Thats my point. Inconsistency. Drives me to despair. Surely someone can mod it so whenever theres a sound contact I get notified as Kapitan. Otherwise there is no point having a soundman on station. :banghead:
Just nipped into Curacao in Aug '42 and not much there except for two Clemson, one ASW trawler and an armed tugboat. :confused: Cannot wait for the TIV..... :D Riccardo. U-501. 11th Aug, 1942. |
Happy New Year Indeed!
29 December 1939:
Departed Wilhelmshaven under clear skies and fairly calm seas. 31 December 1939: Apologies to the crew that we're not home partying for New Year's. 1 January 1940: As a special concession, I broke out a bottle of Napoleon cognac I'd hidden away and each crewmember was given a couple fingers in their mess cup. Rang in the New Year with a toast and rousing rendition of "Auld Lang Syne". Toward morning, about 0430, lookouts sighted a warship off to starboard, approaching fast. We dove frantically, rigged for silent running, and I looked through the periscope, hoping we were in at least partial attack position. The sight in my periscope was something out of a dream: Southampton-class CL...UNESCORTED! And U-45 is in PERFECT attack position, with the range less than 2,500 yards! Fired three torpedoes and prayed fervently... Target's lookouts sighted the torpedoes and she switched on searchlights and commenced evasive maneuvers, evading one torpedo, but the other two hit, one in her rudders and props, and the other in the port engine room, causing several internal explosions and mortally wounding her. Everyone managed at least one look through the periscope before she sank stern-first with several more explosions following. All I can say is somebody must live right...Happy New Year indeed! (Signed) -Hossel |
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Only up to 1942 so no operation Torch yet. Plenty off Norway in 1940... :(
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Will definitely keep that in mind...thanks! Might have to make a pass along that coast en route to the Atlantic on U-45's next patrol.
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Welcome Aboard
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Just finished my 12th Patrol (with a 3 year real life gap between it and the 11th!). U-260 (Type VIIc) sailed from St. Nazaire in Jan '41 up to B-17 for its Patrol and generally stayed in that area until I'd no fish left!
Had a great patrol, no sign of any Convoys but always found a contact here and there, including one T2 Tanker and a couple of C2 and C3 Cargos. Rather annoyingly I wasted a second fish on a Cargo that *finally* decided to sink just as I fired it. But I made up for it by taking out a Costal Merchant with just the Deck Gun later on. All in all I got over 73,000 tonnes and my excellent AA gunner even got 5 Hurricanes on my way back to port. He'll be getting one of the awards/medals... :) I'm in that section of the game where there are no upgrades for a while (until the end of '41 and early '42 I believe) so I'm just pottering around building up renown. I tend to stick to the North Atlantic, so I might go South a little for a change on my next Patrol. J. |
Hello Jason!
Im in Aug '42 and the upgrades are worth waiting for. Alberich and basic radar for definite. Never seen a C2 or a T2 yet in 14 patrols... :confused: Havent played for a fortnight thanks to my new job and Im in serious withdrawal symptoms. Good hunting! Rich. U-501 |
Hey Rich...
Good to hear the upgrades are worth it, it feels like it's been a while since I got to upgrade! Don't know what I'll do when a new U-Boat comes available, part of me would love to try to get to 1945 in the VIIc! :) J. |
I only captain type IXs. Its a personal choice I suppose? More fuel and torpedoes with slower dive time and less nippy. Went from a B to the C and lost my 37mm and gained nothing. Next career its IXB then IXD2 then hopefully have enough renown for XXI... :D
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Frustration Abounds...
Captain's Personal Log
16 May 1940 After our New Year's Day present of a Southampton-class light cruiser, I didn't think much could top it, except perhaps a battleship or aircraft carrier, but those are fairly hard-to-find targets. Certainly, you could try and sneak into a fleet anchorage and pick one off like a duck in a shooting gallery, but 1) There's no guarantee that the harbor you choose to stroll into will have the target you're searching for. 2) Even if you manage to get in and fire torpedoes, said torpedoes might be duds. and perhaps most sobering of all, 3) You can take your shot and possibly win glory, but there's little to no possibility you'll get out alive. Anyway, back to my story. On our very next patrol, in those very same waters, we came upon a patrol of a V / W-class DD and two Auxiliary Cruisers. Fired three torpedoes at one and a fourth torpedo at the other, dove deep, and prayed. All four torpedoes hit, both targets subsequently sank, and we escaped unharmed. Our final patrol tally ended up just shy of 40,000 tons. Most impressive, nein? We returned to port to much fanfare...only to find no Knight's Cross awaiting U-45's Captain. While exceedingly disappointed, I passed out medals to my crew and released them on leave. Fast forward to this last patrol. We patrolled in our assigned grid off Norway (sighting zilch, not even so much as a fishing boat) and then headed down to the Dutch / Belgian coast. We sank two armed trawlers and then decided to get brave and head directly into Rotterdam in an effort to surprise the Dutch. There was no resistance to our approach, and we managed to get into the harbor successfully...only to find it empty except for one of our own tugboats! A FRIENDLY tugboat inside an ENEMY port! We gave up in disgust and headed back out to sea. Later that evening, I decided to get even bolder and so we headed in to see what was off Dunkirk. The verdammt sea wall blocked a possible shot at several VERY nice targets (a Large Troop Ship among them), but we managed to find an auxiliary cruiser docked against the seaward side of the wall. Put three torpedoes into her and sank her, along with causing every escort in the harbor to lose their minds. Got away clean here as well. Our patrol has just ended; after leaving Dunkirk, we sank a Large Cargo Ship and an Empire-type Freighter to empty us of torpedoes, and returned to port with yet another score of close to 40,000 tons...only to find that no cure for my itchy neck was forthcoming. I am currently the #1 ranking Ace with just over 200,000 tons sunk and I still have not yet received my Knight's Cross. What must I do to get recognized? I can only hope that this non-recognition now will be made up for in spades down the road. Until next time. (Signed) -Hossel |
After been away of SHIII for a couple of months, I'm back with a new career.
Patrol 1 : Happy Days ! Late june 1940, Kaleun Norbert Apfelgluck received the order to appear at the headquarters of the 2nd Flotilla in Wilhelmshaven to take command of a new type XIB Uboat and his crew : the U-124 aka “Der Schneeman”. After a series of training, the boat is ready to take to the high sea for his first patrol. All the crew are pretty greens on Uboat’s combat, but they’re all former sailors with a lot of days at sea experience. The officiers on the U-124 are : Watch officier : Leutnant Herbert Löhr Torpedo officier : Oberfährich Arend Akerman Chief Officier : Oberleutnant Herbet Loh Navigation officier : Oberfärich Otto Schewe Weapons officier : Leutnant Helmut Luth 01 july 40 21:45 We leaving Wilhelmshaven for our patrol area in the mid-atlantic, near the coasts of Ireland. All the crew are pretty happy to take part to his real first war patrol of the boat. The sea is calm and the weather is clear. No winds. We estimated to reach our patrol area next week. 04 july 06:05 AN42 Received new directives from BDU. Our new orders are to heading to Lorient at the end of our patrol. Lorient will be our new home base for our next patrols. 6 july 21:11 AN33 Engaged and sunk our first ennemy ship ! British Empire Cargo, 6780 GRT. Fired two torpedoes. 8 july 00:51 AM51 Engaged and sunk british tanker, 8081GRT. Fired one torpedo. 8 july 07:30 AM54 Engaged and sunk british merchant, 10615GRT. Fired one torpedo. 12 july 06:28 BEF63 Engaged and sunk british cargo, 8087 GRT. Fired four torpedo. The crew moral is high. 12 july 12:41 BE61 Engaged and sunk british merchant, 8088 GRT. Fired two torpedoes. 13 july 20:13 BE39 Engaged and sunk british tanker, 9680GRT. Fired two torpedoes. 20 july 03:04 BE36 Experienced bad weather from the morning of the 14 until now. Submerged most of the time during that period. 26 july 07:35 BE36 Engaged and sunk british large cargo, 8089 GRT. Fired two torpedoes. 28 july 13:46 BE63 Engaged and sunk british cargo, 8088 GRT. Fired two torpedoes. No more torpedoes in reserve. Asked BDU the permission to return to base. Accepted. Heading to Lorient. Estimated time : 92 hours. Congrated the crew with a special beer ration for celebrating our success and the end of our first patrol. 31 july 06:11 Docked at Lorient after 31 days at sea and 8 victories (67058 GRT on the bottom of the sea) ! The first patrol of the U-124 “Schneeman” is a great success. |
Patrol 2 : The Hammer of the Gods
August 1940. Our discovery of Lorient, our new home base, didn’t last for a long time. After some nights of parties to celebrate our first success, I received the order to be ready for our next patrol. The patrol area for our second patrol : the southern coasts of Island. Our mission is to strike against the Reykjavik-Loch Ewe merchant and supply line. Not an easy job in a way, if we take account of the fact that the local waters aren’t very “friendly”. A lot of storms in the area. But “Die Schneeman” U-124 is ready for that kind of situations ! Sad news before the start of our new journey : while at shore one member of our crew was injured during a car accident, the MatrosenGeFreiter Gerhard Kaiser. He was promptly replaced by a new member, MatrosenGeFreiter Klemens Reichmann. 9 august 40 01:30 Leaving Lorient for our patrol area. Calm sea and clear sky. The crew moral is high. 14 august 19:38 AM25 Bad weather from the evening of the 12 until now with heavy rains and no visibility. No traffic sighted. 18 august 04:13 AE87 Engaged and sunk british small cargo, 2228 GRT. Fired one torpedo. 25 august 06:26 AE72 Stormy weather since the afternoon of the 19. The visibility is null and the waves pretty high. Submerged most of the time. No traffic sighted since our last target. 25 august 09:02 AE71 Engaged and sunk british merchant, 10615 GRT. Fired three torpedoes. 26 august 01:13 AE71 Engaged and sunk british small merchant, 2253 GRT. Fired one torpedo. 28 august 02:15 AE71 Engaged and sunk british small cargo, 2229 GRT. Fired one torpedo. 31 august 20:32 AE71 Engaged and sunk british merchant, 10616 GRT. Fired three torpedo. 3 september 12:20 AE71 Short on fuel. Requested return to base. Accepted by BDU. Heading to Lorient. Estimated time : 203 hours. The traditional “beer ration” was gived to the crew to celebrate the end of our patrol and our victories. 9 september 18:10 Docked at Lorient after 32 days at sea and 5 victories (27941 GRT).The second patrol of the U-124 “Schneeman” is now over with all the crew safe at the home base. I was promoted Oberleutnant while Oberfährich Arend Akerman, our torpedo officier, was awarded the second class Iron Cross ! Oberleutnant Norbert Apfelgluck Days at seas : 63 Ships : 13 Total GRT : 94999 |
Just finished my 13th Patrol, unlucky for some but not for me! :)
Left St. Nazaire in Feb '41 and headed to my Patrol Area and got a few ships around there. Then I decided to head up North and see if I could find a Convoy. I got lucky and found a large Convoy around AL39 I think. A few C3s and a T3 in the Convoy but unfortunately they were American and that's still a no-no. I only had 6 fish left and there were four Destroyers escorting the Convoy (and it was the middle of the day) so I decided to do a quick surgical strike and get out of there hopefully without the attention of the Destroyers! I came up from the SE, picked out my two targets (a T2 and a C2), let loose two fish at the farther T2 and then lined up and let loose two at the closer C2. Once the second two fish were gone I went to 80m, turned SE away from the Convoy and got out of there! Even with the delay in firing the second two fish, the C2 was hit first and the second one sent it down. All ships reacted but it was too late for the T2, I got lucky with the first fish and it split it in half (damn, second fish wasted! :wah:). By then I'd rigged for silent running and though the Destroyers came nosing they never got a sniff of me! :) I decided to head back down South with my two remaining fish, hoping I'd bump into something, rather than chancing my arm with the escorts again. And I got even more lucky, coming across two C3s together! :) With only 2 fish left, one in the Stern tube, I lined up a Stern shot and then quickly turned to line up the last shot on the other C3. It started evading once the first fish hit the other ship, but I was less than 1,000m when I fired and I wasn't going to miss from there! Unfortunately, neither ship sank (not too surprising, a C3 can take a hit) but fortunately they weren't armed, so I surfaced and got to work with the deck gun. I only had 11 AP and 39 HE left, so I decided to attack the more stricken one first and at least get one in the books. 6 AP and 15 HE later it was gone. That left me with other one, still moving slowly away. I caught up with it, and used the last 5 AP under the water line, succesfully taking out its engine/prop. I used a few more HE on its superstructures and then when it started to list I quickly went around to its other side and tried a few HE under the waterline there. I had 1 HE round left when it sank! :woot: Headed home then, staying submerged during the day so as not to attract aircraft. All in all, I got 76,000 tonnes and got promoted to Lt. Commander! Not having anything to spend any renown on (while waiting for upgrades to become available) has its advantages I guess! Next Patrol I'm gonna head up North again and see if I can find a Convoy when I've got a lot more fish to play with... J. |
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