Quote:
Originally Posted by TheDarkWraith
My question is how often did a destroyer just sit around waiting for the sub to resurface? How many were left to do this duty when the others returned back to the convoy? How long did they sit there and wait? Did they move position to keep in constant 'contact' with the sub or did they just park in one spot and wait? How far back did they sit from the sub waiting?
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The only time they'd stop in reality would be to pick up survivors and if they did that, they'd want another escort to steam round them, performing ASW duties.
If they had a contact and were attacking, they'd attack for as long as they had a contact, but would break off if they convoy was too far away. Ideally they'd try to keep all the U-Boats down long enough for the change of course to be effective and stop the U-boats finding them again. The amount of time spared by an escort depended of course on the tactical situation. To lose one escort for an hour out of a ten escort screen is not as bad as losing one escort of a three escort screen as they can't cover the gap. Also, the number of U-Boats present would be a factor in reality, but probably not in the game.
If they lost a contact they'd break off after an hour of seraching or so if they had no other sighting to investigate (a bit like whack-a-mole). The priority was to protect the convoy, not sink the boats, as much as they didn't like to break off. Later on when the support groups came along, they had longer to prosecute the attack.
EDIT: Bear i mind that the early escorts were rickety things that would shake and shudder violenty if they tried to make their top speed of 16 knots (and they were the fast ones). This of course affects how long they can spend away from their charge - if the convoy is moving at 9 knots and they spend an hour at one spot, then it would take them a long time to catch up to the convoy, as their closing speed would be only 6-7 knots at full throttle, even slower in poor weather. Then you have to take into account the poor endurance of the early escorts, which was another limitting factor to how long they could spend charging about. If they bruned up all their fuel chasing U-Boats, they'd have to leave the convoy early. It's all much more complicated tactically than in the game with the speedboats :-).