Restarting 4th patrol of current campaign,due to a minor change to realism settings (explained in other posts of mine).
Oct 30th 1942 Assigned to AL35. Departed at 01:00 Approx 100km west of France. Weather is very good,waves 2mps Endured 2 air attacks already,1st attack single fighter,no damage due to perfectly executed dive in good time. 2nd attack in space of 30mins,forced to fight on the surface as multiple Hurricanes screamed out of the sun preventing crash dive.1 plane crippled,bombs landed very close to aft SB section,shaking boat,no damage due to zig-zag maneuver. Dived to 25m,will surface in 30mins. |
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It's good to change course while you're under too and return to the original one after you surface again, that way they can't find you again by just following along the line you were on before.
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If after 30mins - 1r the skies are clear and there are no sounds nearby I will break surface at full speed,and make as much distance on the surface as I can,before the next AA.This can only be done naturally on clear days though,and any signs of cloud and I make a mandatory dive until it clears,or get as far as I can submerged,as the risk of being surprised even closer is greater in cloudy weather. I am not sure how difficult its gonna get as soon as I hit 1943,but no doubt I will experience longer submerged times,due to either planes staying in the area longer,or added support from warships sent to the area by the aerial spotters. :yep: |
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It normally works,sometimes the DCs come close,sometimes they are way off :yep: |
Continued from last report
Oct 30th,1942 07:30 3rd air attack,bombs fell very close,no damage.I suspect the sun is not high enough in the sky yet,making spotting that more difficult at long range. 08:45 4th AA,multiple fighters,many bombs,no damage. 10:24 5th AA,single fighter flew past,bomb landed close again,no damage.Decided to man guns at this moment,except for when facing bombers.Better to fight back against fighters it seems. 12:10 6th AA,multiple fighters,fired back and damaged one fighter.During emergency dive one of their bombs glanced us causing minor damage to the flaks and foredeck.Apparent our guns had minimal effect on the planes,due to low calibre and poorly trained gunners.Decided to dive against all planes now,until a better refit of guns becomes available,if ever that day comes. As you can see,I have been having lots of fun in the bay of Biscay,and am only about 150km west of France :nope: |
DH42
Shadowing a convoy, only one flower class as escort... It's going to be fun.... |
Choking off Rosyth
A little while back I decided to try out the XXI. First availability in the game is July '44 (which, I understand, is not historically correct), 3rd flotilla out of La Rochelle. After some time to get used to the advantages, and drawbacks, of the boat I am now on the 6th successive mission - April 1945. Since I was pretty sure this would be the last opportunity to take it out on the guys which had sent so many of my comrades to the bottom I decided this should mainly be a destroyer hunt. Since standard load-out, among others, were 6 Zaunkønigs, I "bought" 3 additional ones to be better prepared. I am now lying in the narrow entrance to Rosyth with 4 Zaunkønigs and 1 TIII left. The fjord around us is littered with 7 destroyers and A/S vessels, their bows and afts sticking out of the shallow water, together with 4 merchants, among them a large cargo and large merchant - still burning.
Presently a small carrier is entering the fjord, quite near now, escorted by 4 other vessels. The weather is nice, flat ocean, middle of the day - with only 3 meters under the keel. This could be a close call..... continued......: It certainly became a close call - still is.....Of course, in my eager of speeding up their approach I was a little too generous with the TC and suddenly a Hunt III was on top of me. When I sidestepped it veered off and continued straight on. The Bouge class carrier and a Black Swan was quite close now. I aimed the TIII at the carrier with magnetic depth setting and sent a Zaunkønig towards the Swan. Problem is I didn't space up enough between the Bogue and the Swan so after a little while the Zaunkønig meant for the Swan veered off towards the carrier. This one was obviously giving off a louder signal. So I had to use another Zaunkønig for the Swan. That worked out fine for the two other escorts, too - so, now I was out of torps with a Hunt III approx. 1500 meters behind. We sped up eastwards for a few minutes, let go a Bold 5 and veered sharply northwards, cutting engine to crawl speed. For a time it seemed as if the Hunt III should pass us and go out the fjord. But, it didn't. After a few attacks it was out of D/C's. That was about 1300. It is now 2030 and while we have crawled and sprinted approx 25 miles eastwards it is still terrorizing us by crossing over us again and again. A Colony and a Town destroyer has been lingering not too close but they seem to be chasing something else. However, the Colony is now approaching us. There is a little swell starting. |
Well, to tell the truth I may be fired from my job for playing at 200% realism.
YES!!! 200% The regular 100% and then 100% extra realism. The extra is listed below... 1. I work at a hotel, which I now only refer to as U-53. 2. I have not shaven in two weeks- I'm on patrol. 3. I have not showered in two weeks. 4. I speak only broken German, and is gibberish because I do not know German. 5. The only German that is real are U-boat commands, and that makes checking people in hard. 6. All messages sent to coworkers require an enigma to decode. 7. When ever I am outside smokeing a cigerette, "Watch Duty" and an airplane goes over, I scream "ALARM" and pull the fire alarm. Right now I am about four days out of port on my return voyage. I have specific orders from BDU to return due to lack of ammo. So far sank 1 bb, 1dd, 2lrg cargos. I thought I had gotten more but I think there was some freindly fire by the SCR's in the convoy and they stole a few kills. My hull is better than average since I have taken almost no damage, only a few of the shots from the SCR hit me. Most important though, all my men are alive! I had thought I sank around 78,000 tons but ended up with around 58,000 so some one must have helped me a little with one of them. I'm not complainging though, as lucky as I was, I should have died so many times before that. Those SCR's by the way may have sank eachother, yes I got one fish in the side of each, but they were shooting at everything, they may have gotten eachother. Either way less Spam for Tommy! |
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You are averaging about 12.5km/h. In the next three days you can cover about 900km and endure about 72 aircraft attacks, or one attacking aircraft per 12.5 km. If you dive for 24 hours, run at 1.9 knots on improved batteries (you have upgraded your batteries, haven't you?), then recharge for one hour at 10 knots, you will average just over 4km/h. Even if you are attacked by an average of two aircraft after an hour of charging (on average this will not happen) you will average less than one attacking aircraft per 50 km. So, by resurfacing every 30 minutes you are subjecting yourself to over 4 times the rate of attacking aircraft per kilometre travelled. If you are not detected during your first 1 hour recharge then you can switch to a schedule of recharging for one hour after dawn and again for one hour before dusk, submerged at 2.9 knots during the day, and 1.9 knots during the night. This yields an average speed of 5.5 km/h. Doing this you will be attacked by an average of two aircraft, less than once every day. This gives an average of less than one attacking aircraft per 66km, less than 1/5 your current rate of attacks. Of course, once you are attacked, you should submerge for 24 hours. |
Choking off Rosyth.....2
...continued...
2100 it was all over.....would have been the last mission, anyway. What was it to go back to other than bombed-out cities and missing family members.....:cry: Wonder how much such sentiments influenced on the U-boot crews during the final stages. Walking through a German war cemetary in a former occupied country it was striking to see how many had died (while prisoners) after the termination of hostilities and the end of 1945. |
Patrol 17, May 1942.
Crossed the Atlantic picking up a few loaners on the way, including a Liberty Ship and a Ceramic Liner Intercepted a large convoy off Halifax, Picked up 3 Whale Factories, a medium Merchant and a Black Swan, Attempting to evade a 2nd black swan a Trash Can exploded directly above my conning tower, wrecking it, Evaded the escort and set course to the Nearest Milk Cow, Currently patching up the sail and refuelling 81,000 Tonnes |
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I really don't mind having to dive every hour or so,just as long as I get under quick enough,and even minimal damage can be repaired.Sooner or later,I will be out of the gauntlet,as before I have done.The slightest cloud cover and I dive for much longer,24 hours at least. I have the latest batteries yes. Its like a game of Russian Roulette,but I have the war gods on my side :arrgh!: |
Currently in port at Kiel. Arrived back from our second patrol on Dec. 26, 1939. The crew was hoping to be back for Christmas, but their disappointment quickly faded when they boarded the train for home. Those remaining in Kiel while the boat is re-fitted will get the chance to go into town for some holiday cheer as well. My challenge will be to make sure I can get them all sobered up and re-focused before our next patrol. My orders are to be cleared for sea by Jan. 23, 1940.
P.S. - There are rumors of talk in the KM high command of a major operation in early 1940. Wonder what they have in mind? |
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