (Forward of the Convoy.)
03.48. Asdic (He didn't have us). DC (Distant, but close enough to abort).

05.20. Surface.
06.37. Destroyer Spotted. 6.600 Meters. (Undetected Evasion.)
07.50. Merchant Spotted. Periscope Depth.
07.55. P I N G. (He doesn't have us.)
07.56. D E P T H C H A R G E S. (Distant, again.)
08.18. Torpedo Impact! (Little Tanker targetted. No sinkings.)
09.32. Surface. Status Report: 4 ships sunk for 28.775 GRT. 0 Torpedoes remaining.

d 17.feb.41. AL92.
09.47. Coastal Merchant (2.047 GRT) Sunk. Deck Gun.

d. 21.feb.41. BF15.
10.51. Sound Contact. Warship.
16.03. Sound Contact. Warship.

d. 26.feb.41. BF61.
09.37. Docked at Lorient. H E A V Y F O G.

Patrol Results: 5 ships sunk for 30.882 GRT.

U37's History:
8 Patrols.
29 Ships Sunk.
166.147 GRT.

Hmmm. Good questions.
Realism: I think you check Manual Targeting, but leave Weapons Officer Assist unchecked.
If I remember right, he's worth 6% Realism.

Using the WE (regular way):
Lock target.
Click on Identify Target.
Click on Solution To Target.
Open Tubes.
Ckeck the box at bottom of Notepad.
When the Gyro Angle (3 didits) reads 000 fire.

Using the WE (my old way)
Set your own Heading, and make note of it (F.eks. 270)
Lock Target.
Click on Identify Target.
Click on Solution To Target.
Use his Solution compared to your Heading to obtain the Targets Course.
Set up your perpendicular attack course.
Set the UZO or Periscope on 000.
Go to F6.
Press the green botton. (It will light.)
Set the AOB at 90 degrees Port or Starboard as needed.
Bearing and Speed are already entered for you.
Press the green button. (Turns off light.)
Go to the UZO/Periscope.
Lock Target.
When the Gyro Angle reads 000 . . . Fire.

You can mix and match the methods as you see fit, or skip mine altogether for the time.

16:25/18032010/u-99/2of2//
engaged on surface by four destroyers
under heavy attack
destroyers shooting at crew in water
our position is grid am3....

Complete report in previous message
(requires Enigma to decipher)

Thanks for the explanation.

I'm sure I never had Manual Targeting checked, so maybe that's why I couldn't see the point before of whatever Weps was doing since I was still getting all the info I seemed to need from the notepad/triangle.

He's pretty cool. You get to deal with maneuvering, and he deals with shooting.
I never did full auto. The Weapons Officer was always there for me.

Always nice to be helpful.