Best of luck! It'd really be horrible for the guys not to make it to the end unscathed.

Those idiotic CTD's. Twice I have worked myself into the Eastern part of the Scapa where, among others, are anchored two Fijis, a large troop transport and a couple of others. As I had to close down for the evening - next day when restarting: "SHIII had some problems" - and then shutting down! The only solution then is to start from base again. Nothing else takes me back to Scapa!

Saw to that I was at the surface when shutting down for the evening, too. But, of course, there were a lot of enemy vessels close by when starting up.

On the first occasion going in these strange things happened: The sunk destroyer in the West we did. Those other two on the Northern island steamed towards the island when we were proceeding Eastwards through the sound and were both suddenly marked as sunk - beached. Those grey sunk symbols in the bottom of the picture also occured when we were cruising East, submerged. What was going on. Some other subs there or an air raid...?

The game's AI is not advanced enough to let the destroyers navigate between the islands. The ships collide with the islands and sink.

there was sort of success at the first run!
sank two empire typs (no bigger vessels in this convoy) and a flower which was coming up (attacked in bright sunshine and had to raise periscope). shame that one fish was dud (the rear one) which was aimed at a small freighter.
two black swans hunted me then (I ran through the convoy getting down to 160m), but it never was so easy to evade them! just half an hour and I escaped. nothing, compared to the other DD-hunts I already had at 60-80m. hurrah to 1000m below you! :rock:

I then shaded the convoy and now after sunset I attack the second time. the leading flower has already passed by, so it's now again:
raising to PD and picking three targets with 5eels.

maybe I can start a third approach in the morning with the left 3fish. :salute:

December 1940
U48, Type VIIB
Now docked in Lorient, took on a few new crewmembers.
On my previous patrol, I was ordered to patrol DT 26 and found almost nothing of value on the way there, just some neutral merchants...though I did sink a lone british schooner not far from Cadiz, Spain. Headed north to the South of the British Isles and ran into a convoy, tried to attack despite a horrid storm at 2300. One torpedo fired at a Black Swan, missed, disengaged attack on convoy. Headed further north to raid Swansea harbor in the night and in a storm, launched 5 fish. Sunk 1 Large Tanker, an RAF Sea Air Rescue boat moored directly alongside (which flew quite a distance from the explosion) and a Depot Ship, Damaged one troop ship. Withdrew and headed back to Lorient. U48 was not engaged by opponents during patrol. Sunk Roughly 15000 tons.

got the knight's cross after returning to base in Wilhelmshaven.
could sink 8ships out of 21 the convoy existed in the beginning. I now can understand (at least a little) the excitement real u-boot commanders felt when they spotted a convoy and had three runs against it.
too bad 3of14 eels were duds and deck-gun wasn't available due to rough sea.
it was my first convoy-attack and I loved every minute of it. :ping:

Patrol 2
U-32, Type VIIB, U-Flotilla Saltzwedel
Left at: August 29, 1939, 18:01
From: Wilhelmshaven
Mission Orders: Patrol grid BF16

05.09.39. 0223 Grid BF 16 Ship sunk! SS A. M. Simpson (Coastal Freighter), 1869 tons. Cargo: Coal. Crew: 35. Crew lost: 13
07.09.39. 0113 Grid BF 15 Ship sunk! SS Pampero (Medium Cargo), 4535 tons. Cargo: Aircraft. Crew: 47. Crew lost: 26
07.09.39. 0928 Grid BF 16 Ship sunk! SS Kooyong (Passenger/Cargo), 2091 tons. Cargo: Passengers. Crew: 40. Crew lost: 27
08.09.39. 1304 Grid BF 16 Ship sunk! SS Elmbay (Coastal Freighter), 1870 tons. Cargo: General Cargo. Crew: 30. Crew lost: 9

13.09.39. 1123 Patrol results
Crew losses: 0
Ships sunk: 4
Aircraft destroyed: 0
Patrol tonnage: 10365 tons

Patrol lasted 16 days, horrible weather for the entirety. Rough seas, rain and <400m visibility. Had to hunt by hydrophone the entire time.
Kalen PAUL BÜCHEL earned UBoat Front Clasp, all 5 officers got War Badges and one got Machinery qualification.

U-82 - VIIB
Following sinking of merchantman for 5081 tons, sailed south, 140km west of Irish coast. Sank small merchant vessel with one torpedo. Hydrophone contact of another merchantman, plotted to intercept and sank with one torpedo from a spread of two.
Fuel running low, plotted return course to Wilhelmshaven between Shetland and Orkney Islands.
Encountered task force north of Scotland – one battleship, two light cruisers, two destroyers. Ordered crash dive. U-82 undetected.
Surfaced, encountered small coastal vessel but was not able to engage owing to rough seas and low torpedo count. Attacked by aircraft, ordered crash dive. Some flooding, repaired quickly. Boat in good working order.
Passed between Orkney and Shetland Islands, 2:32 on September 18th.
Encountered task force of three warships in North Sea. Dove, remained undetected.
Surfaced and spotted a Polish large merchant. Sunk with deck gun. Docked at Wilhelmshaven at 6:00 on 21 September 1939.
Total tonnage sunk in excess of 19,600 GRT.

2nd Patrol
Departed Wilhelmshaven, 23 September 1939 en route to BE61.
Hydrophone detection of merchantman, 250km north of Newcastle-on-Tyne.
Plotted intercept course on surface. Intercepted merchant vessel, sank with deck gun.
Continued northwest, plotting course between Scapa Flow and Shetland Islands.
Passed Orkneys. Skies overcast. Detected an ore freighter. Sank with deck gun.
Continuing east.

Pretty bad AI......:down:....

Going out we almost bumped into this - a torpedo net.....

Jan 3, 1940
Kapitänleutnant Kruger (U-46) / Type VIIB / Fourth patrol

Silent speed at 130m, on the eastern edge of AM 76. We have just sent a Southampton class cruiser to the bottom on our first pass at a convoy. Destroyers are trying to locate us but so far their depth charges have fallen far and wide. As of now, we've claimed about 40k tons of warship tonnage (two aux. cruisers and two southamptons) since we left Wilehmshaven on Dec 16 but not a single merchant.

I shouldn't have done that!!

June 1940, near Gibraltar.
found a freighter and a light tanker at night.
shot one fish each, came up to finish them with the deck-gun. then I saw the flag: neutral!
I quickly flanked away and could manage to be out of range when they (probably) sank. no symbols on the map, no entry in the diary.

next time:
first I will identify the nationality. :D

I was getting myself into the inside of a nicely sized convoy on the west coast of Ireland. I started to make my way up to periscope depth, and feeling pretty smart, I cranked up my props to gain on my depth approach to start targeting.

Then, at about 60m, Wham! An escort must have sliced into the merchies, and caught me really nice with some ash cans draped right forward of my con tower. Immediate massive flooding there, I sent my D.C. in full emergency, blew ballast, shouted for full throttle reverse to try to save some elevation in my favor, yet going for a roller coaster nose-dive. Not fun there... until I held tight and figured I will at least see how tight my boat was maunfactured.

In my last seconds, I held the camera steady for a final 256 meter photoshot.

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d1...09-DeepIXB.jpg

U 45... SUPER slow patrol... 1 troop ship so far still... woopdy doo...

Oberleutnant z.S. Frank Zimmerman
U-104
Starting date patrol; June 12, 1941
Starting harbour; Lorient

04.45 - June 15
Soundcontact - grid BF71 - omrchant - slow - heading 045

05.27 - June 15
Ship spotted - submerging for attack at 06.14

07.35 - June 15
Ship identified as 'Passenger/Cargo' 2222t - 1 torpedo fired - observed 1 hit
Vessel did not sink

08.03 - June 15
1 torpedo fired - observed 1 hit
Vessel sunk at 08.21

05.40 - June 17
Soundcontact - grid CF38 - merchant - heading 065
Ship identified as American Large Tanker 11.335t - NEUTRAL

18.33 - June 17
Entered patrol grid CF59

19.12 - June 18
Completed 24h patrol - heading for BD58

07.56 - June 23
Convoy reported at BD15 - intercepting

12.32 - June 26
Soundcontact - BC36 - multiple merchants

19.33 - June 26
Regained contact with convoy after being forced down by escort

19.59 - June 26
Fired 3 torpedoes - observed 3 hits - 2 ships sunk
- Fiji class light cruiser 10.725t
- Large Merchant 10.320t

01.07 - June 27
2 torpedoes fired - observed 2 hits - forced down by escorts
Medium Cargo 5081t sunk at 02.36

13.44 - June 27
Lost track of convoy - spotted lone merchant - engaged with deckgun
Ship identified as 'Passenger/Cargo' 2245t - sunk at 13.44

23.22 - July 1
Sound contact - AL42 - intercepting

00.53 - July 2
2 torpedoes fired - observed 2 hits - vessel sunk at 01.23
Ship identified as Large Cargo 8576t

06.47 - July 9
Convoy reported - grid BE39 - intercepting

17.00 - July 9
5 torpedoes fired fore and aft - observed 3 hits - 1 ship sunk
Ship identified as Large Merchant 10.620t

23.00 - July 9
In position for second attack

03.59 - July 10
6 torpedoes fired - observed 6 hits - 3 ships sunk
- Whale factory ship 12.016t sunk 04.00
- Empire-type freighter 6.780t sunk 04.04
- Small tanker 2052t sunk 04.10

Returned to port July 12
Total tonnage; 48729

13th May 1943 ~ U-307

Sailed from Brest on the 5th intense air traffic around the Bay of Biscay and also Spanish coast. Currently patrolling CG85 just outside the approaches to Gibraltar. Constant aircraft harassment leading to low batteries. Two men dead.

Thinking about How im going to get to America in a VIIB...:hmmm:

And that actual getting there is easy, returning... that's a different story...:shifty:

15th May 1943 ~ BdU

U-307 sent incomplete report stating they had been intercepted by two Avenge planes and one Hunt II destroyer. Report stated diving to 145 metres, no contact after that.

U-307, Commander Heinrich Ruhl and crew presumed lost on first patrol.

R.I.P.

ye, well.... I died. Destroyer gave me a punch in the face. Heavy damaged again but tried to hide anyway, no matter what. Another hedgehog explosion. U-666 is no more :dead:.

Lost at sea on january 13th, 1945.

(At least I took the escort-carrier with me :arrgh!:. Homing torpedoes for the win.)