I'm on the middle of the most boring patrol, who I ever sailed.
27 day without a single contact, one week in real life. The North Atlantic is desolate!:Kaleun_Crying: |
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LSH is way to crowded and i always sink the same convoys NW of England...im not amused! |
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Now I'm home, looking in my captain's log and see that days are 23 not 27!
Well, I did not complain here, did not search for bugs. Just tell you what's up in my current campaign. My game is NYGM based. Quote:
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Give us more details: what year, what type of U-boot you use. Quote:
Ако имаш въпроси пиши на лично,ако мога ще помогна :) |
Just getting started anew, 2nd patrol '39. I plan on going all the way of course, but I usually think again somewhere around mid '43 or '44.:/\\!!
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I'm on my 5th patrol and each time difficulty goes up. First it was small single merchants, than bigger ones and couple and finally on patrol 3 a whole convoy, escorted by a couple of destroyers. Had a close call with them also, almost took out the whole conning tower. Current date is winter-spring 1940 (before Denmark and Norway). If difficulty goes up like this, it's going to be a rough ride few years later. Looking forward to it. On 4th patrol I infiltrated Scapa Flow on a very dark January night. Tommys had a destroyer watching the entrance, but her patrol pattern was too predictable. Found a troop transport, destroyer and a small merchant in the harbour. Fired all torpedoes, all hit but I got only the destroyer. Other torpedoes failed.Then I punched flank speed the hell out of there. It is nice that SH3 offers this kind of gameplay, but on an harbour infiltration so many things could have gone wrong. Water is too shallow to dive deep and that is giving away my best defence. So on fifth patrol I'm going to get back to basics, sinking merchants. Still it was very fun doing Scapa Flow. Ought to strike fear in that fat cigar stomping as*h*** Churchill. :D But next patrol is going to go by the numbers. |
Patrol 7 (1/25/1940-2/7/1940)
Grid CG76 For the first time U-27 was detailed out to the coast of Spain. U-27 would never make it there... ... For all the right reasons :D Three merchants were sunk as U-27 transited around the Shetlands and north of Scotland giving Scapa Flow an increasingly greater space. Mine strikes were increasingly showing up in the BdU radio traffic. Weather was slightly bad as U-27 passed the Hebrides and then something interesting happened. U-27 received a report of a task force leaving Liverpool and heading NW. Only 8 knots though. Thinking about the possibility of setting an ambush in the Irish channel U-27 ran at flank speed through the dawning morning light until a position was taken up between the Mull of Kintyre and Antrim. The task force would have to pass through. And U-27 waited...and waited...until eventually out of the morning mists two ASW trawlers emerged. The Captain was slightly annoyed. There were no other contacts on the Hydrophone. After another half hour it was clear that the trawlers were the task force. The Captain lowered the periscope in frustration as the WO joked "Well if the British are calling two trawlers a task force then the war is going well eh?" The Captain made a mental note about task forces moving at 8 knots as the U-27 moved back to the NW. Still we were in the northern reaches of the Irish Sea an area that had been very good to U-27 before. U-27 would spend the next few hours listening and moving at slow speed to the NW. Eventually a coastal freighter would be detected and run down as it as it transited north, west of the Isle of Mull. As the afternoon hours of February 1st ticked by serendipity was about to strike. A large convoy was reported by Bdu sighted west of the Hebrides on a course to enter the Irish Sea, clearly headed for Liverpool. U-27's little detour on the way to Spain was about to become quite profitable. Moving back south to the waters south of Islay U-27 laid in ambush...it would be just after midnight before U-27 first heard the approaching convoy. As the moments ticked by the Hydrophone operator identified merchant after merchant after merchant. Finally a single warship was called out....in the middle of the convoy. "What...what is this?" The Captain wondered. As 3am approached the convoy began to sail into sight. Row after row of merchant ships...and the battleship Rodney sailing at its core. No Destroyers. Whether the escorts had been detached and sent to Loch Ewe since the convoy was in Irish waters the Captain couldn't say. The important thing was that the convoy at 3:30 am was driving right over U-27 with the Rodney passing 600 meters away at a stately 7 knots. It was almost impossible to miss. 4 torpedoes went out and the 3rd and 4th hits were entirely superfluous as the first two hit just fore and aft of the forward magazine. The Rodney went down in 6 minutes after her forward magazines exploded. None of the convoy ships were armed...what followed turned the Irish channel into a stream of fire. In the next 4 and a half hours 13 additional ships would be sunk by U-27 firing her torpedoes and deck gun as fast as the crew could reload. By the time the tubes and ammo locker were empty only 6 ships remained in the convoy...one of those a battered small merchant that had taken 10 waterline hits before the Captain had realized that the ship was actually Norwegian. Why there was a lone Norwegian ship in the middle of a British convoy the Captain couldn't have said. A sad mix of small and coastal merchants all that was left of the convoy. The 2nd of February had been very good to the U-27. Only the fact that U-27 had overspent on torpedoes on the Rodney and needed extra torpedoes to sink a pair of whale factory ships. That combined with the slightly difficult gunnery conditions (5 m/s waves) was the only thing that prevented the near total wipeout of the convoy. U-27 sailed back to Wilhelmshaven...never having come close to CG76. 134,600 GRT (17 merchants, 1 warship - HMS Rodney). No damage to the boat. |
Das ist güt patrol. Verruckt güt.
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On this same 23th day, finally receive message with information about Large convoy very close to my position. Easy to intercept! But, when I have a good position, seems somehow one of the escort found me. We played many hours with the escort, but without damage for me. http://oi61.tinypic.com/2m46gm1_th.jpg http://oi60.tinypic.com/2dgwc46_th.jpg Then all night, I chase the convoy, they change course, found it, but after sunrise. Decided to attack, England is close. http://oi60.tinypic.com/s2sg2c_th.jpg Two victims, and the escort play with me again. This time they destroyed my deck gun, hydrophone and radio. http://oi61.tinypic.com/k9u9ow_th.jpg http://oi59.tinypic.com/xe3gd0_th.jpg |
U-30
It is with great sadness that I inform you of the loss of U-30 with Captain and crew, 51 in all , sometime on 16 Oct 1941 in CF88 . I had that career going since Aug 1939 . After a convoy attack and being hunted by 3 escorts , I felt safe in surfacing to get ahead of the convoy for round 2 . I saw 2 escorts drift off about 8 or 9 Km's distaint , losing ( forgetting about ) track of escort #3 . Well I found him and he found me too . darn !!! :wah:
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Creative writers here, very entertaining stories!
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December 1939
December 1939–so far it's all too easy. The only real problem is the weather. I saw my first convoy during this outing and ventured in. Rather lamely I must admit that despite the wealth of targets around me I fired one torpedo at one cargo ship and dived. I'm using steam-powered torpedoes and not more than 3 minutes after the torpedo explosion four annoyed destroyers showed up and started pinging me. I took my fine boat down to 140m with no problems and eventually slunk away. The cargo ship eventually sunk (gray), which I believe means a combination of weather and torpedo damage. I was unable to determine whether I got credit for that, but I've seen gray sinkings before and they showed up on my radio report home, so I assume so.
Not more than 3 hours later I ran into another warship and sensibly went to 25m but then I got a hydrophone contact on first one merchant than two more. Sensing another convoy I crept in, found a cargo ship, and measured his speed at 8 knots. Just as I was setting up a 3500m shot on him I spotted a tanker somewhere beyond him and I switched targets faster than you can say "Mush!" Even though I'd had no previous experience with salvos, I went for a 1-4 salvo at 0º and I am pleased to say I scored two direct hits at somewhere between 4500-5500m and the ship sunk(red) less than a minute later. I also fired two torpedoes at two separate cargo ships and scored on each of them. One sunk(red) about 20 minutes later, but the other one must have limped its way into port somewhere. I had only one torpedo left and I didn't follow up further on the convoy. Heading for home I ran into another tanker and with one aft torpedo and a pounding heart I decided to go for a surface deck gun assault with the torpedo as backup in case she didn't sink. Sadly she was well-lit and sporting a US flag so I let her go and rounded England to the North Sea where I got the chance to fire my last torpedo. I flubbed the shot and it bounced off of the hull so I closed in to point blank range with deck guns ready only to find myself face-to-face with some irritated Danish. My Danish is a bit rusty, but I gather they were saying something about my mother, so I slunk of into the night after another hydrophone contact, which turned out to be a second Danish ship no more than 4 kilometers off the coast of England. Curse the luck! I ran into a pair of Norwegian ships on the way home and no sooner did they spot me but they turned on every light they had to illuminate their flag. It took me several minutes in the books to figure out who they were, but I eventually had to let them go too. On final approach to Wilhelmshaven a German patrol craft opened fire on me, and I went to periscope depth for repairs before finally slinking into port to cheering throngs of people. With 50,000 tons sunk, I got enough U-boat badges to give one to everybody, and I decorated the deck gunner and the hydrophone operator for work well done. After almost 4 weeks at sea with no change of clothes and no chance to take a bath, my wife refused to let me in the house. I had to hose myself down in the garden in December! The dog didn't seem to mind my smell though–at least someone was happy to see me back in port. |
the story so far
Feb. 1945.
We have left the mediterranean and the afrika korps behind. A lost cause anyway, and it cost us 2 crewmen. We got 2 months off in Dec. for massive repairs to the boat. Cheaper to just build a new one, but the brass was insistent. I got accused of leaving "my friend" in the lurch, but the truth is, we were never friends by any personal experience, more like respect of one's career. With no regrets we leave it all behind. On to Norway. Transferred to the 11th fleet, December, 1944. Trusty ole U99 has been around for 33 patrols and has returned to Bergen for the last time. With great pleasure we announce the appointment of the Captain and crew of U99, to take command of the new type XXI, U2511, effective immediately. You are to make the fullest demands on your craft so that any problems that arise may be dealt with swiftly. (memo doesn't say why) Also, nothing in there about a promotion. Same ole Kaptänleutnant as before. Oh well, at least we got a new ride. Braved about 180m deep dive on first patrol. Sunk a few ships. Discovered how much I hate pattern running torpedos. Returned to base. 2nd patrol, beginning of Feb. 1945. Still getting used to the new sub. Our old sub, U99 was assigned a new captain and crew, and departed for duty, about the same time as our first patrol. Monitoring the radio transmissions, U99 has been ordered to report position 3 times, and so far, each call has remained unanswered... Deep dive report, 260 meters and all is well. Seals remain tight. Can't wait to put it to the real test. |
December 11th, 1939. We open our Top Secret orders as we pass Den Helder. We are to try a repeat of the raid on Scapa Flow, but our target is Portsmouth.
We approach at darkness and surface to slide over the sub net at the choke point into the harbor. We hug the pier and at silent speed navigate right into the main anchorage. A destroyer and a patrol boat are plying the waters of the bay. What a disappointment. Only a few merchant ships lie at anchor. I took out a 10,000 ton Modern Tanker and another small tanker and then we left the way we came, hugging the pier. We were never detected. We surface and clear the sub net, and then race at flank speed back out into the channel. Just when I thought we were clear, star shells appear above us and we hear faint sirens from the shore. Shore batteries start to fire on us, so we dive. All of the escorts, at least 4 of them, in the channel have predictably beached themselves on the channel side as they could not find the way into Portsmouth. We egress the channel by Dover and resume our usual 1939 ravage of the eastern coast of Britain. Steve |
16 March 1940. I am back in Wilhelmshaven without incident. I did everything the same on this mission as I did on the previous ones, but the tonnage is lower. I only sunk 31,158 tons. Part of the problem was the weather. For 8 days I shadowed three different cargo ships with no torpedoes while waiting to use the last 80 rounds of my deck gun on one of them. Sadly the gale force winds continued and when I switched to a fourth cargo ship only to find her neutral, I threw in the towel. As soon as I got back into Wilhelmshaven the winds died down to a peaceful 3 knots. How annoying.
I was awarded 4 u-boat badges, a painful reminder of the four men killed during patrol 4. I promoted Wolf Steinmeier and August Krüger for their fine work in handling the boat's engines and awarded both the iron cross. I called in every favor I had, talked to every person I knew, but despite my fine record I was denied the transfer to U-103, a fine IXB that will be launching soon. It will be captained by Viktor Schütze, who is a fine officer. I wish him well and will soon be launching once more in U-48. |
U2511
U-2511, 3rd patrol. March 22, 1945.
Type XXI fitness report. Deep dive to 285 m, danger, do not exceed 285m, damage occurs at 290+ (was trying to break 300 meters deep dive, instead it tried to break me). Blow ballast for emergency surface, took the next 4 hours to restore the compressed air supply. Anti-aircraft turrets serve a reduction in visibility, but safer for the crew. Use the dash ability sparingly, it really eats into the battery charge. If you are familiar with the recharge times of the improved batteries aboard the typical type IX, then you should be ok here. Speed is life. And finally there is a use for those decoys. You can now get far enough away from a decoy at 13 knots underwater. Run that speed for 30 seconds and then hit "creep mode". Even if you are forced to move faster, at first, they won't be expecting a uboat to be moving that fast, so they may not recognize the sound signature. But, the type XXI is not a super submarine, that is, it's not invincible. And for you deck gun pirates, well, you can forget that, those days are over. But the plus side, the torpedos are hydraulically loaded, in about 2-3 minutes. And with as few as 4 qualified crew. Yes, in all, I can recommend the type XXI for any interested captain. But offer a caveat. If you are already experienced with the type IX, or even the type VII, then only those hulls with all the upgrades might still be worth hanging on to. Our patrol area this time seems a risky venture. AM98, almost at the Bristol channel. As if the high command wants us to... Nevermind that. In any case, we may not come back from this one. Aufwiedersehen from valhalla, U-2511. |
May 8th, 1945.
We received the order to stand down. Our last patrol area took us up the Irish sea. U2511 wormed its way up the channel and surrendered at the British city of Liverpool. Unfortunately we sank 3 ships on our way in, on May 5th, as per our previous orders. Ships that had just been serviced at Liverpool... We hoisted a black flag on the periscope mast and announced by wireless our intent to surrender. The Captain, as he speaks english pretty well, was able to broker a deal with the British. But not before the first watch officer got to experience the "hospitality" of the dockworkers, one of whom stole his knights' cross. The military police showed up shortly and took the captain and crew into custody, and spared a team of officers to impound the sub. And so ends the "glorious" career of Kaptänleutnant Johan König... After 37 patrols, and 5 (ish) years of war, sank: 219 merchantmen (all types) 78 warships (all types) 297 ships = 1.226.913 tons 96 aircraft shot down, including 3, B24s. I play this game as tribute to all those who went to sea during this conflict and doubly so for all those who never came home... |
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