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GJO · 02-01-21, 02:51 PM

No - this is not a recently discovered historical fact but a chance taken in SH3 with GWX.

It is October 1944 and having been ordered to patrol Grid B53 - a potential suicide mission to cover the approaches to New York, we managed to locate and sink three tankers - an estimated gross tonnage of 22,000. The patrol had not been easy and we were lucky not to have been sunk. In fair weather we were frequently forced to dive due to patrols by enemy aircraft and there were also many patrolling enemy warships that forced us to stay deep and silent. Eventually, a message was received changing our base to Trondheim and so, with barely enough fuel remaining we headed for our new base. The journey remained treacherous with foul weather, fog and it seemed that we detected radar signals whenever we surfaced.

A radar alert forced us under again as we passed to the north of Shetland and our hydrophones picked up what sounded like three destroyers to the north and east of us - so we turned south and sought refuge in the various narrow inlets of the islands - this tactic had worked well for us at during the first battle of Narvik! It worked again - one of the destroyers ran aground against the shore thus becoming a 'sitting duck' and was sunk with a single torpedo. Then the fog came down and we nosed our way very slowly toward Lerwick Harbour until we came up against the anti-submarine nets. Gently following the net (and occasionally bouncing off it) we found the opening and headed into the harbour to find two T class submarines at their moorings - we sank both of them with torpedoes while we were still submerged having closed the range to just 400 Metres. We then surfaced in the harbour (by this time our oxygen was exhausted) - there was no gunfire - maybe we were still hidden by the fog or perhaps the army garrison at Fort Charlotte was asleep.

As we proceeded slowly round the harbour on the surface we located two ships with our radar and closed in and sank them with a torpedo each. They were only large fishing boats but still over a 1,000 tons each. We then headed back for the gap in the anti-submarine nets. As we approached the gap, a warning from our radar detector forced us to submerge and the hydrophones picked up a warship approaching fast. We might well have been trapped but the warship ripped itself apart on the anti-submarine net and sank! The hydrophones picked up two more warships heading in our direction and still submerged we desperately headed for a narrow channel between two of the islands - both warships detected us and one of them ran in for an attack. We suffered slight damage from its forward firing hedgehog bombs but the depth charges fell away from from us and caused no serious damage. As we entered the narrow channel (suffering further damage as we scraped the bottom), both attackers became trapped against the shoreline, rendering themselves as sitting duck targets for our stern torpedoes - we sank them both . . .

We arrived safely in Trondheim having sunk 3 tankers, 2 submarines, 2 large fishing boats and three 'Black Swan' class warships - we didn't get credit for the Captain class warship that sank itself on the anti-sub net.
Perhaps not a very realistic scenario but a very absorbing diversion during lockdown!

02-01-21, 02:51 PM	#5783
GJO Planesman Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: On the Oxford Canal in England Posts: 195 Downloads: 33 Uploads: 0	The Attack on Lerwick Harbour No - this is not a recently discovered historical fact but a chance taken in SH3 with GWX. It is October 1944 and having been ordered to patrol Grid B53 - a potential suicide mission to cover the approaches to New York, we managed to locate and sink three tankers - an estimated gross tonnage of 22,000. The patrol had not been easy and we were lucky not to have been sunk. In fair weather we were frequently forced to dive due to patrols by enemy aircraft and there were also many patrolling enemy warships that forced us to stay deep and silent. Eventually, a message was received changing our base to Trondheim and so, with barely enough fuel remaining we headed for our new base. The journey remained treacherous with foul weather, fog and it seemed that we detected radar signals whenever we surfaced. A radar alert forced us under again as we passed to the north of Shetland and our hydrophones picked up what sounded like three destroyers to the north and east of us - so we turned south and sought refuge in the various narrow inlets of the islands - this tactic had worked well for us at during the first battle of Narvik! It worked again - one of the destroyers ran aground against the shore thus becoming a 'sitting duck' and was sunk with a single torpedo. Then the fog came down and we nosed our way very slowly toward Lerwick Harbour until we came up against the anti-submarine nets. Gently following the net (and occasionally bouncing off it) we found the opening and headed into the harbour to find two T class submarines at their moorings - we sank both of them with torpedoes while we were still submerged having closed the range to just 400 Metres. We then surfaced in the harbour (by this time our oxygen was exhausted) - there was no gunfire - maybe we were still hidden by the fog or perhaps the army garrison at Fort Charlotte was asleep. As we proceeded slowly round the harbour on the surface we located two ships with our radar and closed in and sank them with a torpedo each. They were only large fishing boats but still over a 1,000 tons each. We then headed back for the gap in the anti-submarine nets. As we approached the gap, a warning from our radar detector forced us to submerge and the hydrophones picked up a warship approaching fast. We might well have been trapped but the warship ripped itself apart on the anti-submarine net and sank! The hydrophones picked up two more warships heading in our direction and still submerged we desperately headed for a narrow channel between two of the islands - both warships detected us and one of them ran in for an attack. We suffered slight damage from its forward firing hedgehog bombs but the depth charges fell away from from us and caused no serious damage. As we entered the narrow channel (suffering further damage as we scraped the bottom), both attackers became trapped against the shoreline, rendering themselves as sitting duck targets for our stern torpedoes - we sank them both . . . We arrived safely in Trondheim having sunk 3 tankers, 2 submarines, 2 large fishing boats and three 'Black Swan' class warships - we didn't get credit for the Captain class warship that sank itself on the anti-sub net. Perhaps not a very realistic scenario but a very absorbing diversion during lockdown!