April 13th 1940 - About 56km from Narvik, HMS Warspite along with 6-8 Destroyer Escorts are about to pass through the Fjord I'm in. I've chosen a good ambush position and have 3 fish left.

So far destroyed 3 Merchants, and 1 C&D Class Destroyer.

U-479.

Special orders from BdU.

Break trough Gibraltar, new base is La spezia!

uh oh

U-35 U-Flotilla Saltzwedel
Oblt Peter Schmidt, Kommandant

Left Wilhelmshaven on 2nd patrol, Aug 24 1939 with orders to proceed to patrol grid BF19

Completed 24 hr patrol of assigned grid just prior to receiving word of outbreak of hostilities

Have been patrolling sector BF at my discretion since 3 Sep with total of 4 ships sighted

7 Sep, 02:18
Grid BF24, ship sunk: English coastal freighter, 1870 tons.

8 Sep, 07:13
Grid BF24, ship sunk: English deep sea trawler, 547 tons.

8 Sep, 09:21
Grid BF24, ship sunk: English motor vessel, 112 tons.

8 Sep, 03:32
Grid BF24, ship sighted, English torpedo boat patrolling area of our recent attacks. Ship spotted our periscope and briefly gave chase; attempted stern shot before diving with no success.

8 Sep, 07:21
Proceeding NNW through grid BF24 toward St George's Channel

-----------------

So, how inadvisable is it to continue north through the channel between Ireland and England in Sep 1939, rather than going west around Ireland on the return trip to Wilhelmshaven? I've seen precious little in the way of traffic, and fuel could be an issue if I take the longer route (altho I know I could just teleport home, but I don't wanna if I don't have to). And I'd like the opportunity to take on some decent targets, OTOH I'd like to finish a 2nd patrol in base and alive if at all possible. :D

I guess the smaller type II has good chances to go unnoticed even in shallow waters. but I'm not so experienced with that kind of boat (loved my VIIB and am now riding a pregnant sea-cow).
ASW isn't that sophisticated in your time of war, so you shall survive. :up:

I'm in a VIIB, but one reason I'm considering the route now is that it seems unlikely I'll ever choose go that way again, lol.

Alfman don't steal my pregnant sea cow! I've sailed with her through all the seven seas! Sad thing is, I've done that too.
Before I got my new operating system a month, I Went from Bordeax to the Meditteranean, then back out and wen north to the artic, then south down to the pacific, traveled east to my new base in Penang. Sunk 50K tons on a 356 day patrol; I beat kentrat, but Donitz thought it was a waste of fuel.

The Elcos can be a pain in the tail.
They always seem to know when oxigen is becoming a problem, and won't go away.
In the North Channel it's just ASW Trawlers, which aren't quite so bothersome.

U37 Type IX(A) Carreer Restart
 

Had to do it. Tonnage was getting too predictable, easy, and unhistoricaly high.
So I toughened up SH3, and restarted U37's carreer under much harder conditions.

Patrol 1. U37 IX(A). 2. Flotilla. Patrol Grid AM32.

Underway d. 1.sep.39. 00.52.

D. 9.sep.39. 17.54. AF78. 23 Miles North of The Shetlands.
Coastal Merchant (2.042 GRT) Sunk.
Daylight Surface Attack in Medium Fog.
Course 090. 6 Knots. 3 x T1 Torpedoes.

D.10.sep.39. 02.13. AF78. 30 Miles North of The Shetlands.
C2 Cargo (6.447 GRT) Sunk.
Night Surface Attack in Medium Fog.
90 Degree shot. 2 Stern Tubes. Passing Port to Port.
Course 093. 7 Knots. 2 x T1 Torpedoes. Both Hits.
It took 5 more torpedo hits to finaly sink him! Cargo of wood?

D. 13.sep.39. 23.40. AM32. Arrive On Station.

D. 15.sep.39. 11.26. AM32.
C2 Cargo. Missed with last 2 torpedoes.
Daylight Submerged Attack. 2 x T1 Torpedoes.
"Course 341. 9 Knots"

D. 25.sep.39. Dock at Wilhelmshaven.

Patrol Result: 2 Ships Sunk. 8.489 GRT.

@ Frau Kaleun: you'll be fine in early 1939. I have had success going through into 1941, but you have to pick your moment (same with the English Channel later in the war).

You'll want to run surfaced as much as possible, and dive to 20 and run silent as soon as anything is spotted. Run silent even if it's an Elco, as they might radio something with hydrophones (you'll start seeing destroyers at the north end of the Irish Sea by October or November 1939, playing with GWX).

I pass through the English Channel by running surfaced at standard or full. If I see *anything*, I go to 20m and run silent at 1 knot until the SO tells me they're moving away at long range. Then I'm back on the surface and running at 1/3, decks awash until I can't see them, and then fully surfaced running at standard after that.

I've done this well into 1941 without any problems. Planes are the biggest fear. Don't go too high on TC (with the caveat, of course, that if you go high enough you can cheat and avoid planes all together, but where's the fun in that?).

Thanks for the tips. But what are my chances of finding/sinking any targets while passing through? Am I just going to be in "avoidance" mode all the way? If so I might resign myself to teleporting back to base if fuel runs low and take the long way 'round.

Frau:

I'm playing stock SH3, unsure if this matches your setup. Irish Sea does yield some merchant shipping here and there. Farther north you might encounter some heavies like C2, close to and out in the open waters. Also north over Scapa Flow. Hope that helps.

You'll find things to sink, for sure, and you don't have to be in avoidance mode all the time the water is still reasonably deep (deeper than the English Channel). I do sink ships in the Irish Sea and English Channel, you just have to pick your battles. When convoys start running, you can pick a lot of them off when they come down through the north end of the Irish Sea. It's great for that, because they have to come through that bottleneck on the way to Liverpool.

I beg your pardon!

(isn't it common phrase yet?
to prevent further copy-right violation I suggest you to install strict means of DRM!) http://www.my-smileys.de/smileys3/emotlol.gif

:har::haha: But shes mine! I sunk the U.S.S. West Point in the Indian Ocean of all places...

Well, I think I'll give it a try, maybe hang out for a bit just outside the Bristol Channel and then scoot north past Ireland. Definitely going north around Scapa to see what turns up there provided I have any torps left... ATM it looks like I'll run out of fuel before I run out of eels, which would be a shame.

I also wondered about messing about in "Irish waters" given that she's neutral... altho I doubt the game takes that into consideration, I didn't know if keeping closer to the Irish coast would be a benefit. I was kinda surprised on the second patrol of my last career when I got new orders mid-patrol to spend 24 hours in a grid that put me very close to Londonderry and the northern Irish coast.

Ireland is neutral but as you may recall North Ireland sovrin British teritory, contested by the Irish though it may be, and they are most dicidedly not neutral. I have found the Northern aproaches to the Irish sea to be rich in costal shiping and I think that there is always a convoy rout runing just off the north coast there.

:doh:

Of course you're right and I should've realized that when I was typing out "northern Irish coast" - DUH.

Blame it on the diesel fumes.

me? I'm having to either restart in 1939, or start up in 1940 due to their stupid save game management system. *grr*

why not use SH3Commander?

Will that allow me to restore my lost games?