Noob Kaleun of U-47 reporting. Realism settings 85% External camera enabled, but only for adoring MY boat when not in contact.
Patrol 3, start date December 3 at Wilhelmshaven.
December 10, just north of Rockall Bank:
My watch officer spots a 3 ship group at long range to my left, coming almost directly at me. Due to the angle I guesstimate their course incorrectly and identifying goes wrong too. First one is clearly a destroyer, V&W -class, but the two merchants I thought to be Empire-class freighters turn out to be auxiliary cruisers. Because of my miscalculation and guesstimating the destroyer and merchants turned to warships pass my bow at only about 300-400 meters. I fire 4 torpedoes and hit only one auxiliary cruiser. Destroyer depth charges me for 4 hours before I finally manage to slip away.
After surfacing (I almost could swear tasting the fresh sea air IRL after so many hours underwater) I resume my course to SW where the map says is a known convoy route. Few hours later I get a radio contact report about a convoy southeast of Rockall Bank heading probably to Irish Sea. And the best part is that it is only hours away from the boat's current location. I'm really starting to get excited, it's my first real convoy. Some map work and diesels red hot, ahead full.
Watch officer spots the convoy just before dark and I decide to trail it for now, to get better readings and to prepare my ambush better after the last botched attempt. It's hard to get good guesstimates at long range, but they're heading west and it's about 5 columns, so maybe ~25 ships or so and a single destroyer at the front (or so I thought). At this time I have 7 torpedoes left in front. I'm thrilled, but also the convoy seems just so big a target, how am I going to handle this?
I trail them for the night slowly getting into a position to attack. During daytime I decide to make an attempt at periscope depth. I change my course and slowly start to make my way to a course intersecting convoys course. I let the escort in front to slip to my right while making my way to more juicier parts of the convoy. Torpedoes set for impact pistol I base my calculations for a large merchant in front of me. I fire 4 torpedoes and manage to watch 3 hits, ammunition ship blows like a crate of fireworks. Dive is ordered to 160 meters. All 4 torpedoes hit, but only 3 ships go down. I get the large merchant, a medium tanker and an ammo ship.
Escorts start hunting my boat. Turns out that there were 2 destroyers. They depth charge me for hours before finally heading back to the convoy, U-47 doesn't even get a scratch.
Time to surface to reload and recharge and to prepare ambush #2. This time it's going to be a surface attack. So again I track them from the distance. This part of the game just rocks like everything else: Watching, waiting a good moment, planning, literally hunting them.
Finally darkness arrives. I can see why advacements in radar were fatal for U-boats, my only ally is stealth, escorts just outspeed, outgun and outarmor an U-boat. Approach goes similarly than last time, but on the surface. Again I target a large merchant and fire three torpedoes to three targets. Again 3 hits, but only get the large merchant and a passenger/cargo. Don't know why I targeted the last one, but I was acting in a hurry. At this moment I am not spotted, but they're turning on those powerful lights. Trying to get away with diesels, maybe the night will protect me, but not long and U-47 is spotted and fire starts to rain at my position. So, ALAAAARRRRMMM! Again the familiar game of hide and seek starts. This time I'm not so lucky as depth charges almost rip out my conning tower. All periscopes and radio antenna destroyed. After a few hours other destroyer heads back to convoy and other still hunts me, but has probably expended all depth charges and later it also leaves. Just have to say how good sound stage is in this game, immersion is really good underwater.
When I surface, the convoy is gone, but I still see the large merchant defiantly pushing forward bow almost below the water. I align the boat for a rear torpedo. Luckily UZO is still intact. One final torpedo finishes the large merchant and she's going to the bottom (didn't see sailors swimming towards me
). Time to get out of there at flank speed. The other destroyer returns to look for me, but this time I am far enough away. Searchlights are visible in the horizon for a time.
Periscopes and radio antenna destroyed and all forward torpedoes used and only a few remaining in the back tubes. I need to get back to the base. After uneventful return journey I get back to Wilhemshaven, where medals are handed by the bucket. Total tonnage for the patrol: 53090t and 6 ships sunk.