Quote:
Originally Posted by Rhodes
I already started, Fev 1945. Same place, Luzon straits and then freedom of manoeuvre to sink. But where to get targets. Already going near Macau and Hong Kong. Still planes buzzing the sky...
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Early Feb 45? Did receive any ultras about IJN subs heading for Aparri ? The three subs Batfish sunk over four days in Feb 1945 at in the Luzon Straits appear in the campaign Feb 8-14 or so if I recall.
Yes, for merchant traffic in that area during this time, you will have to get rather close to China coast, sometimes will have to just stay in deeper waters by day then venture into shallows at night, attack on surface, then bust out to deeper waters during daytime to avoid air patrols. Some instances can find patches of "deeper" water 150-200 ft can ambush convoys submerged by day if willing to risk it. Air patrols can get somewhat intense in the area.
This resembles historical the shift of North-South convoy traffic in late 1944. The TAMA(Takao to Manila ) and MATA (Manila to Takao) convoys ceased in December 1944 which cut a lot of the Luzon Straits traffic. The HI convoys (Singapore-Home Islands, Home Islands to Singapore) switched to running close to the China/Indochina coasts. They avoided open oceans to thwart submarine attacks.Convoys would sail in the shallows by day, then anchor in many of the small bays etc along Chinese coast by night to avoid night time surface attacks. A few of the convoys sailing China coast do this in TMO now, but most do not.
Admiral (then CDR) Fluckey on the BARB (SS-220) discovered in January 1945 convoys were doing this, which lead to his epic night surface attack on a convoy anchored in Namkwan Harbor China in Jan 1945. (This can be replicated in the sim) Home Islands and Yellow Sea, the traffic runs close to shore as well.
Of course just because are assigned to what seems to be a dead area does not always mean you should leave it as you are assigned there for a reason...namely a historic contact, something important can be encountered.
One that sticks out is if get assigned to Bungo Suido Area 7, now its overall pretty dead as convoys stopping departing arriving the Bungo Suido, instead making port on the Western side of Kyushu in late 1944 and into 1945. However, if there in April, Yamato and her escorts will depart at appropriate date and time. A lot of these historic type contacts throughout campaign. As said, I reworked patrol objectives so even if its dead and seems pointless, you were assigned there for a reason.
Anyways, plenty of targets in Feb 45, just have to find them in the shallows.