Can weather destroy ships?
 

November, 1939. 175km SE Scapa Flow. Truly the WORST weather I've ever seen in this game.
Even when 'surfaced' the watch officer is telling me 'Depth 10 meters' 3-4 times a minute. My diesels are choked off, I am making little headway.

I would have called BS except I am currently reading U-boat Killer: Fighting The U-boats In The Battle Of The Atlantic (MacIntyre) and he describes similar situations a number of times in which his H Class destroyer was brought to a standstill, barely making enough headway for steering into waves.
I do manage to kill a medium cargo. Go me.

I try to chase down another contact and lose the race. Sad face. I cannot begin to fathom living this reality.

I determine to only chase down closing contacts (obtained only via sonar mind you, vis is moderate to poor.)

I make another contact and manage to get in visual range and firing position. It is TINY on the map, identified only as Coastal Craft. It is making 8 knots. I am doubtful I will try a shot. The depth setting will have to be so shallow the torp will porpoise. I am at the TDC setting up my torps when my crew cheers.
???
???
???
I look at the map and there is a red sunk icon 2500 meters away. Wasn't me. Is there another U-boat around?
I search the area carefully with my hydrophone and hear nothing.

An hour later the scenario repeats except this time the ship is destroyed outside my visual range. (edit: Have recalled this second contact started as radio contact. Could only have been a Uboat. Even seagulls are hiding)

There was no crew cheer, my only clue was the sudden disappearance of the sound.
But there is another sunk icon, this time in pencil gray. I have no idea what this color means, I know red is enemy, green is I screwed up and blue is I am to be shot. :haha:

So is the weather killing these ships? Am I next? :timeout:
And what means this grey color of the sunk ship icon?
Another thought! I am using Commander and have Malfunctions turned on. Is it possible my sudden lack of sea keeping is some problem I am unable to perceive? I have hundreds of hours in SH3 (GW and GWX) and SH4 (TMO) and I have NEVER struggled like this in weather before.

I have seen ships being sunk in a strom, without being fired at.

Re: Gray ship sunk iconography...
 

Yeah, in SH3.... ships can & do get sunk by the rough, heavy swells that crop up... which can & does occur in real life. Even back then... :yep:

Ships fighting bad chop, loses engines & badaboom, badabing... d..e..a..d... as a doornail.

So, know that NO... you are NOT alone in seeing that, happen... :shucks:

Hope this info helps... :shucks: :up:

:Kaleun_Salute:

M. M.

Yes, weather can sink ships including escorts. Also yes, Commander malfunctions/sabotage can affect many things about your subs performance.
See the Randomizedevents.cfg file in Commander for details.

We recently had a similar case
https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/sho...d.php?t=250964

... also, the "red" icon is a visually identified enemy vessel sunk. The grey one never came within visual range to be identified as enemy, neutral or friendly. :salute:

Thanks for the replies. I don't feel so paranoid now. Still want to head back to Kiel and :Kaleun_Cheers: cause this weather is for the loons.

And I’m pretty sure that if you can get a shot or two in before the storm takes her, you get the credit too.

The weather usually changes every 3 days. You might want to give that a try, however, if it is during winter months, the weather might get from bad to worse :03:

Technically, what I think happens (if SH3 zones work in similar manner to SH5 zones), is that in heavy seas certain damage zone types that are designed to flood/get damaged when at specified depth are repeatedly being submerged below their "trigger" depth for a moment because ship is rolling on the waves so much, resulting in more and more flooding over time. If the ship leaves rendering area before flooding damages it too much, it will survive, but if you keep contact with it, damage is increasing faster than its crew repair rate and weather doesn't change, it will eventually sink.

Indeed ! :yep: These are the front and aft two damage zones which are used to trigger the actual sinking of a ship when the bow or stern of this ship is diving underwater. This prevents to have a ship half submerged and still not sinking.

No no. It's war time. BdU wants results, so you stay at sea as long as you don't sink anything or there's enough fuel to return home. :O: