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Bubblehead1980 · 03-16-21, 04:51 PM

TMO 2.5 w custom mods
USS Ling SS-297
7th patrol
100 realism, contacts off, cams on for visuals (knew would be chance for great screen shots at Iwo and wanted to make sure could see things. While my main career, also use it to test things. )

22 January-4 March 1945
Luzon Straits, Babuyan Islands, and (later) off Iwo Jima to support Operation Detachment.

Departed Pearl Harbor at 1708 on 24 January 1945 for Luzon Straits via Guam.

Refueled at Guam on 1 February , arrived in patrol area after midnight on 6 February.

On Feruary 7th about 100 NM S of Formosa spotted an Akizuki Class Destroyer making 30 knots on course 010m likely toward Takao. Attempted to get close enough for a shot but the 7000 yards was far beyond the Mark 18 torpedo range of our bow or stern tubes. Encountered multiple day and night air patrol but no enemy shipping since lanes had firmly shifted to China coast.

On 8 February at 0100 received an ULTRA stating that the enemy was undertaking a major evacuation effort of certain personnel and materials from Luzon as well as resupply via submarines landing in the Aparri area. Orders were to set up a patrol line in the Babuyan Islands. Arrived there in the afternoon of 8 February and began submerged patrol among the islands, dodging aircraft day and night as well as a radar equipped PT boat that night.

At dawn on 9 February began submerged patrol at the " center" of the channel between Calayan, Dalupin, Fuga, Camiguin and Babuyan Islands with periscope patrols, sound and radar sweeps. , changing course south to head towards Apparri area after dusk. Surfaced after dusk recharged batteries and began patrolling. A light fog, overcast clouds and light rain made visual identification of anything difficult as patrolled between Fuga Island and Camiguin Island. At 0032 the APR-1 Radar Warning Receiver detected radar emissions (since no contacts enabled on the map was unsure what direction, wish this could be fixed to give a bearing in the dialog box or even audible as radar contacts are announced). Stopped for a sound sweep and in the distance, very faint props could be heard to the south. We headed South stopping intermittingly while the RWR was still detecting the emissions.

The prop noises grew stronger and could tell we were closing. Ordered GQ and at 0111 ordered a dive , tracking sound, and occasional radar sweeps. Finally spotted at 3000 yards the very faint silhouette of a surfaced I-Class submarine, difficult to keep track of visually due to the low light conditions. Submarine was on a NW course making 9 knots. Readied all six forward tubes with Mark 18 torpedoes set at minimum depth. Firing point came at 2100 yards. Fired four torpedoes at 6 second intervals to make a spread, dropped scope. Raised scope with 10 seconds until estimated impact and at 0124 all four Mark 18 torpedoes hit the submarine, causing large explosions and the submarine quickly sunk. Surfaced after sonar and radar sweep to clear area. Within 30 minutes a night time patrol plane with radar (APR-1 reported emissions) was in area, we submerged to avoid then surfaced, making an end around back to patrol submerged off Aparri the next day.

Aside from spotting a patrol plane or two, there was no activity during submerged patrol 10 Feb. Surfaced at dusk, recharged batteries and heading to patrol among the Babuyan Islands for the night. At 23:11 APR-1 detected radar signals. Sound sweep revealed faint screws in distance to the south. Closed again as low visibility conditions persisted with light rain.

Went to GQ and located a surfaced submarine off SW Camiguin Island heading SSE. Due to distance to cover for a shot and low visibility, decided to try a night surface attack, keeping bow steady on to avoid giving the radar beam a large target. This seemed to work. At 3700 yards fired four Mark 18's...number four ejected from the tube then took a hard starboard turn into a CIRCULAR RUN! Ordered AHEAD FLANK, full starboard rudder to clear the stern of the submarine of the torpedo. Amazingly, we were not detected as brought sub back to bearing, made quick update to solution fired tubes five and six for good measure. The torpedoes appeared spot on when suddenly, the submarine disappeared from sound, visual, and APR went silent...appears the target submerged (I did add subs in the game to do this every so often, to simulating a sub diving, so my bad luck hit that point.)

We turned away fast showing stern to last known position of sub, and began reloading tubes. Based on the course, estimated sub was heading for the harbor at Palaui Island. We raced to 10 NM off projected track for an end around off S end of Palaui Island. After sometime, APR-1 detected radar emissions and knew was correct. Problem now in order to get solid firing position, would have to make attack in shallows. Tried for another surface attack and planned ot use Mark 18's in stern tubes but enemy radar apparently detected as as she suddenly began zig zagging, constant helming along her course at 11-12 knots. Ling submerged to 56 feet, and closed for bow shot with Mark 14 torpedoes. Sub was zigging moving fast towards the harbor, it was now or never. Fired spread of four Mark 14's from 2700 yards with hull scraping the bottom. (During the turn away, she did touch bottom)

Raised scope at at 0220 and at 0221 two torpedoes impacted the enemy submarine, the first amidships, causing large explosion and ever larger secondary explosion when second hit the bow area (torpedo room?) . The submarine quickly sunk in the shallow waters as we turned to head for deeper waters at flank speed. Once clear of the shore to avoid shore batteries, we surfaced but a night time patrol aircraft kept us down for several hours.

Surfaced at 0500. Recharged batteries and heading away from area as a patrol boat and aircraft were now present. Submerged for the day(due to the proximity to shore among islands, patrolling submerged was necessary, shore batteries and all) at dawn and patrolled among the islands.

Patrolled the evening of the 11th with no contacts other than a night flying patrol plane.

Submerged at dawn on the 12th to patrol off Appari and Palaui Island Sonar could still hear the submarine sunk the previous morning on sonar as it sat on the bottom in the shallows.

Surfaced after dark for battery recharge and patrol among the islands again.

At 0300 radar emissions were detected. Sound revealed nothing so began a pattern search but nothing. (Assuming contact "submerged" as no more reports of radar emissions) Finally detected faint props at 0340 , estimating contact was off Calayan Island . Closed in a full speed. The night was now clear with a qurter moon , so submerged along projected path, hoping for a stern shot.

Finally, along came the submarine at 14 knots heading SE between Calayan and Dalupin Islands. Set up for stern shot and from 1600 yards fired four Mark 18's at 5 second intervals. First three torpedoes impacted target at 0400, decimating it. The final torpedo was on target but passed overhead of the sub as the explosions blew it out of the water, then it went back under as torpedo passed overhead, before the conning tower peaked out as fires burning, before finally sliding under the surface at 0402. Ling surfaced, reloaded tubes, charged batteries and headed south.

Days of continuous submerged patrol with night time patrol revealed no further contacts except patrol planes. Low on fuel and with four torpedoes after and two forward, heading for Guam to refuel and rearm. En route received message about lifeguard duty for air strikes on Iwo Jima and Bonin Islands supporting an invasion on the 19th. With enough fuel to carry out this task, did so instead of heading to Guam. En route observed US surfaces forces bombarding Iwo Jima on the 17th .Proceeded to area off Bonin Islands, rescued two rafts with down aircrew on Feb 18th and fired at a patrol craft with two torpedoes on the 19th. Was released from lifeguard duty on the 20th. Heading back to Guam encountered a TF of CVE's operating East of Iwo Jima. Refueled at Guam, then headed home to Pearl Harbor, arriving March 4th.

Interesting patrol, challenging and and exciting. The encounter had similarities to USS Batfish's real experience in Feb 1945 when she sunk three subs in 72 hours in same area. I did add these subs a while back as part of my forthcoming TMO upgrade. I did add radar to the subs (some) and how Batfish detected two of her prey was detecting their radar emissions, which as I described is my primary way of detecting them on this patrol. I added the ULTRA alerting the player as well . Before release I plan to have AI subs firing torpedoes so that will add a whole new aspect to encounters with enemy submarines in TMO. While wish we had subs that would "submerge" and fire, having them randomly disappear and reappear at a later location does a decent job of adding the uncertainty in these encounters. I have added every submarine sunk by US submarines recorded to the games at historical time and locations, plus some random ones at appropriate times and locations but encounters are still rare as they really were. There are ULTRA's alerting the player when appropriate. German U boats operating in pacific and java sea etc were added as well.

Some screenshots, will add others later .

03-16-21, 04:51 PM	#5037
Bubblehead1980 Navy Seal Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Florida USA Posts: 6,922 Downloads: 550 Uploads: 42	USS Ling SS 297 Seventh War Patrol 1945 TMO 2.5 w custom mods USS Ling SS-297 7th patrol 100 realism, contacts off, cams on for visuals (knew would be chance for great screen shots at Iwo and wanted to make sure could see things. While my main career, also use it to test things. ) 22 January-4 March 1945 Luzon Straits, Babuyan Islands, and (later) off Iwo Jima to support Operation Detachment. Departed Pearl Harbor at 1708 on 24 January 1945 for Luzon Straits via Guam. Refueled at Guam on 1 February , arrived in patrol area after midnight on 6 February. On Feruary 7th about 100 NM S of Formosa spotted an Akizuki Class Destroyer making 30 knots on course 010m likely toward Takao. Attempted to get close enough for a shot but the 7000 yards was far beyond the Mark 18 torpedo range of our bow or stern tubes. Encountered multiple day and night air patrol but no enemy shipping since lanes had firmly shifted to China coast. On 8 February at 0100 received an ULTRA stating that the enemy was undertaking a major evacuation effort of certain personnel and materials from Luzon as well as resupply via submarines landing in the Aparri area. Orders were to set up a patrol line in the Babuyan Islands. Arrived there in the afternoon of 8 February and began submerged patrol among the islands, dodging aircraft day and night as well as a radar equipped PT boat that night. At dawn on 9 February began submerged patrol at the " center" of the channel between Calayan, Dalupin, Fuga, Camiguin and Babuyan Islands with periscope patrols, sound and radar sweeps. , changing course south to head towards Apparri area after dusk. Surfaced after dusk recharged batteries and began patrolling. A light fog, overcast clouds and light rain made visual identification of anything difficult as patrolled between Fuga Island and Camiguin Island. At 0032 the APR-1 Radar Warning Receiver detected radar emissions (since no contacts enabled on the map was unsure what direction, wish this could be fixed to give a bearing in the dialog box or even audible as radar contacts are announced). Stopped for a sound sweep and in the distance, very faint props could be heard to the south. We headed South stopping intermittingly while the RWR was still detecting the emissions. The prop noises grew stronger and could tell we were closing. Ordered GQ and at 0111 ordered a dive , tracking sound, and occasional radar sweeps. Finally spotted at 3000 yards the very faint silhouette of a surfaced I-Class submarine, difficult to keep track of visually due to the low light conditions. Submarine was on a NW course making 9 knots. Readied all six forward tubes with Mark 18 torpedoes set at minimum depth. Firing point came at 2100 yards. Fired four torpedoes at 6 second intervals to make a spread, dropped scope. Raised scope with 10 seconds until estimated impact and at 0124 all four Mark 18 torpedoes hit the submarine, causing large explosions and the submarine quickly sunk. Surfaced after sonar and radar sweep to clear area. Within 30 minutes a night time patrol plane with radar (APR-1 reported emissions) was in area, we submerged to avoid then surfaced, making an end around back to patrol submerged off Aparri the next day. Aside from spotting a patrol plane or two, there was no activity during submerged patrol 10 Feb. Surfaced at dusk, recharged batteries and heading to patrol among the Babuyan Islands for the night. At 23:11 APR-1 detected radar signals. Sound sweep revealed faint screws in distance to the south. Closed again as low visibility conditions persisted with light rain. Went to GQ and located a surfaced submarine off SW Camiguin Island heading SSE. Due to distance to cover for a shot and low visibility, decided to try a night surface attack, keeping bow steady on to avoid giving the radar beam a large target. This seemed to work. At 3700 yards fired four Mark 18's...number four ejected from the tube then took a hard starboard turn into a CIRCULAR RUN! Ordered AHEAD FLANK, full starboard rudder to clear the stern of the submarine of the torpedo. Amazingly, we were not detected as brought sub back to bearing, made quick update to solution fired tubes five and six for good measure. The torpedoes appeared spot on when suddenly, the submarine disappeared from sound, visual, and APR went silent...appears the target submerged (I did add subs in the game to do this every so often, to simulating a sub diving, so my bad luck hit that point.) We turned away fast showing stern to last known position of sub, and began reloading tubes. Based on the course, estimated sub was heading for the harbor at Palaui Island. We raced to 10 NM off projected track for an end around off S end of Palaui Island. After sometime, APR-1 detected radar emissions and knew was correct. Problem now in order to get solid firing position, would have to make attack in shallows. Tried for another surface attack and planned ot use Mark 18's in stern tubes but enemy radar apparently detected as as she suddenly began zig zagging, constant helming along her course at 11-12 knots. Ling submerged to 56 feet, and closed for bow shot with Mark 14 torpedoes. Sub was zigging moving fast towards the harbor, it was now or never. Fired spread of four Mark 14's from 2700 yards with hull scraping the bottom. (During the turn away, she did touch bottom) Raised scope at at 0220 and at 0221 two torpedoes impacted the enemy submarine, the first amidships, causing large explosion and ever larger secondary explosion when second hit the bow area (torpedo room?) . The submarine quickly sunk in the shallow waters as we turned to head for deeper waters at flank speed. Once clear of the shore to avoid shore batteries, we surfaced but a night time patrol aircraft kept us down for several hours. Surfaced at 0500. Recharged batteries and heading away from area as a patrol boat and aircraft were now present. Submerged for the day(due to the proximity to shore among islands, patrolling submerged was necessary, shore batteries and all) at dawn and patrolled among the islands. Patrolled the evening of the 11th with no contacts other than a night flying patrol plane. Submerged at dawn on the 12th to patrol off Appari and Palaui Island Sonar could still hear the submarine sunk the previous morning on sonar as it sat on the bottom in the shallows. Surfaced after dark for battery recharge and patrol among the islands again. At 0300 radar emissions were detected. Sound revealed nothing so began a pattern search but nothing. (Assuming contact "submerged" as no more reports of radar emissions) Finally detected faint props at 0340 , estimating contact was off Calayan Island . Closed in a full speed. The night was now clear with a qurter moon , so submerged along projected path, hoping for a stern shot. Finally, along came the submarine at 14 knots heading SE between Calayan and Dalupin Islands. Set up for stern shot and from 1600 yards fired four Mark 18's at 5 second intervals. First three torpedoes impacted target at 0400, decimating it. The final torpedo was on target but passed overhead of the sub as the explosions blew it out of the water, then it went back under as torpedo passed overhead, before the conning tower peaked out as fires burning, before finally sliding under the surface at 0402. Ling surfaced, reloaded tubes, charged batteries and headed south. Days of continuous submerged patrol with night time patrol revealed no further contacts except patrol planes. Low on fuel and with four torpedoes after and two forward, heading for Guam to refuel and rearm. En route received message about lifeguard duty for air strikes on Iwo Jima and Bonin Islands supporting an invasion on the 19th. With enough fuel to carry out this task, did so instead of heading to Guam. En route observed US surfaces forces bombarding Iwo Jima on the 17th .Proceeded to area off Bonin Islands, rescued two rafts with down aircrew on Feb 18th and fired at a patrol craft with two torpedoes on the 19th. Was released from lifeguard duty on the 20th. Heading back to Guam encountered a TF of CVE's operating East of Iwo Jima. Refueled at Guam, then headed home to Pearl Harbor, arriving March 4th. Interesting patrol, challenging and and exciting. The encounter had similarities to USS Batfish's real experience in Feb 1945 when she sunk three subs in 72 hours in same area. I did add these subs a while back as part of my forthcoming TMO upgrade. I did add radar to the subs (some) and how Batfish detected two of her prey was detecting their radar emissions, which as I described is my primary way of detecting them on this patrol. I added the ULTRA alerting the player as well . Before release I plan to have AI subs firing torpedoes so that will add a whole new aspect to encounters with enemy submarines in TMO. While wish we had subs that would "submerge" and fire, having them randomly disappear and reappear at a later location does a decent job of adding the uncertainty in these encounters. I have added every submarine sunk by US submarines recorded to the games at historical time and locations, plus some random ones at appropriate times and locations but encounters are still rare as they really were. There are ULTRA's alerting the player when appropriate. German U boats operating in pacific and java sea etc were added as well. Some screenshots, will add others later .