Stories and Patrol Logs + Screenshots and Videos (merged)

[BlackSpot]

Originally Posted by AVGWarhawk

I like both pics but prefer the PPF picture.

I agree. The top one looks like the sonarman is a heavy smoker.:p
I posted these to see if you guys get different results. Neither image has the grainy look that I've read in previous posts.

[Lorgar]

Hope nobody was on that lifeboat heh

The latest in Japanese crew survivability equpiment - The Rocket Launched Lifeboat :rotfl::rotfl:

[antiwup]

wish i had some sic pics but i havent come across anything except a pair of shokoku fleet carriers in which i fired almost point blank into one and mo-gating out of the area while being chased by a pair of destroyers.

[antiwup]

Originally Posted by hyperion2206

Am I wrong or do I see 3 Yamatos on your screenie?

i think your right but i thought there where only 2 battleships built yamoto and musashi?! :hmm:

[antiwup]

this is after 3 missions. this didnt include my carrier sinking and about 30,000 tons of freight on my 4th mission which is currently what i am on! go john elway!!!!

[CDR Resser]

These are all great pictures. How do you take these. No, really, how do you do it.

[flintlock]

Originally Posted by CDR Resser

These are all great pictures. How do you take these. No, really, how do you do it.

Ctrl + F11

The screenshots are saved in your SH4 install directory as bmp files.

[stabiz]

Gato vs Convoy:








Damn you, IJN!

[flintlock]

And for the lazy out there, click for a direct link to stabiz's video.



Edit: never mind, the fast clicking Norwegain fixed it!

Great video, btw!

[DeePsix501]

Stabiz reminds me of how much I love this game

[Sturm]

Couple unedited images.

[LTC_Andres]

Left Pearl on March 27, 1943 at 1720. Course Midway Speed 16kts
March 29, 0600: Met a small US convoy

March 31, 0544 refitted the Barb with diesel, set course to Honshu Island where we are ordered to patrol. Constantly 10kts surfaced to have enough diesel to patrol off Honshu for quite some time.

April 2, 2241 stiff winds WS 15m/s direction 335. Only making 9kts atm.

April 5, 0955 wind 268 at 10m/s

April 8, 1800 reports coming in. 2 enemy task forces both over 700nm SW. Before attacking this time we try to reach our patrol area. Another mission not accopmplished won’t look good in the boat’s log.

April 9, 0909 range to end is 1134nm or 117h to go. Ordered crew to observe high for possible aircraft contacts. Range to Yokosuka, Shizouka and Yaizu now less than 800nm and Higashi to SW only 500nm away. For a G4M Betty with a range between 2200nm and 3100nm it would’t be a problem to spot us, and perform several attacks before the pilot had to head home. Even a A6M “Zero” would now be able to at least detect us and send a report to the nearest “Betty”. Also one should have in mind the possible presence of Carriers. So I recommend to all skippers to have an eye at the sky. Weather report: Light fog with winds 242 at 11m/s.

April 11, 1113 No AC so far. Must be lucky. Still watches on their toes. Can’t be long for a first welcome by the japs airforce or naval fliers.

April 12, 1900 More reports about small and large convoys SE of our position. Decided not to intercept. Mission first, afterwards hunting. Weather is ok with winds 222 at 13m/s. Still no aircraft spotted. Would be nice to reach patrol point without loosing time diving. Listened to CBS News whole day long. McGee being drafted! The crews favourite. 38h to go. Max range at current speed: 10960. This gives us enough juice to possibly intercept targets at flank speed.

Time 2133 Radar contact on convoy heading SSW. 8 merchants and 4 escorts running at each side of the convoy. No zig-zaging. Current course will bring us into a good position. Sunset should help us to get in range for an attack.

2136 Starboard and aft escorts spreading out with starboard escort beeing back in position 2 minutes later while aft heading north.

2138 Now bow escort spreading out. Port escort still not moving around. Starboard escort doing minimal zigs.

2204 Something must have warned the convoy. They changed course to SSE making a mess of my calculations. Still no visual with leading escort. Distance 8nm. No fog, wind 222 at 13m/s.

2219 Decided to change course to 240. Maybe I can get one or two of them with my aft torpedoes. Radar contact lost at 2220 due to dead angle. I hope that we’ll catch them soon again without having to zig-zag too much. 340nm distance to our patrol area.
2222 and still not dark! Gonna wait some 30minutes more before sending a report and waiting for orders.

2235 Ship spotted! Finally! Indentified as ****atsuyu Destroyer. Ordered scope depth and course 044 to intercept.

2240 Called all hands to battlestations torpedo! Course 316 to bring us inside the convoy passing in between the escorts. Getting a picture of the situation while scoping the surface.

2247 course 060 and 80ft depth. Going blind with sonar updating nearest merchant.

2249 Ordered 2kts. Time to wait for the convoy to pass us by. With a little luck we should be inside the convoy when they come across so we could use bow and aft torpedoes and then go deep immediately.

2253 Sonar reports warship bearing 359. Looks like we could make it inside the convoy. 2 other escorts at 260 and 324. Both long range.

2300 Picked 2 targets right in front of me with less then 1000 yards distance and another one a few yards further away. As soon as all torpedoes were running hot, straight and normal I switched to stern tubes. One merchant was passing my stern some 800 yards away. We sent off 3 torpedoes. 4 of 6 fishes hit the 2 merchant on our bow, one torp damaged the ship further away from us (but not too bad. It went on with the same speed) and one dud. The 2 ships sunk immediately. The one on our stern also got 3 hits and exploded just the second I swirled the scope around to him.
At 2309 the party was over and I ordered to go deep and silent. At 200ft I was hoping to pass the thermal layer.

2318 Still not passed thermal layer. We’re at 225ft now. Going a little deeper to 240ft. Passed the layer at 235ft.

2320 Secured from battlestation.

2323 started zig-zaging out of the convoy at 3kts and 240ft depth changing course every 1nm for the first 3 WP and then every 2nm for the next 3. This should give us a good sonar report of our surrounding.

0047 Ordered periscope depth. Scope up, checked the situation around us to see if an escort has slipped through sonar reports. Nothing – great! Surfaced the boat.

0055 Back on course to patrol area. In less than 10 miutes we destroyed 3 merchants. 1x Medium Old Composite Freighter (3998 tons), 1x Large Old Split Freighter (8378 tons) and 1x Medium European Composite Freighter (5289 tons) making it a total tonnage of 17665. Not bad for one approach. I still don’t understand why the escorts didn’t even try to ping us. Ok, we were hiding between the convoy ships making it nearly impossible for them to hear us with all the ships around camouflaging our own screws sound. But not a single DC was heared! Strange, isn’t it? They’ve lost 3 ships and didn’t even try to hunt us down?


April 13 1200 Still no welcome by enemy planes. Running surfaced all the way to patrol area. Weather: Wind 222 at 13m/s.

1400 Radar picked up a convoy heading NE. Too far for us to intercept we let him go. Only 27h untill reaching the patrol area. So no chasing for now. Gotta save some diesel for the patrol off Honshu.

April 14 0006 Radar contact. Small convoy. 2 Mechants and 3 escorts. Gonna move a little closer to have a look at it. 3 ships to cover 2 merchants seems a little too much for beeing normal freighters.

0123 Periscope depth. One of the escorts is coming way too close. Don’t think that we can intercept the convoy submerged.

0150 Waves making it impossible for us to scope the surface. Sonar reports merchants and warships bearing 028, long range. No chance to get close to them. Braking off the chase.

0223 Back on course to patrol area. Had a break untill 0522. Crew was exhausted. So I ordered all stop. Just me and the XO checking sonar.

0523 Surfaced and had a single radar contact bearing S. Bad weather. Waves swapping over the bridge.

0759 As we try to intercept the single contact radar reports a Task Force 18 miles NNE of our position heading SW. If the single contact turns out to be a freighter we better get him down fast before his TF friends are coming for help. Battlestations torpedoes. Tubes 1, 2 and 3 ready for a surface attack!

0854 TF now 8nm on starboard. They are going medium speed while single contact is bearing 032 at 5nm distance. We better submerge.

0933 We are waiting in position for a clean shot..

0939 TF turns out to be 3 Warships (Fubuki DDs) and one Large Old Passenger Carrier going SW still at medium speed. Calculated speed of the ships is 11kts. Over 6000 yards makes it sensless to try a snapshot at the Carrier. I’ll stay with the Freighter.

0943 Sea is rough. Scope is under water for more than 30s sometimes.
If the single freighter stays on course he is going to pass my bow at less than 1000 yards.

1009 Cross checked enemy course with scope and sonar. Still on same heading. He’s moving with 3kts. Single contact clearly identified as Small Modern Composite Freighter at 1016.

1027 Torpedos in the water. First hit destroyed her just 30s later. 2nd and 3rd torpedo hit also. Helped her to sink faster. What a waste of amunition. But who knows if on or more of the torps are duds? Better to send out too many than having a premature explode near the ship and alerting the crew.

1029 Secured from battlestations. Good job crew! Another 1853 tons on our account. And still 111nm to our patrol area. 4 Cargo Ships sunk and 12 torpedoes left. Searched the surface for survivors with the scope. Only one small boat with no one inside. Poor devils.

1047 Surfaced the boat.

1903 Diving! Unidentified high speed contact reported by radar! Sure it must be a japs AC


1920 Surfaced the boat. Radar reports single contact heading ENE, slow. Changed course to get in front of the target.

2051 Waiting for the pray again. Reached the patrol area 20 min ago. All hands battelstation!!

2054 All stop! Ready tubes 1, 2 and aft 7. Plan is to let off 2 fish, dive, pass underneath the ship, PD again and finish her with tube 7 if necessary.

2056 Indentified as Large Modern Composite Freighter

2110 Fired tube 1 and 2 with a 10s intervall. Taget distance is 1021yards

2111 Two hits but no secondary explosions nor slowing down. Make ready a 3rd fish on bow or follow the plan? Now she’s turning her aft to us. We are too close to surface. Her guns could hurt the Barb. Ordered course changes to bring us broadside and follow her. She’s making 7kts.

2126 She has done a deadly mistake manouvering her broadside just in front of our bow tubes. Made ready tubes and fired 3 more torpedoes just to be sure to sink her this time. The first impact was followed by a secondary explosion that blew her out of the water. 2nd and 3rd torpedo hit a sinkin ship. No survivors detected. The explosion must have killed them all. An unbelievable fireball filled the scope. Darn – I should have taken a photo of her sinking.

2130 Cleared from battlestation. New depth 80ft. Gonna let the crew have some easy going staying submerged untill SS +30(Sunset is when map and boat interior goes “night”. Than I normally wait 30min to be sure it’s darkening outside). Just surfaced to send a report:
14/04/1943 Time 2134
USS Barb, Position Long 133 57’ E, Lat 31 52’ N
Torpedoes left: 7, Cargo ships sunk: 5, Total tonnage: 26.693


This is my report so far. No pics because i don't use external views. Could have done some while scoping but it would have been possible only during the last 2 attacks.(I normally use shoot, scope down and go deep) Nothing you never seen before.
I'm very proud that the game has choosen me for the command of the Barb, the boat that sunk a train (read "Thunder Below" at least 3 times ) Also english is not my native language. So forgive me my mistakes


Hope you enjoyed reading!

Best regards

[sos_85]

So it was my first patrol, orders stated that I was to patrol the Phillipines. I started just outside Manila and made my way north, hugging the coastline on the surface. Radar picked up a couple of targets on the way, turned out to be friendly merchants. I hurried past and continued on my way. Just before swinging East to head towards the Northern port of Aparri, radar picked up two merchants slowly heading SSW. I did some quick calculations and waited just off their esimated path and waited in silence. I spotted a smear of smoke on the horizon, and slowly the two Medium split freighters passed perfectly in front of me at 90 degrees AOB. being the first day of patrol I didn't want to waste up to 6 torpedoes, so i fired a torpedo at each of their sterns and knocked out the propellors on both ships. i crept a little closer and made sure neither were armed merchants. I surfaced the boat and my gun crew began to pound the waterlines on both. After a while both ships were heading to the bottom, leaving 4 lifeboats bobbing in the swell. i carried on round to the northern point of Luzon and round to my patrol area. Not one ship came my way. I hung around for 48 hours keeping an eye on all the juicy convoys and task forces that were being called in over the radio as they crossed the Formosa Strait. After 48 hours I headed across the Luzon Strait and picked out a port on the South coast of what is now Taiwan. As i drew nearer radar picked up several contacts in the vicinity of the port. As i approached a plane hove into view and we had to crash dive, with the bombs narrowly missing us behind. Just as i thought it was all clear, the desroyer which I assume had been on port patrol, came bearing down on me. With complete luck and good fortune I got off 2 torpedoes, both of which hit it bow on and nearly lifted the ship out of the water, but just as i thought the momentum would carry it under the waves, it recovered and ploughed on, I was gobsmacked! It closed in and I attempted a right hand, ahead flank evasion manuever, but i wasn't quick enough. 2 DC s exploded under my stern and 2 amidships. I thought that was it, but somehow my baby was still alive! I got the damage control team on the job, but it was too much. i was crippled, with no electric power ,in need of surface repairs and the water was too shallow to go beneath periscope depth. I could only watch as the DD circled, getting closer, i tried another torpedo when he crossed my bow, but it passed harmlessly underneath him, at this point I was out of options, and then the pinging started and he turned, turned and within a few seconds he had dropped 8 DCs along the length of my sub. I watched them float down, waiting for the inevitable destruction of the USS Sturgeon and all those on board. Then it happened........BOOM.....my computer crashed to desktop!

[Snacko]