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I tried going through the Irish sea, from south to north.
I will never do it again. Destroyer after destroyer found me, depth charged me. For the first time, I saw a town class destroyer (They look really nice actually) It took many hours of real life time to get through all that... having to wait for them to run out of charges, constantly dodging. and when I think im home free, at northern ireland, 3 destroyers in a group find me... .. never again |
Sorry for the delay, but here's the continuing adventures of Lt. Jr. Theodor Lawrenz, commander of U-18. Still on our first patrol...
05 September 1939 0500h: Still continuing our stalk of the merchant. Waters remain very choppy, and visibility is very low. Despite the fog, the moon is still out and visible for all to see. We're closing rather rapidly to the enemy craft, but we must be careful. Being detected could bring the entire Royal Navy on our heads. 0552h: Gave up on pursuit as merchant began to gain speed after we dived to approach. I have decided that we shall begin our return to Wilhelmshaven no matter what on 7 September. We can't stay out here forever, after all, and we need new orders. Besides, I'm not keen on staying out at AN16 forever. 1446h: Encountered a C2 approaching our position. Diving to periscope depth, going to lie in wait. 1550h: After putting our last three torpedoes into the C2, it finally slipped beneath the waves. U-18 has done well. We shall finish our patrol, report into the fleet, then get out of here as fast as our Typ-IIA will let us. 1725h: We were attacked by British planes 10 minutes ago. I assume that we have become quite infamous. Crash-dive performed successfully, and we're continuing on our merry way. 1755h: Another crash dive to respond to another air attack. I assume that the British will be attacking us every time we attempt to surface, so I shall endeavor to keep the U-18 underwater until night, when we can safely surface, recharge batteries, and report home. 2000h: Reported to fleet. Position AN16, no torpedoes left. Two cargo ships sunk, with a total tonnage of 12893 tons sunk. 06 September 1939 0800h: Reported back home. Grid AN41 is our current position, and we're a good 90 hours until we're back at Wilhelmshaven. It'll be a long trip back, but at least we do not need to fear English air attacks any longer. Weather is pleasant, and waves are still choppy. 1100h: A British plane came out of nowhere, and we dove away. No damage, no problem. I'm just surprised of its direction of attack: The plane came from the south, which is just open sea all the way down to Hartlepool and the English island, but we're miles away. 1429h: Another attack. I wonder how long we'll need to manage this until we are in the clear. 1520h: Another attack. 2000h: Sent in patrol report. AN42 is our grid. 75 hours to Wilhelmshaven. 07 September 1939 0800h: Sent in our patrol report. AN45 is our position. It's going to be a long boring run. Even if we encounter anything hostile, we can't do anything other than just dive away. Our lack of torpedoes is a sign of a job well done, but I'll be damned if it doesn't make the run home a tiresome one. |
Continuing the adventures of Lt. Jr. Theodor Lawrenz and U-18, on course for home from a long patrol.
07 September 1939 1009h: We picked up some enemy vessel not too far away, and on a course that will put us on intercept. We have no torpedoes, no deck gun, and we certainly don't have the capability to board anything, so I'm going to put the U-18 under until we're in the clear. 1111h: Made visual contact on the vessel. It's a small merchant, such a tempting target, but it's too far away and we have no way of fighting it. Since I do not want to risk the RAF being called in, we shall remain underwater for perhaps another hour. 2000h: Reported back home to flotilla. Grid AN49 is our current position, and we're a good 46 hours away from Wilhelmshaven still. I hope that the next two days go quickly. 08 September 1939 0800h: Report sent in. We're at grid AN62, and still 35 hours out. 2000h: Another day, another report. Grid AN66, 23 hours out. 09 September 1939 0800h: Hopefully our last report for this patrol. Grid AN95, back in German controlled waters finally. The crew is relaxed and happy. 1812h: Wilhelmshaven is clearly in sight, and the lighthouses are here to guide us home. Will report time of docking in the sub pens here before getting finally out of this tin can that has been my home for this past week and back into my office for some time. 1847h: Docked at Wilhelmshaven. 10 September 1939 Well, time to put things in order. First and foremost, it is as I suspected. Germany went to war with Poland, and both England and France joined the party immediately afterwards. We managed to score some of the earliest victories for the U-Boat fleet, and our tonnage of 12.893 puts us a good thousand above Wilhelm Rollmann, who has 11.357 tons. I'm going to tell the officers today about our position as top U-Boat ace, see how the crew reacts. There will be champagne tonight, more so than there was the last. My head is still spinning from our party. Business as usual, though. I've updated my patrol log and submitted it, to the satisfaction of the higher-ups. In turn, I have been given some medals to hand out, as well as some duties to perform. Warrant Officer Wolf Degen has been given some enhanced training and is now a qualified Machinist. Warrant Officers Axel Thurmann, Wolf Degen, Karl Creutz, Adolf Conrad, Jorg Zander, Sub-Lieutenants Udo Hartenstein, Otto Totenhagen, Fritz Frederichs, and Adolf Carlewitz have all been awarded the U-Boat War Badge. I still have two remaining to pass out, but I shall award them after the following patrol. I have ordered that U-18 be upgraded with a 2cm FK C/30 flak cannon for use in air defense. While our past patrol took us into deeper waters, the Typ-IIA is a coastal merchant raider, which means shallow waters will be our norm. Having something to engage air targets when a crash dive could be a tragic mistake will save our skins, especially given the sheer volume of air attacks we were subjected to in the last few days of our first patrol. I have also asked that an emblem be marked on the side of U-18 to commemorate her survival of her first patrol. This is our ship now, and I shall not abandon it. To mark our travels, and the hope of always coming home again, U-18 shall now and forever have a Kompaßstern affixed to her conning tower. 29 September 1939 Tomorrow night, at around midnight, U-18 is to head out on patrol again. Our orders take us this time to AN81, a point in-between England and the neutral Netherlands. I don't imagine too many hostile contacts in this area, but we will do our duty none-the-less. The crew is set and ready to head out again, and we are confident that we can make our mark for Germany. 30 September 1939 0119h: U-18 embarks from Wilhelmshaven to head out on patrol. Waters are rolling, but not all-together rough. Will establish a new reporting procedure for this and future patrols. One report, daily, at 2000h, should be suffice. The course we are setting will put us moving mainly off the coast of the Netherlands until AN82, in which case we'll push out to our grid and begin a search-pattern. This way, I hope to minimize air attacks from the RAF. 2000h: Reported back to Wilhelmshaven. We're currently in Grid AN69, and are only 19 hours away from AN81. I'm particularly happy about this, I despised the long trip there and away from AN16, and I prefer to have our hunting grounds close to home given the nature of how the Typ-IIA hunts and performs. 01 October 1939 1424h: We have arrived in Grid AN81 and are beginning our patrol. Let us see what the coming days throw at us... |
9th patrol, returning from an (almost) fruitless tour of grid AL29, which my convoy route maps show should be bang across the northern convoy routes. They must have heard we were coming.... Still, heard & intercepted a C3 before leaving the grid after a boring 5 days. Returned along the convoy routes to N.Ireland, just enough targets there & down the W coast to keep the crew happy. S of Ireland, a very strange noise in the 'phones turned out to be two C2s in tandem. With only 3 fish left, I was loath to use 2 (or even three) eels when we had a locker well stuffed with gun ammo, so I decided to take out the first (both armed on the stern) with a T1, and use my well tried disarming technique on the second.
This involves approaching very close submerged, surfacing about 50m away and parallel, and potting the pop-gun on the poop, before perforating the plates with a few (a lot for a C2!) shots. If you're close enough, the gun shield is a fairly easy target - the gun can't be depressed enough to hit the boat, though the crew might fire a few shots overhead. A single AP usually suffices (2 in this case - choppy sea, and the shield is a small target). While submerged and waiting for our deadly tryst, my usually taciturn sonar man announced a Merchant at around 20k to the north, going the wrong way (SW), but thankfully slooow. Having chased & dispatched the C3 ( gun on the bow, and so high up and difficult to hit first shot), I thought a trek up the Western Approaches might provide a couple of suitable targets for my last two torps before returning to Brest. After another sonar contact, and a frustrating and tricky intercept of what turned out to be a US T3 tanker (blast the yanks!) we returned to a more direct route homeward, pausing as usual for regular sonar dips. My sonar man was, as usual, unable to identify the roar of a nearby convoy - a big 'un. A bonus on the way home perhaps? Tricky, this one - the haze meant that trying to keep the flank escort in sight was not an option - we'd be in radar range. However, the large convoy icon with directional arrow allowed a track to be plotted, and an out-of sight approach to get in front to a close attack position. So far so good - keeping out of the lead escort's sonar cone enabled a close attack on the lead T3 tanker in the centre left row, with a T2 conveniently one ship behind in the adjacent row. Both were hit square on at the appropriate depth, both stopped dead in the water - and stayed afloat. Drat and double drat! With escorts converging from all 4 points of the compass, and 90 metres depth at that point, and discretion being the better part of valour, we hid under the T2 tanker. I've discovered a new and less obvious use for the observation 'scope - with the prism tilted almost straight up, the bottom of the T2 could be seen clearly, 80 or so metres above.. Three DDs and a deadly little Flower circled, pinging away like mad. After about about 15 minutes, one left at speed - the lead V&W escort, I guessed. Then the other two must have stopped to listen, pinging occasionally while the Flower showed off by circling and uselessly dropping DCs (at a safe distance from the crippled T2, and so a safe distance from U-47 and yours truly). After another half hour with no movement from the two DDs, and no more pings, we crept away at 2 knots from the last known position of the DDs, heading back to the surface. They were still there, 2km away, one either side of the bow of the T2 - then they started up and returned to the convoy at speed - now a further wait until they were out of sight, and far enough away to allow me (chief gunner - got the badge, wear the T-shirt) to finish off the two tankers. Job done, we set off to investigate another sonar contact to the north, only to have a shell whistle overhead from the Clemson hard on our tail at 35knots, and 4k behind. I know just who'll spend their leave peeling potatoes in the officer's mess kitchen back at Brest. After a nervous half-hour at max depth evading the persistent Clemson we followed a straight course back to base, sinking a C2, a Tug Boat, and a couple of annoying Elco TBs on the way. Three or four star shells on the water line gets 'em every time, with a 2cm magazine to finish 'em off if necessary. A good patrol, if rather boring on patrol S of Iceland in crap weather. Finished strongly though, if i say so myself (no one else will). |
Unfortunately my current campaign has come to a complete standstill. Recently upgraded from a 580GTX SLI system to a 980GTX SLI and can't get SH3 to looks as nice anymore :/\\!!:/\\!!:/\\!! Spent two weeks so far trying different NI profiles but nothing will get me even close :wah:
Best regards. Fubar2Niner |
After two highly successfull cruises in a Type IXB (more than 100,000 tons sunk including two aux. cruisers and the HMS Renown), I got cocky. I torpedoed and crippled a large freighter. I surfaced to finish it off with my deckgun. Suddenly, a tiny British electro boat arrives on the scene shooting. "Poo," sez I, "A seasoned ace such as myself can easily swat this bug!" So, I manned my 20mm and engaged the little pest while my deckgun concentrated on the freighter. Well, the little bugger sunk me with all hands!:dead:
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Ahahah, another lesson learned, the hard way of course :-)
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Kip said:
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It's also not a bad idea to put some distance between your boat and the sunk target, but in which direction? You may be heading straight for a DD, whose gun crews are just waiting to show off their well-practised skills to their commander. Not to mention the DC crews, with depth-setting keys burning a hole in their pockets. I usually dip down for a sonar check, unless I've done a full sweep before the attack. |
January 1943. Launched U-211 from Bergen. Assigned to AN64.
January 24, 1943 picked up radar detection from airplanes. Dived to 20 meters -- about as deep as I could go. AN64 is quite shallow. Came up for air an hour later and as I got another radar detection, my 1WO reminded me that our boat, which is equipped with the best anti-air guns available, had been ordered to stay on the surface and fight it out. So we did. We turned tail and kicked it up to full speed. That's when I realized that I had no one skilled at flak guns. So I did what I could. We took some damage from a near-miss on a bomb, but we shot a Halifax down. :up: It took me about half an hour to stop the leaks and we went back to scope depth and north out of AN64. The exact extent of the damage is hard to assess. I then took a long route around to northern Ireland. I got notifications of various convoys, but they were all headed into Liverpool and in shallow waters. No way I was going to make it there. February 2. It was raining heavily so I went back to scope depth and headed west. After a few hours I got notification of a cargo ship closing. I marked its approximate location on the map and we watched it carefully for 6½ minutes. Approximate speed: 6 knots. Heading... eastish. Then I checked the gauges and saw that my CO2 was over 2.0. We surfaced to vent and that's when I realized that another cargo ship was following behind me. It immediately started to zigzag and opened fire. I just kept my stern on him till I had vented completely, dove to 25m, and turned to 5º to intercept my primary target. At 1500m I went to scope depth and got a visual on both targets. The primary target was much larger, so I continued the attack. At about 1200m I fired a two-torpedo salvo (T3s), scoring two hits and sinking it immediately. We estimate it at 6780 tons. We loaded two more submerged, surfaced, and are continuing our patrol. I am relieved to say that the wind is about 15 m/s (sea 6) and so we are not manning the flak guns. I hope no more aircraft show up. |
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Contact, 4 meter depth, 3º spread.
Wind was 11 m/s. Weather 2 Sea 5 |
U 353 November 14th 1942, passed the Gibraltar Straits
↯ from U 353 to FdU Italy:
= Operation 26 completed. CH8450. NE 9, sea 7, 10/10, medium visibility. Requesting orders. Wähling= |
Patrol 2 for Lt. Jr. Theodor Lawrenz, commander of the U-18. Attached to U-Flotilla Weddigen, based in Wilhelmshaven, Germany.
01 October 1939 2000h: Reported in to fleet. Grid AN81, full load of torpedoes. While some ships are to be moving into our grid, we haven't seen them yet. Should they come across us, we will do our best to engage them. 02 October 1939 1338h: Reported to fleet that our 24 hour patrol has finished uneventfully. Hopefully we shall receive new patrol orders shortly. 1526h: I just finished a meeting with the senior staff. The higher-ups want us to "be more aggressive", so that we shall do. The port of Southend is rather nearby, at grid AN79. I will take U-18 to prowl around that area and engage any shipping that attempts to leave. Given how dangerous this will be, we shall remain underwater for most of our time there. Once we use up all of our torpedoes or sink three ships, we shall return to port. 2000h: Reported back to fleet, let them know of our plans. We are currently in grid AN84, and will be at AN79 in about seven hours. It might still be dark out by the time we get there; all the better for us. 2205h: Ship spotted heading NE. U-18 turning to engage. Night is clear and waters are still. This is not great hunting weather, but if it is the conditions we must deal with, so be it. 03 October 1939 0019h: I can only assume that the British ship snuck past us during the night, for we have seen nothing of it. I am returning us back on course. By the time we get there, it will be much lighter out, which is frustrating, but there is nothing that can be done. Hopefully we shall have better hunting today. |
21.11.1942
Korvettenkapitän Heinz Wähling relinquishes the command of U 353 and is transferred to Kiel, to command the 5th Training Flotilla. |
Your far-too-frequent (and to my mind unnecessary) reports will be your undoing, Farflung Wanderer. The Tommies had primitive HF/DF ("Huff-duff") direction finding in place at the outbreak of war, and improved it in leaps and bounds as the "Uboat War" progressed. At best this resulted in fewer target intercepts, and so fewer sinkings than would otherwise be the case, as convoys were re-routed to avoid estimated Uboat (and later Wolf-pack) positions. At worst it resulted in Uboat losses as allied aircraft, convoy escorts, and later, Uboat hunting-groups, were directed to the estimated Uboat locations. Destruction of Uboats was the aim, "keeping 'em down", and so at much slower speed, an acceptable second-best.
Also, available frequencies for Uboat communication were limited, and "chatter" was frowned upon by the KM. The longer the message transmitted, the greater the risk of transmitter location. By 1942, 20 seconds of transmission was enough for a fairly accurate location estimate. Careless talk costs lives, as the Tommies said, and it applied (and still applies) to the armed services of all nations. However, good luck, and happy hunting, and don't forget the need for frequent sonar sweeps. |
U-96 commanded by Ruprecht Schmidt. Literally playing like Das Boot. Nothing is going on at all! No ship, no convoy, nothing as Lt. Werner would say!
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hello all
ive had sh2,3,4,5 and now find myself back in sh3 got JSGME to work 1st time i tried it its the little things- A. has anybody got file/mod to- have a binocular cancel or press b again to deselect binoculars? B. is there way to decrease the repetitive "be more aggressive" radio messages? or have alternative random info lol its tedious to change out just to drop binoculars looking for more gui small size mods to make gameplay more fluid SH3Cmdr to help start new career stories i had 6 kills in 3patrols after 2 ctds before a third destroyer rammed me from behind sunk from flooding! :) :arrgh!: why cant i download today? |
01.22.1940
Was cruising AM99 on the surface in bad weather, and dropped to PD for a listen- warships all over the starboard, at maybe 2000m heading SE. Visibility was around 500m, if that. Went back the surface and ran at flank for about 10 minutes before dropping back to PD for the ambush. It's a huge battle group- I can see a tribal ahead and astern of me, and then, out of the fog and rain comes HMS Hood. I don't have a shot- she's going too fast and too close. But just behind her is HMS Resolution, a Revenge battleship. I fire a spread of 4 eels from about 350m, with three slamming into her port side. I lost sight of her quickly, due to the conditions. After a few minutes, though, I hear "she's going down" and start looking via the external cam. By the time I find her, she's almost below the waves. Here she is going down, from the event cam, and then just before the forward turrets and bow disappear. http://i.imgur.com/UrXXhLN.jpg http://i.imgur.com/F6zAO2D.png |
Should note that I still have been continuing my career as Lt. Jr. Theodor Lawrenz, but I am getting a new computer soon which will effectively spell the end of this career.
Given the low difficulty level of the one I am on, I have decided not to update my adventures. However, once I have SH3 running on the new PC, I will keep you guys informed on my mishaps. |
After almost two years without Silent Hunter, I decided it was time to bring the box out again.
Being fond of a healthy dose of doing things the "real way", that includes GWX and finding my notebook on all sorts of U boat related maths. Sadly I could only find my how-to-plot-an-intercept-course note. it was quickly decided I would need a XO, which so happens to be my kid. Patrol 0, 2-8-1939. Kaleun Kipischovic boards the U-336, a VIIB boat from the second flottila based in Willemshaven. With all the pleasantries done, Wänsi****** Fahrt foraus is ordered by the XO. The band music on the dock is terrible. Hours later we open our orders. Patrol grid BE69 for 24 hours and do a shakedown. During the course of the patrol, we go through the standard rituals. Diving, crashdiving, flak gun shooting and deck gunnery courses. We learned a few things from our boat this day: 1) Seagull does not taste good after a 20mm. 2) Our crew does not know how to properly aim the deck gun, we often find them mounting the aiming binoculars a good 30 degrees off center. The XO proces to be exceptionally good at Shooting from the hip. After some stalking and attack practice on a British Destroyer near when we come aroubd the British Island to Scapa Flow (Nice guys those Brits). It's time to head back. END OF PATROL 0. Ships sunk 0 Airplanes Shot: 0 Other: 3 Seagulls. -30 renown. PATROL 2, 30-8-1939 My brother Yashin joins the crew as 1WO. Not sure if this is good. But with his experience, we're sure to see some more seriousness aboard the boat. Things are stirring above my paygrade. BdU is uneasy. As we prepare to leave willemshaven, the XO orders periscope depth. As the crew scrambles inside, I question my XO. We haven't even left the dock. "We must be stealthy, they are not allowed to see us leave. And the music is bad" No more questions. We find ourselves back enroute to Scapa Flow to do further training with our friends from the British V&W class we saw last month. Experiencing their tactics (they seem to go full speed reverse if you get close on their side) will provide valuable information for later. A message from BDU. War with Poland is close! All units are ordered to patrol out on sea. No special mention of our results we sent back to BDU. We continue our course down the southcoast of England. A few boats from different nations are spotted as we press on. Sept 2, 1700. Schiff gesichted Kaleun! We spot a small British merchant, perfect Stalking practice. 0800 After some hours at periscope depth, we order the boat to surface. A quick check only shows the Merchant at about 700 meters on port side. message received! British, French and some other countries too far way to worry about have declared war on Germany! We are to attack all ships following the London Protocol and Price regulations. The Merchant must've gotten the same message as its now frantically zigzagging. With a small nod to the XO, he jumps into action. He gets his crew together and mans the 88. Shells start splashing around the freighter, and we soon see some cargo on the aft deck exploding. With a big grin on his face, XO reports that shooting the explosive cargo must be Highly effective, more shots follow, more explosions. With some frantic arm flailing, I point him to the Waterline. 10 shots later she goes down. Now that we can call ourselves a real U boat crew, we speed off towards the English channel in hopes of finding bigger pray. We soon find another merchant and start our run. unfortunately he spots us and starts zigzagging to. At full speed we overtake him and dive to periscope depth. Positioning ourselves 500m from his expected track we await. Suddenly warships closing on two sides. Multiple on the east, one on the west No more attack. We turn around and leave at 3 knots heading south. From the periscope we see a smokestack to our east, which turns out to be a Destroyer heading straight our previous location. 20 minutes later, we spot the other ship closing from the west, an ASW trawler headed straight for us. That would prove to be bothersome. On the east side From the periscope we see a smokestack to our east, which turns out to be a Destroyer heading straight our previous location. 20 minutes later, we spot the other ship closing from the west, an ASW trawler headed straight for us. That would prove to be bothersome. It's just a few hundred meters out by the time we actually spot it. Continuing at 3 knots, we order the boat as deep as we can go, about 40 meters. The thrumming sound of screws gets louder and louder. The entire boat listens in silence as the trawler passes over us, just mere meters from the bridge. A sigh of relief as it passes. "Wasserbombe!" Heads bow down in dissappointment. A sailor or two even have a slightly panicked look. The depthcharges explode harmlessly of our port bow, just rattling some of the cutlery in the cupboards. They probably don't even know we're here, just trying to scare us out of the water. Hydrophone reports the trawler turning around, but then passing behind us. The destroyer is keeping station around the area where we dived earlier. Deciding that following a task force isn't the best idea, we turned west and prepared to head north when we cleared the ships searching for us sufficiently. The next hour the trawler and destoyer continued circling behind us, sometimes passing in front of us as they expanded their search area, luckily without ever detecting us. With the ships 2km behind us, we increased to 5 knots and headed north. We continued up north along the english coast, encountering another small merchant. This time the weather was too rough to use the deck gun. The merchant was already rolling quite violently in the waves, so a single torpedo to the middle helped knocking it over. It promptly capsized and went down. The crew didn't even radio in. As we reached the entrance to Scapa Flow, the amount of warship contacts on the Hydrophone increased. Hours later, a lone V&W Destroyer loitered past us at a respectable 10 knots, just a mere 600 meter. With us being in a perfect firing position, we couldn't let him go. A two spread torpedo attack with the 'fast' setting ended the career of this Destroyer real fast. We couldn't help but wonder if it was the Destroyer we ...practiced... with just months ago. Rounding the tip of the British islands, we found a large merchant struggling in the waves at around 04:00 on Sept 5th. We got up to 600 meters before starting our attack run. We tried to manually aim the torpedos, which including duds ended up in us using 5 torpedos, including our stern tube to sink her. A very expensive boat. With out supply of torpedos expended, and not much improvement in weather for 2 days, we headed back to base. ((PATROL RESULTS WILL FOLLOW, once I'm home!) |
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