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Obltn Strand 03-14-17 04:34 PM

Convoy action and torpedo failures:k_confused:

Patrol 8
U-452, 7th Flotilla
Left at: January 16, 1942, 02:08
From: St. Nazaire
Mission Orders: Patrol grid BB82

30.1.1942
00:27 Aircraft. Crashdive. BC4774
00:40 Surfaced
15:27 Ship sighted! Destroyer on E course. Dived to avoid contact. BB6897

31.1.1942
08:36 Aircraft. Crashdive. Heard one depth charge far to aft starboard. Lost control during crashdive and boat hit bottom. No serious damage. BB6777
09:03 Surfaced.
19:40 Arrived patrol area and informed BdU. BB8233

03.2.1942
14:33 Ship sighted! Destroyer on N course. Dived to avoid contact. BB8219

04.2.1942
02:12 Ship sighted! Some kind of patrol boat on NE course. Changed course to avoid contact. BB8211
06:27 Ship sighted! Fishing trawler. This one I let go. No need to reveal my position to the enemy.
21:37 Aircraft. Crashdive. BB5495
22:16 Surfaced.

05.2.1942
17:48 Ship sighted! Finally a freighter although small coaster. This one is heading S. BB5878
18:31 Fired tube I. G7e
Range 500, Speed 4, AoB red 90, Depth 5.
Hit stern. Hope it knocked out his propellers.

Stubborn this one. Still afloat and making one knot. Will sink it with gunfire. One magazine from 20mm AA gun was enough to send it down. Interrogated survivors who revealed it was a canadian whale chaser of 1000 tons
20:22 Radio message from BdU: /Proceed to grid CA33 if fuel permit/
After brief discussion with LI Kunze decided to continue as ordered.

06.2.1942
14:49 Ship sighted! Appears warship on collision course. BB8174
14:53 Hydrophone indicates a merchant. Damn fog. Fishing trawler on E course. Watch crew seems to be on the edge. Will stay down until dusk.

07.02.1942
00:05 Ship sighted! Fishing trawler heading E. Weather prevents any meaningful action. BB7398
07:59 Radio message from BdU: /Convoy at grid BB7648, course W, speed 9/
08:02 Radio message to BdU: /Despite unfavourable conditions will attack.
12:01 Smoke on horizon! BB7562
12:13 Spotted by sloop. Crashdive.
13:10 Eluded successfully. Resumed hunt. Sloop still looms in horizon preventing me to close the convoy.
13:39 Starboard diesel gave up. Will continue with one diesel.
13:46 Aircraft. Crashdive. BB7522
14:28 Surfaced.
14:46 Aircraft. Crashdive. Heard one depth charge way to aft. BB7537
They have air cover now. Breaking hunt.

08.2.1942
00:00 Took the boat down for several hours to make repairs. Starboard diesel operational. Resumed patrol. Not enough fuel to effectively patrol CA33. Request new orders.
02:31 Radio message from BdU:/ Move to grid BB87/

11.2.1942
10:04 Radio message from BdU:/ Enemy convoy at grid CB2335, course NE, speed 5/
Long chase but joining the hunt.
13:36 Radio message from BdU:/ Large enemy convoy at grid CB2329, heading NE, speed 5/
14:21 Driving rain and poor visibility makes it difficult to operate against the convoy. It is clearly heard by hydrophone. Racing towards it surfaced could end badly. Will try submerged attack. If unsuccessful I can always trail the convoy and wait for weather to improve.
15:14 Fired tube I against freighter. G7e
Range 1600, speed 5, AoB red 100, speed 5.
Miss.
15:17 Fired tubes II, II, IV against large freighter. G7e
Range 1300, speed 4, AoB red 90, depth 5
Two hits, one erratic runner.

Dived deep and heard several distant depth charge detonations.
16:11 Surfaced. Will trail convoy and wait for weather to improve.
17:14 Improvement in weather. I can easily observe the convoy from periscope. It has five columns and seems to lack escort cover on it's port side. If so that is where I'am going to attack.
18:02 Daring pop to surface to send contact report.
Radio message to BdU:/ Convoy at grid CB2333, course ENE, speed 5, light escort/
18:41 Radio message from BdU:/ Attack on your own. Good luck/
1939 Aircraft. Crashdive. CB3111
19:51 Surfaced.
20:04 Ship sighted! Large tanker which has trouble staying with in the convoy. Unfortunately escort destroyer looms close by. Perhaps later. Smokes from rest of the convoy are clearly visible.
22.00 Commencing surface attack against port side. I will attack large and small merchants with one torpedo and tanker with two. Still no escorts on port side.

22:09 Fired tube I at large freighter. G7e
Range 2000, Speed 5, AoB red 90, Depth 5
Miss

22.12 Fired tubes II and III at tanker. G7e
Range 1800, Speed 5, AoB red 90, Depth 5
First was erratic runner, second hit way too aft of the tanker.

22:15 Fired tube IV at small freighter. G7e
Range 1500, speed 5, AoB red 90, Depth 5
Definite dud!

22:20 Escort appeared from darkness and opened fire at 2km and I was forced to crashdive. Observed tanker sinking stern first.
23:23 Escort gave up after an hour. Damage from depth charging. Will load torpedoes and attack again.
23:48 Closer examination revealed heavy damage to pressure hull in officers quarters. LI informs me it is not safe to dive deep.Boat handled 90 meters during attack. I set it as maximum limit. Informed BdU of my situation.

12.2.1942
00:07 Ship sighted! Regained contact. BB8788
00:16 Radio message from BdU:/ Good job. Return to base./
01:11 Fired tube V at tanker, the one which has engine trouble. G7e
Range 1000, speed 5, AoB red 90, Depth 5
Definite dud. After all the hard work I would expect working torpedoes.
01:23 Fired tube I G7e
Range 100, Speed 5, AoB red 110, Depth 5
Erratic runner.
01:59 Fired tube V G7a
Range 100, Speed 5, AoB red 110, Depth 5
Another erratic runner.

Broke contact. No internal torpedoes left and weather prevents any attempt to move them in. Low on fuel. Started return trip.

14.2.1942
07:24 Took external torpedoes on board.

01.3.1942
11:09 Docked at St.Nazaire.

Damage to U-452 will keep it in drydock for almost two months. Time to celebrate freshly awarded Iron Cross 1st class.

BarracudaUAK 03-15-17 12:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kendras (Post 2462214)
No, for the good reason that I already surrendered ... :shifty:

But the scuttling of my U-Boot has been made by a calm, cool, and methodical crew. :yep: The Enigma machine didn't fall into the Allies' hands. :up:

And 2 months later I get back to check...:nope:
Well, at least somebody was calm, cool and methodical.:D:O:

Barracuda

Leoz 03-19-17 06:39 AM

Got the IXc boat career on save as well as a IXb career starting December 39.

Just started a VIIc career in mid 42 out of La Rochelle. Have to remind myself it is 42 and... more dangerous.

Patrol in CF33. Quiet.
Went up to the SW region of AK, started travelling NE along the convoy route for that area.

Picked up a medium freighter moving west in the early morning while on the surface at around 15k.

Setup to roughly mimic its course in order to keep distance.

Multiple observations over 20 minutes to establish its rough course and speed. Plotted everything on the map. 6-7 knots target speed assumed.

Setup for an end run to get ahead of it for a submerged attack around mid-day.

Ship arrived roughly on time while moving toward it slow. Did a few more observations by staying ahead of it. Plot it.

Submerge with the intent of doing a periscope, target-port-side attack.

Lots of time to figure things out. Moderate seas mean that I only see a bit of smoke from the target all the way down to 6K.

Hydrophones don't indicate any change in speed.

As it gets below 6k distance I can start to do some fair angle-on-the-bow estimates.

Intend to fire at around 1200M, probably a port-80 degree attack with a type III G7e. Contact pistol, 4M depth.

A few days before, did two type III magnetic pistol shots at a medium freighter and they didn't work out so well. Lost the ship in the weather. So today, contact it is.

Target shows up pretty much on time. Ends up being a 1000M shot. Hit in the forward hold. Turn 90 degrees to port to match its course and observe.

Sinks in about 30 minutes. Surface. Keep running NE in AK. The next morning, sent in my report and then ran submerged all day at 60M just in case that report brought in some aircraft.

At the north end of AK move SE and head down toward the bottom center of BE.

Once there while on the surface in the afternoon one day, picked up a small 4 masted steamer running west 14k to the north. Keep my distance and get an initial track plotted down. Moving 7 or so knots. Next few plots shows it speeds up to 9 knots.

Figure on a 3 hour end around. 2 and a half hours it shows up. Later afternoon.Lower visibility 9k away moving west. I am facing east 0 degree angle on the bow give or take.

Submerge. Run toward it correcting course as needed to maintain zero angle on the bow, so as to confirm the ships rough course. Still west. OK.
Waves are troublesome but not impossible. Can see smoke, masts and a bit of the deck.

At around 7k hard to starboard. 90 degree turn head the boat to the south flank speed. Intent. Go to the south about 1k to the target track. 180 degree turn around for attack. Bow shot, Tube one; TIII G7e contact pistol, 80 degree Port AOB. If I miss, catch up with it later at night for a surface attack.

In the end, all works out. Big waves made the final periscope observations challenging before the torpedo shot. Looked bigger than I expected. Guessed 600M. Fired at between 85-90 port AOB. Stuck with the 9 knot assumption. Hit in the forward hold. Went down in less than 15 minutes.

Same thing again. Surface. Patrol all night. Report in;submerge for the day right after the report..

Leoz 03-20-17 06:12 AM

A few days later in BE... picked up a small freighter and a medium tanker in heavy seas. Daytime, mid-day off to the south about 9k. Sunny but big waves. Got a basic track coming toward me and then submerged.

Speed indicated they were going 7 knots then 8 knots, back and forth because of the heavy pitching of the ships.

I was having trouble too and they were getting away from me. Broke off did an end-round that lasted about 4 hours.

Got them coming toward me submerged. Still very unsure of the tanker's speed. Looked like it was going to get as close as 700 meters if the track I was composing on the (F5) map was worth anything.

Wanted the tanker now. Did something I never do. Setup for a salvo of 4 Type III G7e 3 degree spread. Hopefully something will hit. I was worried that the speed could be as high as 9 knots at some times. Target speed in these heavy seas like a yo-yo.

Was a little late on the setup. fired at port AOB of 100, 800 meters. Pure luck. Observed 3 hits... tanker went down.

Next day, with not many torpedoes...3 G7a's forward, 1 aft. Still heavy seas. Convoy nearby Going NE. Intercepted. Seas and solution were horrible. Gambit. Didn't think I could get closer. Fired everything I had at 9k. Guestamit solution at a collection of masts and stacks when the heavy waves would let me see them in the periscope.

Observed 1 hit but couldn't see much with the heavy seas and distance.

Got out of there and went home. 21k tons.

New at La Rochelle. When I got back to the port, I didn't know where the welcoming committee dock was, heavy rain, could hear the band off in the distance. Found the dock and parked it.

Next patrol will have a radar detector; properly organised crew. Patrol area AK11...

Leoz 03-20-17 11:15 PM

Current crew starting their second patrol. Headed out to AK11.

http://i.imgur.com/dYvRsOl.jpg

Leoz 03-20-17 11:48 PM

From the last patrol. Final target track for a periscope attack after a long end-around.

http://i.imgur.com/gwqQ6um.jpg

Leoz 03-21-17 07:33 PM

http://i.imgur.com/YbR4FyC.jpg


Been very lucky on this cruise.

In AK a a few days from AK11, my patrol area.

We pick up a contact report on a 5-knot convoy moving NE.

4-5 hours away in medium seas.

Get near and check the weather. Visibility worse.

Radar detector picks up spikes every few minutes. This doesn't mean that the enemy radar has detected you yet, just that it is detecting the signals.

Get to where I think we are half an hour away and submerge. Time: early morning before sunrise.

We are able to sound detect the convoy, pretty much on course.

It is 1942, so for me, more dangerous than what I am used to. Start picking up shapes in the night scope. Blobs with water splashes basically 15 mils for a starting 25 meter height... Ok we will start there. 7k meters, but I don't think the weather allows me to see that far. And bearing mark, down-scope. Put at least something on the chart (F5).

Through may observations, am able to keep to the starboard side of the lead escort. Appear to be 2 more at the 10 and 2 O'clock position of the convoy.

Start to get a better idea of what I am facing. Can now recognize ship types in the convoy. A little more work with guessing their range, bearing and angle on the bow and now I have a rough course they are running.

Intent. Attack on their starboard side. Set course 90 degrees to them. Their course roughly 42 degrees, So I will pick a course of 312.

Get safely inside the starboard...in relation to the convoy: 2 O'clock destroyer so it won't be a threat to my setup. Lead destroyer safe enough away.

Large tanker appears in the 3rd column from me. Have to get it before being blocked by a medium freighter that will close to within a 1000 meters from my left.

Target speeds timed appear to go with contact report, 5 knots. Not very good timing so will go with the contact report and roll the dice.

Attack: shot for the large tanker will be starboard 85 degrees AOB, 2200 meters, 2 type III G7e fired as a spread 1 degree apart, wing it from there.

Fired for that setup. Freighter passing from my left is pushing 150 mils on the scope. Will give it the same weapon setup spread above with 600 meters distance but probably closer. And... torpedoes for tanker hit. Must have assumed too far as they still had 20 seconds on the clock. So I must have assumed the wrong target height. Anyway, it is done for.

Back to the freighter which for some reason, either me losing track of time or it altered course, is now presenting 90 starboard angle on the bow. And is closer. 4 degree spread, fire. Full reverse.

Swing around and observe, row behind me has another medium freighter close. Down scope. Prep, stern tube for 80 degree port AOB. Upscope. Now about 95 degree port AOB. Ahead slow. Open tube, fire. I want out of here.

But I give one more observation to look around as the torpedoes for the second target hit. 1 forward hold, 1 aft hold. this would later sink. Stern torpedo hits. Must have been closer. Look back around, catastrophic hit in front of the bridge.

Now I really want out of here. Down scope. Ahead slow, set depth for 150M. Opposite course of convoy.

On the sound. I lost count at 5 or 6 destroyers in this convoy. Was very lucky and none of them got me. One was close but at about 140 meters, all stop and let the dive decay to 220 meters if need be.

No proper attacks from the destroyer. Got out of there. This is extreme luck given the circumstances and I don't expect to see that again.

Target plotting chart after making good my escape.

http://i.imgur.com/yjipVdT.jpg

Got up to AK11 and did my patrol area thing.

Weather lousy again. While leaving the patrol area going south east, picked up a 4 masted steamer off to the south running south-west(?) at 4000 meters. Got a quick fix, intercept maybe. Too close; don't want to get spotted. Dive.

Could not determine if it was running 8 or 9 knots with the weather. Recognition book said 9 was max speed for this ship.

Fire one G7e Type III for 8 knots and one for 9 knots. 1800 meter range, AOB starboard 85.

First torpedo hit the rudder/propeller. Must have slowed down violently as the 9 knot torpedo never it.

Ran parallel to it for awhile. It went dead in the water fast. No speed.

Setup for a stern tube shot with a G7a. And that was that.

http://i.imgur.com/vpsBbi1.jpg

2 G7e and 2 G7a are left forward. Weather not good enough to get the deck storage torpedoes down. And, given the threat of aircraft these days, that era may be over for me.

http://i.imgur.com/D5eVjpa.jpg

Leoz 03-22-17 09:43 PM

Lower left hand part of AK. Picked up another 5 knot convoy going north east.

Better weather. Periscope attack, still this late 1942 thing is new to me.

A fair few destroyers. Got some good observations toward the head of the convoy. Barely slipped by the lead destroyer. I wouldn't recommend this kind of sloppiness but kind of got into a fix with the position that I did not like.

Setup and got a whale factory ship. Very close, 2 torpedoes. One missed one hit. Fired 2 more right away as I didn't have time to stick around and observe.
Target sunk.

Again, was very lucky and escaped from the center of the convoy and home.

Once home. Transferred to the Black Sea. Removed the deck gun Chief Bosun now rated as flak not gunner. Some other reorganizations.

Got to the east part of the Black Sea and with multiple aircraft attacks, took severe damage. Lost the Chief Bosun and 4 other ratings. Got out of there and home.

Transferred out to Bordeaux, France. Now March 43 for my next patrol. That assignment to the Argentinian embassy is looking really good now.

Days are probably numbered.

Leoz 03-24-17 01:29 AM

So, out in the DH area. Did my patrol time there. Then moved up to Casablanca. Damage from aircraft attack. Got lots of practice in crash dives. Then moved north west for several days.
Found a convoy of of unspecified speed in nice weather during mid day.
Lots of destroyers.
Managed an attack but goofed up the target speed. Fired two G7e Type III and 2 FATs.
Nothing and had to escape.
Probably one of the FATs got a coastal freighter. That was my total tonnage for the trip.
Cleared the convoy.
Air attack, more damage after ordering a crash dive.
Limped back home.
Orders to the Argentine embassy were waiting for me.
April 1943.
Its nice to have connections in the system.

Leoz 03-31-17 04:20 AM

New career.
1 Oct 1939 out of Kiel.
VIIB boat.

First patrol area a few patrol boxes south east of Scapa Flow. After that, working my way down to be east off of the south British coast.

One night. Spotted a Netherlands small coastal ship running north west on the surface. About 900 tons. It was not lit at night and was moving in the direction of a British port. So I sank it with gunfire. Marked as neutral in the game but a justified sinking.

Sank about a half dozen small merchant ships in this area with gunfire, torpedo or both.

Then, two 4000-5000 toners. One running south. One running north. Both within visual distance of each other on a smooth sea. Sank both with a few rounds of gunfire at very close range into the engine-room and lower hull.

Currently at 19,000 tons with a lot of torpedoes left on board.

Basic tracking technique for this patrol is on first sighting, get a rough range, bearing and angle on the bow and put it on the F5 plotting board. And, setup my attack based on those assumptions.

Normally I don't like working in shallow water. But, it is very early war. So, we will see. Get this patrol done and hopefully not see shallow water again. Now mid November.

Nagel 03-31-17 07:44 PM

getting killed mostly
 
so far I'm on my third career since I started back. took a little remediation to get the feel of the gaming environment and settle on my mods list (mostly GWX gold) but not sailing my calm. . . ish waters. I set up my third (and most serious) career with my young dedicated kaleun Julius Nagel and was ordered to an81 for patrol when hostilities broke out. I managed to get an ore carrier and a coastal freighter for a total of just a little over 10,000 tons and was cheerily headed home with the Gramophone blaring when I ran into a destroyer that just hammered me to the bottom. and just when I thought I'd gotten away he was right back on top of me with another barrage. all I could do was sit there and watch my crew turn red.
oh well, back to the drawing board

Leoz 04-06-17 01:10 AM

Remainder of my first patrol did very well and got back to Kiel.

Had not used MaGUI for awhile so I decided to use it again. A well setup and clean mod. Added the Ujagd stopwatch which I had never used before. Very handy. Like it very much.

Just finished up my second patrol and am back at Kiel. Did very well on this patrol too. One of the ships I got was a small steamer of about 1800 tons that was floundering and not doing so well. Odd how the game does that sometimes.

Up to January 1940.

Two images from my second patrol.

http://i.imgur.com/EO1oDXa.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/knR1vdY.jpg

Leoz 04-17-17 02:04 AM

Race to Freetown - August 1942
 
Out on a second patrol with a type VII out of La Rochelle.
Left port 14 July 42. Patrol area ET21 Northwest of Freetown.
Got down there with good fuel economy (25 percent fuel used) in 13 days.
Uneventful patrol in the area. Then went to patrol west of Freetown.
A report indicated there was a ship moving in from the west-south-west about 100km away. Intercepted the contact in the middle of the afternoon at about 8000 meters. Weather was cloudy with a storm building.
Turned out to be a small enemy convoy. 1 formation line breast. 1 destroyer leading. 1 in trail. A medium tanker; medium cargo and a large merchant. Observing it from the south.
A little close for me. Collected some target track info and plotted it. 9 knots, course 62. Turned around and got on an exit course and sent off a contact report. This being 1942 I knew this report could draw aircraft or worse.

Contact report showed as follows.

http://i.imgur.com/cJkdDpD.jpg

Plotted both my track and the contact report track.

http://i.imgur.com/ivSIq4u.jpg

Intent: do an end around and approach from the front for a periscope attack. Pick the two most available targets. for 2 torpedoes each.

An hour into the end-around: aircraft. Crash dive.

Stayed under less than a half hour and kept maximum speed knowing it would stress the batteries but I needed to not get too far behind.

Back on the surface.

Got to the end around well in front of them and picked them up at a closer range than I would prefer due to the weather.

http://i.imgur.com/bvLfYDU.jpg

Quick one observation range and bearing for the plotting board and submerge.

Time to take a seat at the attack periscope and everyone get to work.

"Auf gefechtsstationen!"

http://i.imgur.com/699PMqX.jpg

Intent: a 90 degree attack from a northerly direction. Sound observations were fairly true to the original tracks so I split the difference and assumed in between both tracks for now until I had more observations.

So. Head north-north west for about 1ooo meters. Then, a 180 degree turn to starboard to the attack course. This would be a port angle on the bow attack; targets moving right to left.

Around 1500 meters lined up on the lead ship which was a medium tanker. Fired two type 3's middle of ship point of aim. Depth 3 meters; contact pistol; assumed target speed of 8 knots for all shots. Fired at this target when it presented itself 90 degree port angle of the bow. This became my 90 degree reference for the torpedo computer. After 1 and 2 were fired, moved the scope to the right and put it over the center of a large merchant. Since the scope angle input was linked to the torpedo computer, when I moved my scope to the second target, the angle on the bow dial was relational to my first target assumption of 90 degrees port angle on the bow. I forget what the AOB for the second target was but it was somewhere in the 80-85 region. This ship was following very close to the tanker in front of it. Fire 3 and 4.

Medium tanker:

http://i.imgur.com/k1kiRrB.jpg

Larger merchant:

http://i.imgur.com/89FwUAg.jpg

Endured somewhere around 50 depth charges before getting out of there.

http://i.imgur.com/2gU0YL6.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/1OF3pVv.jpg

Sometime later, back up to the surface.

http://i.imgur.com/1HemOvi.jpg

Ran all night in a normal patrol pattern and at dawn, put in a report before
diving for the day.

http://i.imgur.com/eAeptHJ.jpg


Unfortunately, a few days later, I was caught on the surface in bad weather by two destroyers. Probably radar helped them, as I did not have a radar detector on me.

So the end of that career, but a good crew and a good boat.

Using the event viewer in the game for fun.


:Kaleun_Cheers:

Zosimus 05-13-17 12:48 PM

I returned to Lorient with 86,828 tons under my belt: 10 merchants, 1 tanker, and 1 flower class corvette, which I sank by deck gun.

It's a funny story. It was unlimited visibility and 0 winds. I was rounding a convoy when this corvette spotted me from 14-15 km away and started chasing me, firing the whole time.

Since the top speed on a Corvette is 16 knots, and my IXB can do 17-18 on the surface in excellent weather, I decided to outrun it as I rounded the convoy. It continued firing on me for about 10 minutes and then stopped.

No more ammo. So I figured I might as well sink it. I set course for it. When I hit 1,000 meters distance, I ordered full left rudder and told the gunner to aim for the waterline.

I had not counted on its anti-aircraft guns, which it brought to bear. It did some damage before I sank it.

I fired my last two torpedoes at a ship in the convoy and sank a large merchant for over 10k tons. Then I returned to Lorient with 72.38% hull integrity.

That's the first and probably last time I take on an escort with a deck gun.

Doolar 05-15-17 04:28 PM

Failed to return
 
Much regret to inform, that U-73 has failed to report or return to base and must assume the boat and crew are lost in grid CN66. 03MAR42


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