Stories and Patrol Logs + Screenshots and Videos (merged)

[in_vino_vomitus]

Good read

[Azgrim]

Lt.Cmdr Chester Garrison, this is a magnificent story!
Doing all this... on S-class! You've got balls!
I wouldn't get this close even on my Balao

This was my today's patrol. Unfortunately, with casualties.

[TorpX]

Originally Posted by Gryffon300

As to the gun thing - I'm wondering if the primary idea was to allow dynamic gun travel during aiming to counteract ship roll from the swell. Accurate Naval gunnery from a moving base has always impressed and baffled me..

It only occured to me after I posted, but the gun depression must be to compensate for any listing. Otherwise, a port list would make the ship almost defenseless from starboard, and vice-versa.

[Gryffon300]

Originally Posted by TorpX

It only occured to me after I posted, but the gun depression must be to compensate for any listing. Otherwise, a port list would make the ship almost defenseless from starboard, and vice-versa.

Exactly right. Whether from listing or swell, whenever the deck on your side pointed above the horizon, the gunner would be in trouble for short-range targets!
G

[Gryffon300]

Originally Posted by c13Garrison

Lt.Cmdr Chester Garrison, S-36, Patrol 5.

Setting the torpedoes to run between 25 and 30 feet, I selected my targeting points. Range was 1200 yards, offset zero. "...open all tubes...Fire 1...Fire 2...Fire 3...Fire 4 down scope bottom the boat..."

Bloody good yarn, Fort! I thought I was the only one that rabbited on at length like that, but I for one am glad you did - it sure puts you at the Nav table right next to you. Good stuff.

It sounds like you have a similar relationship with Biggles as I have with Swain. He will never just accept an order from the X - he always has to have a comment as he sets a new heading. Thank God he has a sense of humour and an ironic outlook. He tells me he is part Navajo - always saying things like, "Yat-ta-hey" instead of, "Very good, Sir!" I knighted him as an Honorary Aussie during the Crossing the Line ceremony so I wouldn't have to have him charged with insubordination. Aussies are like that.

Anyway, other than to thank you for regaling us with your story, I must tell you that I, too, have gone 'off the reservation' in search of targets and ended up in Truck (though not in an 'S'. Gutsy!). I found the Yamato also, after they repaired it, post your attack, and put it on the bottom, but got no credit, thanks to shallow water at that anchorage, I think.

The point I'm getting around to though, is to ask you why you chose to run your fish relatively shallow against her. My instructors advised going for 'Influence Trigger' belly shots for maximum effect. I've tried 35, even 40' settings on the Beast that seemed to work. (When those early Mk 14s weren't dudding or prematuring on me! My little discussions with Ordinance after early patrols may have had an impact - they are getting much better..)

Anyway, I would be keen to get other Skipper's opinions on optimal depth settings. Any theories?

Tight Hatches

Gryff

[c13Garrison]

The reasoning is simple- I only had Mk10's, so contact was my only recourse. Then consider I only had 12 torps in total, and I didn't want to lose 1/12th of my "throw weight" due to an errant deep run.

However thank you for your kind commentary, one and all! I enjoy writing, and the Biggles thing just kind of happened as comic relief. That's the second tale he appears in, and I wager he'll feature until we're sunk. There's quite a bit of backstory piling up about him.

Speaking of the Yamato in Truk though, I'm tempted to not go after her if she can't be sunk there. That's a helluva risk for no reward. -- just took new construction, Balao. Obviously Captain Garrison would see a need for more torps on board! Won't be writing more right away though, family in town for a week.

[grislyatoms]

Mid June, '43. Patrol Sea of Japan/Hokkaido coast via La Perouse strait. Got a bad feeling about this.

Sank two lone merchants for ~10k tons approaching the strait. Submerged for the day in deep water to wait for night to cross.

About 3/4 of the way through deck watch spotted what I assume to be fishing boats under sail (no sonar or radar contact). Went to periscope depth to keep from being seen. Crawled out into deep water at dead slow. Made it through, recharging batteries and giving the crew some fresh air. Still very jumpy.

[Gryffon300]

Originally Posted by c13Garrison

The reasoning is simple- I only had Mk10's, so contact was my only recourse. Then consider I only had 12 torps in total, and I didn't want to lose 1/12th of my "throw weight" due to an errant deep run.

Doh! (Insert forehead-slapping smilie). I had not realised some of the Mk10 characteristics. You live and learn (or you die dumb.)

Gryff

[Gryffon300]

To: SubSim Tactics Advisory Group, SubPac N2
From: Capt Marcus Griffin, Balao SS-285
RE: Targeting Dilemma

Deviated as requested Flash Traffic STOP Intercepted TF Yamato; 2 x Kongo; 2 x FC w heavy escort 33N 141E 15:00 21/05/43 STOP 1 x Kongo; 1 x FC sunk STOP Yamato; 1 x Kongo; 1 x FC disabled dead in water STOP 3 torps remain STOP
Plan A: 1 torp each - confidence level high would finish FC & Kongo, but Yamato?
Plan B: 1 x torp Kongo; 2 x torp Yamato, finish FC w gun
Plan C: 3 x torp Yamato; gun for FC & hope for Kongo STOP
Have this night despatched carrier pigeon with microfilm of Obs Scope recon shot of Yamato, FC and (distance behind & left of FC) Kongo STOP
Will surface tomorrow night usual time and await transmit directive STOP
END END END



(Seriously, so what would YOU do?)

Flash update STOP In last hour Hiyo has succumbed to fire from original single torp STOP Modified Plan B & C only remain STOP Please advise as previous STOP
END END END

[grislyatoms]

I don't believe I would surface for a deck gun attack in that situation with any of them still afloat...

Tough choice. I believe I would concentrate on the FC, then the Kongo. I wouldn't bother with Yamato. 3 more may not sink her, while the others at least have a pretty good chance.

[in_vino_vomitus]

And so we return from our first patrol and I understand what Uncle Rudi meant when he wished me an unexciting time. I'm happy to say his wish for me came true. It may be that there's no safer place to fight the war than from inside a U-Boat. Certainly if the British continue to drive ships past us like flocks of sheep, then their sheepdogs will need to grow better ears or it will be a very short war indeed.

I would love to tell you tales of high heroics, but in truth there weren't any. Well - there was one moment when we dived to avoid a plane. He spotted us and dropped a bomb that shook the boat slightly. A sailor in the aft torpedo room banged his head and bled a little. We'd dived to avoid about twenty planes at this point. This was the first time any had seen us, so the crash of the bomb exploding surprised us all, but it was nowhere close to us really, and it was the closest danger to us in the whole patrol.

It very nearly wasn't though, when a British Destroyer saw us - For all they seem to be deaf, some of them have good eyes. we must have been five kilometers away and it wasn't a particularly bright night. He was in front of a convoy we were overtaking. When I told Grandpa [The Captain], he just told me not to worry. "We're too far away for them to see us leutnant" is all he said. "I'm sure you're right sir" I replied "I expect he's heading this way incredibly slowly and that bow wave is just a trick of the light". Well - that got his attention, and to be honest I was expecting unpleasant consequences, but the thing about cleaning bilges, or any punishment detail, is that the dead are exempt. Anyway, I won't make too much of the affair, he was a long way away, and when he got to where we'd been, so were we. They dropped a lot of depth charges [another escort came over to help] but we were a hundred meters deep and a kilometer away. They kept at it for a long time though...

What surprised me was that our wise old Grandfather, took us towards the convoy. I think he saw the puzzled look on my face as he ordered a turn to the West. I admit, I was expecting him to abandon the attack, but he said "Think about it Leutnant. It's not that they don't know where we are - they're sure we're somewhere we're not. With all the noise they're making, killing fish back there, and all the noise the convoy is making in front of us, we're invisible, and if those idiots in the destroyers haven't got the sense to sit and listen instead of dumping high explosive overboard, then maybe the convoy commander hasn't got the sense to change his course and speed. - So. what say you Leutnant Beck. Shall we find out?"

And find out we did. We came to periscope depth in the rear third of the convoy and they hadn't changed course or speed. They probably thought those destroyers wouldn't have been dropping so many bombs unless they had a U-boat under them to bomb - we picked three targets, two ahead and one aft - and gave them two eels each. Once again our venerable Patriarch surprised me, ordering us to dive deep and stay under the convoy. I admit, I thought he was pushing his luck, but we never heard a thing from the escorts. As for our torpedoes, we heard two explosions. Dieter, our soundman says that more of them hit, but failed to function. I thought at the time it was pretty unlucky to have so many kaput, but you know, probably half of the eels we fired, just bounced off the ships we fired them at. It's a good job we never got depth charged. It would be tremendously unfair to be sunk over a torpedo that didn't work. Still, I'm sure that sort of bad luck can't happen twice in a lifetime - And I can hear you now warning me about tempting fate - don't worry, I promise I'll turn three times and spit just after I've written this....

Anyway. How to finish? We came back up, we fired another six eels. One of them was at a tanker we hit on our first attack, it was listing heavily but still afloat. Needless to say of the two in this salvo that failed to work, this was one of them. We got two more hits though - another tanker and a merchantman. this time the Old man took us West again, away from the convoy, we heard two of our victims breaking up as we were coming up to periscope depth.

Once we reloaded our tubes we went back and did more or less the same thing again so I won't bore you with an account of that. The only thing I'll say, is that diving to check on the position of the convoy a few hours later, Dieter reported two contacts trailing the convoy, barely moving. Of course we went over to collect them and it was the tanker and a supply ship that we'd hit but not sunk in the early hours. The gun crew got to give them the coup de grace, and I have to say that our U-Boat has a very fine gun crew. I've heard of gunners that couldn't hit a U-Boat pen if they were inside it, but not on our boat.....

So. that was our first patrol, and if all of them are like that, then I'll have no complaints at all, but I'm sure that both sides will get better at this.

I don't need to tell you that you must never discuss these letters with anyone, under any circumstances. Especially if you should hear me telling a more "entertaining" version of this story to Frau Hansen's daughter Lotte....

Your obedient Nephew

Philipp

[c13Garrison]

@Gryff. I agree with Griz, but great hunting! A fine picture for the wall of the wardroom.

@Vino. Great story telling. It will be enjoyable to read the Nephew's posts; and interesting twist making the protagonist the Exec rather than Captain.

[in_vino_vomitus]

c13G' Thanks

Gryff - I'd probably put all three under Yamato's keel - Maybe one at a time in case the first one hit something vital. I'd assume the magazines are under the turrets.... Of course I've made a career out of bad decisions so probably your best bet is to make my plan A, your plan Z.....

[Gryffon300]

Ah, now. You see? You lot are no better than my wardroom! Three suggestions from three different skips - and all supported by clear logic.

The 'Swain has volunteered to go on a Vision Quest; Cheffo has offered to run a sweepstake; and the Buffer has volunteered to go three rounds with any challenger to decide the issue by force of arms (he really is just after another 'Victory' tattoo for his left arm to match the ones on his right. He got positively pouty when I told him he wasn't going to get his wish on this cruise).

I'm not confident about the probable number of duds in the last three, so I've decided to go for the Kongo KNOWING at least one will work and take him down. I agree that slow shots, taking time to assess results, is the way to go in this case. As can be seen from the last flash update, the Hiyo took itself under. ONE torp plus fire - wonderful! (Thank you TDW!)

I would certainly have had no hesitation trying to take the FC under by gun had it not done so AFTER I had taken down the Kongo (to eliminate cross-fire). But, I'm not a total nutter. I would have surfaced 3,500 to 4000yds from the FC, with the FC BETWEEN us and the Yamato. I'm sure that eventually, IF the radio was still functional on the FC, that eventually they would have been able to provide some kind of Fire Control for the Yamato, but not before we had done some damage (especially as I would have waited till nightfall, making spotting and ranging me more difficult).

Anyway, we will never know now - pity really - it was such an elegant plan! Off to sink a Kongo and, with any luck, Yamamoto's barge.

Wish me luck.

Gryff

[Gryffon300]

Originally Posted by in_vino_vomitus

And so we return from our first patrol and I understand what Uncle Rudi meant when he wished me an unexciting time. I'm happy to say his wish for me came true. It may be that there's no safer place to fight the war than from inside a U-Boat. Certainly if the British continue to drive ships past us like flocks of sheep, then their sheepdogs will need to grow better ears or it will be a very short war indeed.

I would love to tell you tales of high heroics, but in truth there weren't any.

Sehr gute Geshichte, mein Freund! Ein wenig Apfel Schnaps, ja?

Gryff