SUBSIM Radio Room Forums

Hi all,

I've just register for SubSim (obvious... :p ).

I cannot say I'm a completely dedicated submarines fan. But, as a sea lover, I've always felt this "attraction" for the boats (I'm a legal recreation skipper myself), and particularly to underwater vessels.

One of the main leverage of this passion was really a PC simulation game back in the 90's: SSN-21 Seawolf!!! (I passed literally hours of the weekends and even week days at night playing this in the darkness of my room :)).

Also, around that time the amazing movie based on Tom Clancy's novel, The Hunt for Ref October.... FANTASTIC! The only movie I was able to see from beginning to the end several times a year (I still see it from time to time - I have it on DVD :) ).
The movie was produced in 1990. Probably I've seen it just before I have the game. One thing I clearly remember, the movie helped a lot on providing me amazing feelings while playing the game. It sort of complemented pefectly the game.

Now, my current quest, that I'm just starting to plan, is to build a model (1/144) of the U-1277.
And why this particular one? You might ask...
Well, if you don't ask, I'll answer it anyway :D
The U-1277 was one of the last (if not the last) German WWII submarine to finish its "mission".
The captain did not want to "give" its submarine to the allies, even though the war was finished and they received the orders to surrender as any other German vessel had received.
So almost 1 month after the war was over, almost without fuel and food, they decided to sink the U-1277 and head to land in the dinghies.
They did that really close to may home city, Oporto, Portugal.
If you were interested by this story, you can google it and find the complete story and even current photos of the now "diving site". It is around 20 meter depth and it is now a famous diving site at Oporto.
www.u1277.blogspot.com

The U1277 is a Type VII C/41.
http://uboat.net/boats/u1277.htm
I already started to gather all the information I can get my hands on using the Internet.
Information related with Type VII, in particular to VII C/41, and in particular about U-1277 (the particularities like the Atlantic Bow, the flotilla simbol, etc.).
In the future, probably I'll contact museums and historical documentation sites to try to validate and get better information.
Currently, I've just started a new professional challenge, probably only around late 2016 I'll be preparing the tools and products to start the construction.

My expectations with my registration on this forum are mainly:

find someone that has played the SSN-21 back in the 90's :) so we can share the experience;
probably get my hands on some sub simulator to play (hopefully just a little bit :P I have to work);
get good references for books (mainly about WWII, and particularly U-Boats);
probably get some help on the submarine model (if I ever start the project of building it... :| );

That's all for now. :)

Regards,
Pedro Braga