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Originally Posted by derstosstrupp
Typically they traveled up and down in their area. That’s what I do as well. I’m also ok with going weeks without a sighting as was historically often the case.
What I wish we had is Vorpostenstreifen, the patrol lines set up by BdU north to south. He would even tell boats “travel x degrees at x knots til further notice”.
We are way more on our own in these sims than they were in real life. BdU dictated their every move in most cases. It would be nice to get more orders like that.
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True, almost every movements and actions of U-Boote on patrol area were micro-managed and dictated by B.D.U. In addition, Kaleuns weren't really enthusiastics about "hunting freely" on locations.
About ""Vorpostenstreifen", if found this passage in "Convoy S.C122 & GX229 : Climax of the Battle of the Atlantic, March 1943" by Martin Middlebrook.
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The distance between U-boats in patrol lines was about twenty sea miles [...] A Gruppe that was sweeping forward to meet an expected convoy was an "Aufklärungsstreifen" - a "reconnaissance" or "patrol line" - while a Gruppe that was ordered to remain static on a given line became a "Vorpostenstreifen" - an "outpost" or "picket line".
U-boat men much prefered to be in one of these lines than on the "free manoeuvre" type of operation in wich a boat was given an area of ocean and left to search for targets in it [...] We were always very pleased to get the order from B.d.U. to form a patrol line, we knew from experience that this gave the best opportunity of finding a convoy. We put the best men on look-out duty; very often there was a bootle of champagne or cognac on return to harbour for the man who made the first sighting. Morale reached the depths when storms or rain blotted out visibility and went even lower if the sweep went on too long without a sighting. (Käpitänleutnant Kurt Baberg, U.618)
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