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. |
Still in the middle of my next Patrol in April '41, and no sign of a convoy up North. I was heading back South when the weather turned crap, really crap.
Anyhow, SW of Ireland my Sonar gets a Merchant contact, but it's 8pm and dark and miserable out, so I wouldn't even try to take him on. Instead I shadow him during the night, getting a good sense of his heading etc., and wait for light and hopefully better weather. Morning comes but the weather is still terrible. I line up my first attack run on the Merchant, but by the time I can finally see him in my scope he's only 300m away, and I'm pretty sure that's not enough time for my torpedo to arm. I finally find out he's a C2 though. At about 350m he disappears from view into the crap weather. Not really sure what to do, as I don't want to just shadow him until the weather improves, I decide to take a chance. Using what I know of his heading etc., I line up ahead of him again for a 90 degree shot, listening as my Sonar reels of the decreasing heading of the contact. I set Tube 1 for 4.5m and Impact Detonator (I normally use Magnetic, but not in these waves!) and open the tube door. When he's about 12 degrees off my starboard bow, I just fire, blind. And what do you know, I get a hit! Not only a hit, but right in mid-ships and he breaks in two immediately and I've got a kill. I surface and go on my way again, very happy with myself for a blind kill... :) J. |
U-45 Scores Retribution for Mers-el-Kebir!
Captain's Personal Log We departed Wilhelmshaven in mid-July 1940 and headed south for our patrol assignment of Grid DH71, the farthest out we've been sent yet. En route, we learned of the British Navy's betrayal of France at Mers-el-Kebir, and were sent to patrol in the Straits of Gibraltar in hopes of scoring some retribution. Not wanting to waste precious time, we instead decided to head right into Gibraltar itself and see what was there in terms of pickings. We approached the naval base by the long way, transiting the Strait by way of the North African coast, and didn't even spot so much as an Elco en route. As we headed in, we were shocked when the only things we picked up on sonar were Elcos, MTBs, or ASW Trawlers, none of which had sonar. Nonetheless, we rigged for silent running and hunkered down for the duration, saying silent prayers as we did so. Navigating by our charts, we crawled in without raising our periscope once so as to avoid detection, and arrived off the base right at dawn. Popped the periscope up to discover the weather was horrible; a huge rainstorm was blanketing the area. I face-palmed in aggravation at the sight of rain, rain, and more rain...had we come all this way for nothing? Well, before we go, might as well attempt to find a lock on something, fire a couple torpedoes, and get the hell out of dodge. At least we could then say our efforts weren't a total loss, right? I idly scanned the blurry shapes in the gloom. We were in excellent firing position; only 3,500 yards from most of the shapes. However, I wanted to make this one helluva surprise, so I took my time in picking our target. Let's see...C2 Cargo ship...nah, too typical. Tramp Steamer...you're kidding, right? C/D-class Destroyer...put that in the 'maybe' column; if we miss her, we're in deep doo-doo. Two Southampton-class CLs berthed close together...two fish at each would net us a nice score for sure. Looks like that will be our most-likely target, but we're not quite done looking around... Ooh...a Troop Transport! A rare sighting for us indeed! Wait...what's this? Crap...she's on the other side of jetty...we fire at her we'll just be pumping torpedoes into the docks...that lets her out. Well, I guess the two Southamptons are going to have the honor of being sunk by us in this daring raid. Wait a second...there's something else on our side of the jetty that Troop Transport is moored at; let's see what she is by using the 'Lock' feature on our periscope. Mein Gott..DAS HOOD!!! PERFECT firing position! Four torpedoes...maximum depth for target...spread three degrees...torpedos, LOS!!! Turn around for a stern shot...same depth setting...FIRE!!! Pray, meine herren...pray like you've never prayed before in your lives!!! Two minutes go by...TORPEDO IMPACT! 1, 2, 3, 4...and 5!!!! Get us out of here...now! Five minutes later...breaking-up noises...SHE'S GOING DOWN!!! Raise periscope for a look in time to see the pride of the Royal Navy capsize and sink at her berth, with just part of her keel and her two starboard propellers remaining above water. Quickly lower our periscope and continue our escape. The escorts are going insane, but after four hours we've worked our way clear of the harbor and back into the open sea. The rest of our patrol was uneventful; we sank three more merchants for a total of just over 53,000 tons before returning to Wilhelmshaven in early August 1940. I'm now just over 289,000 tons for total tonnage sunk. 1940 is proving to be a VERY good year for U-45...here's hoping our extreme good fortune continues! (Signed) Hossel |
Captain's log U-110/VIIC
Departed St. Nazaire, April 30th, 1943 at 19:45hrs for interdiction patrol of grid AM19. This makes the 33rd patrol for this captain and crew. It makes me suspicious the amount of time it's taking to blockade England. Donitz estimated that if we can sink 750,000 tons a month, for 12 months, Britain will be defeated, but so far we haven't put nearly enough tons to the bottom. We've commissioned 100 new boats, and yet we are sinking now less tonnage overall. I worry that this war will drag on for some time still... Traversed Bay of Biscay with no aircraft sightings May 1, 1943. 2147hrs. Grid BF45. Sky and seas: clear, calm. Surfaced attack against lone small merchant. 1 torpedo. 2407 tons. May 2, 1943. 1311hrs. Grid BE63. Sky and seas: degrading, choppy. Submerged attack against lone small merchant. 1 torpedo prematurely detonated, target seemed not to have noticed. 2nd torpedo hit. 2343 tons. May 2, 1943, Evening, 2231hrs Grid BE39 Sky and seas: clear, calm. Intercepted Large convoy, bound for England. 1 torpedo hit on large (T3) tanker, sunk for 11,564 tons. 1 torpedo missed on attempted shot on trailing T3 tanker, but the attempt with the stern tube was a hit. 2nd T3 tanker sunk for 11,653 tons. Evaded pursuit by escorts, some damage. Am continuing into operations area. Patrol of AM19 completed with no enemy shipping sighted. Trip to American waters planned and plotted. May 6th, 1943. Late evening. Grid AL23 Sky and seas: clear, calm. Large tanker convoy. 20 tankers estimated. A gold mine inside a diamond mine! Avg speed, 14 kts. Sunk 3 escorts. 1 River DE, 1 Sommers DD, 1 Flower Corvette. 2 Fletcher DD remain as escorts. Enemy actions make approach difficult. Depth charged by the Sommers destroyer, damage serious now and silent running makes repairs difficult. Have returned to periscope depth and have tracked the median course of the convoy. Despite damages and only 2 torpedos left, am continuing pursuit. U-Konig, Out. |
Total Annhilation
I used to play TA. Now I sink ships.
It's late march 1943. We set out from St. Nazaire heading for DE66. Halfway to the Azores We run into a small convoy, mostly small merchants and coastals but also a juicy liner and a C2. It's stormy and wild and night has fallen as we crash into the port flank of the convoy. It's protected by 2 corvettes and an armed trawler. They don't seem to know what they're doing. We don't get pinged and we're able to go in at ahead standard. The exec picks off the C2 with 2 eels and the liner with one. As they're going down we take out a merchant with the stern tube and another off our bow as it tries to snake past the burning hulk of the liner. I go to flank speed and turn south west in the middle of the convoy , running through it as the tubes are reloaded. The escorts are fussing at the back with two freighters that have ground to a halt. It's futile, they're dead in the water and it's only a matter of time before they join their comrades in Davy Jones locker. Meanwhile I'm free to roam at the front of the convoy.We take out the remaining four ships. We've sunk all ten merchants and we go deep and head nor'west at a creep, effortlessly outflanking the escorts to the east. I give the command surface and tidy up. There's only minor damage from some lucky pot shots we took when accidentally broaching the surface. I'll have to talk to the chief about ballasting the boat better- she can pop up like a cork after the tubes are emptied. We're down to one eel in external reserves, an acoustic homer and about 100 rounds of HE. I decide to head south to Gelting and reload before moving to our designated square. We cruise on through the dawn and then suddenly pick up the 3 escorts still running before us. We go to flank and I see how close I can stern chase them. At 3.5 clicks we drop to 7 meters and run with decks awash. Two thousand yards off the nearest corvette we blow the tanks and I scramble the deck gun crew. Before the corvette knows it she's taken 3 direct hits from astern and she staggers about to engage us. Her sister is about 3 thousand yards off and comes about sharpish, opening fire with her 4 incher and I drop down to dead slow and we duke it out for a few rounds. The corvette is belching black smoke from a couple of hits amidships but coming at us like an express train. She's taken the bait. We turn tail and run like hell. The stern tube hisses and the homer shoots towards her passing close at 1500 yards. The corvette sprints at us as she tries to position for an attack run but I'm already 140 meters down and racing to pass crush depth - I figure the boat can take it after the light hits she's taken. I order a dog leg and hear the gratifying rip and thunder of the corvette as she's shredded by the homer from the stern. We come up astern the second corvette who is listing stern down and lame in the water and finish her off with the deck gun. We get a peppering from her machine gun but all the fights gone out of her and she goes down spitting and burning. The armed trawler piles in from the south intent on revenge. We go under and keep quiet. She faffs about for a bit and heads south again. Out boat rises and the chase is on again. After an hour we pull within range. The gun crew know the drill by now, systematically taking her apart. I struggle to hold the boat down and bow on to the trawler. If she manages to come about we're in trouble from the long barrelled heavy calibre she has mounted on the bow. But it never happens, she explodes and goes down in a flash. As we head for Gelting I suddenly realise that for the first time in my career I have destroyed an entire small convoy with no survivors - 13 vessels for around 43,000 Gross tonnes. We never spotted a single life boat or raft in that ferocious sea and there is subdued silence and grief amongst the crew as we think their families and the enormity of what we have done in the heat of battle.. But by by the time we arrive at Gelting on the 3rd of April we are happy and flushed with our success. The brass have read our triumphant signal and it's beer and medals all round. Surely now with such overwhelming successes we cannot fail to bring England to her knees? |
SHIII Patrol logs and stories
May, 1944: 3 days into my patrol to CN63 I get a radar contact. After having several previously unsuccessful patrols, I figured I would take a look to see if I had a convoy. Soon my radioman notifies me of two more radar contacts. At this point the crew and I are excited, we finally have something to shoot at! I order a change of course to 180 to intercept at ahead flank. Tracking by radar, we determined that the contacts were on a course of 270 at 8 kts. About 10km away, and ahead of the convoy I ordered to periscope depth and ahead 1/3. After a few minutes the sonarman advises me of three sound contacts. At this point the crew grew silent. The sound contacts were warships, approaching fast. Soon after our sonarman lit up and started calling out merchant contacts. Everyone was reassured once we found out that we had come across a taskforce! We began setting up for a torpedo attack, keeping an ear on the warships. They appeared to be turning back to the TF so we pressed our attack. Coming up to periscope depth we set our sights on an ammunition ship, while lining up the shot everyone froze as we were hit with a sonar ping. I spun the scope around and found a DD turning on us. I ordered tubes 1, 2, and 3 fired, and sounded the alarm for emergency dive. The first set of depth charges hit us hard and destroyed the periscopes. We had severe flooding, but the crew managed to stop it. For 12 hours we were forced deeper and deeper until we had enough. One DD stayed behind keeping us under so we decided to test our luck and returned to periscope depth. Tracking him with hydrophones and getting ranges with sonar, we lined up a hail mary shot, let tube 4 loose, and waited an agonizing 25 seconds. Right on cue, we were rewarded with an explosion and the sounds of bulkheads collapsing! After waiting an hour to make sure we were clear, we surfaced to assess the damage then made a speedy return trip to Toulon to repair, rearm, and refuel. Final tally was 1 Destroyer down, and 3 misses on an ammunition ship.
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Ill probably screw this whole thread up, but..... Im currently getting shot to death.... always find DD to screw my day..... Might as well call me the idiot of the Sub sim fleet.. lol
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Hello bud.
What boat you in, what year, gunfire or depth charges....? Riccardo |
An old dog returns to sail the seas.
Just leaving Kiel, so there is little to tell. I hope to give more news soon. Leutnant z. S. HEINZ DÜBLER U19 (IIA) Unterseebootsflotille Weddigen Orders to patrol AN81 01SEP39 0322: We sailed to the assigned patrol area, with good weather. http://i963.photobucket.com/albums/a...b.jpg~original Bye bye Kiel... ------------------------------------- Mods NYGM 3.6D Realism and gameplay related hardcode fixes V16B1 Hitman's GUI SH5 Water for SH3 Ultimate V10 16Km SH3Commander Opt.:100%Realism House rule: Iron man |
Welcome back!
lecrop! after almost a four year silent run!:Kaleun_Salute:
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Yes, it has been a long time in dry-dock :Kaleun_Sleep:
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