View Single Post
Old 12-12-21, 02:01 AM   #6074
From the Deep
Swabbie
 
Join Date: Mar 2020
Posts: 10
Downloads: 21
Uploads: 0
Default Third Patrol out of Bergen, 11th Flotilla

So I recently started a career mid 1942 out of Bergen, Norway. I'm a bit tired of thrashing through the early years and wanted a bit of spice in my patrols hoping for some arctic convoy attacks bound for Murmansk. Unfortunately, BdU has been assigning me to some strange locations so arctic convoys haven't really been a possibility thus far. Perhaps this is historically accurate, I'm not sure when the majority of the convoys sailed from the UK to the USSR.

Anyway, my third patrol assigned me to grid CG87! This is way down South where all the Mediterranean-bound convoys funnel in toward Gibraltar for those who might be unaware. This is also pushing the range limits of my VIIC so I figured I'd be relying on milk cows to get back to base. Surely this would be a job for a Flotilla based out of France though?

I make my way to the assigned grid area. After a couple days of creeping along the grid, I'm just on the brink of leaving the square in search of "safer" waters further West, when suddenly my game chugs a bit and SO reports enemy warships closing fast relative bearing 160! I'm pretty sure my hydrophones' blindspot is something like +/-20 degrees so I'm worried that a hunter-killer group might have snuck up on me in my baffles. I take a quick listen and I hear several destroyers pretty far off but I also hear the unmistakable whine of something huge.

Since many of my playthroughs involve starting fresh from August, 1939, I'm no stranger to the distinctive hum of capital ships on the hydrophones, but I've never known to see many capitals sailing around any time after Bismarck has been sunk, keep in mind we're in late 1942 now. I get a bit giddy at the thought of coming across a British fleet carrier. Normally I'd run silent and deep when faced with an enemy task force, but now my curiosity has gotten the better of me. We climb to periscope depth for a peek. I've been somewhat keeping tabs on the task force via hydrophones and I have a very rough estimate on their course, they should come pretty close by us around dawn, sea state is moderate.

When I finally make visual contact I'm pretty shocked to see HMS Nelson AND HMS Rodney au paire with about 6 escorts blazing toward my position. I turn the boat to get my best estimate of a 90 degree AoB based on my hydrophone plot but a lot of factors are working against me: they're flying (I eventually estimate their speed to be about 21 knots going off the length of the Nelson Class BBs in the recognition manual), also it's going to be a long shot with slow torpedoes (somewhere around 5km and I don't dare get any closer to their path).

When the optimal moment finally arrives, I fire two G7es at each BB. The spread angles are pretty wide (0.5 deg at 5km) because I'm certain that my torpedo solution is off, so on the lead Nelson Class I fire two toward her main battery spaced out, then toward the second Nelson (Rodney) I fire two toward the aft spaced out again. Now we wait. About 5 minutes later the lead Nelson is struck by two hits! one landed under her superstructure and the other hit her right in the screws, very lucky! In fact, that was the Nelson I was aiming for the forward batteries on, but I'll take what I can get. My other two shots missed Rodney. I do a crit dive and stay quiet, we go undetected and eventually the task force leaves HMS Nelson all by herself as she's immobilized, but still afloat.

Now it's fish in a barrel, I fire two more at her to send her down and my god the thing LIT UP. I've taken down ammunition ships that didn't make as much BOOM as that thing. I wish I would have remembered to screenshot it after those final impacts, man it was impressve! Sorry!, all I've got is the post-patrol report below...

Eventually I work my way back to Northern waters and at this point I'm just looking to get rid of my last eels and return home for some medals and brewskis with the boys. So when we pick up yet another task force on the hydrophones, I'm more eager than usual to engage them. I distinctly hear an escort carrier among them. I figure we'll spend the rest of our eels on the escort carrier and set course for home. The difference between this task force and the last one is that this is a proper hunter-killer group. These destroyers will presumably be better equipped than the last ones and I can almost guarantee there are active aircraft in the vicinity, all using radar. I fire a spread of three at the escort carrier and since it's dark I fire a single G7a on fast setting skimming the surface at the lead Clemson Class since she's not zigzagging and keeping pace with the carrier.

The Clemson actually ends up getting hit before the salvo arrives at the carrier, oops! But two out of three hit the Bogue as well. Extremely low on fuel, we make course for Bergen.

This was a totally unorthodox patrol as we didn't engage ANY merchant shipping and went after TWO Allied task forces, but you can't argue with those results! I definitely won't continue this sort of behaviour in the future as it's a great way to end a career. When you dangle a couple BBs in front of me like that though...

Also can anyone tell me how to post images instead of just links?

https://imgur.com/a/As4Iyuk
From the Deep is offline   Reply With Quote