First war patrol U-201

Markus Witt · 05-22-21, 03:26 AM

I’ve just completed the first war patrol with U-201 in my new dead is dead career. U-201 set out from Kiel on 16 April 1941 for her maiden voyage into the Atlantic with a return to new home base St. Nazaire.

During the patrol I kept a war diary in the style of the real KTB outside of the game. I also kept a chart outside the game to plot my progress. I did this by recording all relevant data in the in-game journal and saving it after each playing session. I would normally play from noon-to-noon and save the game after 1 or 2 days. After saving I then copy-pasted the chart and saved it by alt-tabbing out of the game so that I could then update the progress in a copy of a KM gridmap. After that I also copy-pasted the relevant journal pages so that I could then update patrol log and chart outside the game.

The way I play is 100% “realism” (whatever that means, whatever works for you I guess) without any map updates. By that I mean a completely empty map, so own position is not shown on the map. That means I basically navigate by dead reckoning. I only occasionally use celestial navigation (done by the navigation officer), only during twilight and if the weather is good. (Since the map updates are disabled no position mark appears after requesting a fix, but there is still the small dark circle. I have set this circle to stay visible for 5 minutes so I have time to record my position.) I have set the max error for celestial fixes to 12000m, about 6.5 nM, which I think is reasonable.

If I haven’t had a position update for some time I role a dice. Good weather requires a 6 for a fix, perfect weather a 5 or a 6. This way you sometimes have no position update for a week and you depend on your own dead reckoning. This sounds more complicated than it is since dead reckoning in this game is highly simplified and easy to do. During this patrol that lasted 27 days I only took 5 celestial fixes and the maximum deviation from my DR position was 11.1 nM.
The dead reckoning by navigation officer I do not use. In the OptionsFileEditorViewer I set the max error% to 99999 to render it useless.

Personal rules:
1. Dead is dead
2. Small convoy reports are ignored (usually unescorted, not realistic)
3. Recognition manual is not used. Target data acquired by plotting, ausdampfen and estimation.
4. Use mostly G7e torpedoes (more difficult in game as you need to get closer)
5. No submerged atacks during (deep) darkness as periscopes were pretty useless IRL during dark nights

In the next few posts I will share the war diary of this patrol with relevant attack plots and maps. Can’t put them directly in the posts so I have to use attachments. Since maximum file size is quite low I hope that everything is properly readable. Perhaps some of you find it interesting to read through the log.

Markus Witt · 05-22-21, 03:27 AM

On 16 April 1941 U-201 departs Kiel under command of Oberleutnant zur See Alexander Witt for her first war patrol. Mission orders are to head out into the Atlantic and patrol the area around grid AK59. After this patrol the new home base will be St. Nazaire.
U-201 transits the Kaiser Wilhelm Kanal and heads into the North Sea. Proceeding along the Norwegian coast she enters the North Atlantic passing between the Faröer Islands and Iceland. The voyage into the Atlantic is uneventful. Two vessels are encountered off the Norwegian coast, which turn out to be friendly. No aeroplanes are sighted as a safe distance to the Shetlands is maintained.

Markus Witt · 05-22-21, 03:28 AM

Once the North Atlantic is reached U-201 heads south towards the convoy routes with the intention to follow them towards grid AK 59. On her way there a contact report is received of a large enemy convoy south of Rockall bank.

Markus Witt · 05-22-21, 03:29 AM

After the attack U-201 reloads torpedoes and heads back to re-establish contact with the convoy with the intention to carry out a second night surface attack.

Markus Witt · 05-22-21, 03:30 AM

After the second attack on the convoy U-201 moves away. After unsuccessfully chasing after a fast convoy, another convoy is reported within reach.

Markus Witt · 05-22-21, 03:31 AM

After last the convoy attack U-201 is low on torpedoes. She proceeds towards her patrol area to take up weather station duties (own imagination). After being released from weather reporting duties U-201 sets off for home. Besides some heavy weather the return voyage is mostly uneventful, no ships are encountered and reported convoys are not pursued because only the sterntube is available. U-201 arrives safely in St. Nazaire on the 12th of May.

05-22-21, 03:26 AM	#1
Markus Witt Navy Dude Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: AN8563 Posts: 171 Downloads: 309 Uploads: 0	First war patrol U-201 I’ve just completed the first war patrol with U-201 in my new dead is dead career. U-201 set out from Kiel on 16 April 1941 for her maiden voyage into the Atlantic with a return to new home base St. Nazaire. During the patrol I kept a war diary in the style of the real KTB outside of the game. I also kept a chart outside the game to plot my progress. I did this by recording all relevant data in the in-game journal and saving it after each playing session. I would normally play from noon-to-noon and save the game after 1 or 2 days. After saving I then copy-pasted the chart and saved it by alt-tabbing out of the game so that I could then update the progress in a copy of a KM gridmap. After that I also copy-pasted the relevant journal pages so that I could then update patrol log and chart outside the game. The way I play is 100% “realism” (whatever that means, whatever works for you I guess) without any map updates. By that I mean a completely empty map, so own position is not shown on the map. That means I basically navigate by dead reckoning. I only occasionally use celestial navigation (done by the navigation officer), only during twilight and if the weather is good. (Since the map updates are disabled no position mark appears after requesting a fix, but there is still the small dark circle. I have set this circle to stay visible for 5 minutes so I have time to record my position.) I have set the max error for celestial fixes to 12000m, about 6.5 nM, which I think is reasonable. If I haven’t had a position update for some time I role a dice. Good weather requires a 6 for a fix, perfect weather a 5 or a 6. This way you sometimes have no position update for a week and you depend on your own dead reckoning. This sounds more complicated than it is since dead reckoning in this game is highly simplified and easy to do. During this patrol that lasted 27 days I only took 5 celestial fixes and the maximum deviation from my DR position was 11.1 nM. The dead reckoning by navigation officer I do not use. In the OptionsFileEditorViewer I set the max error% to 99999 to render it useless. Personal rules: 1. Dead is dead 2. Small convoy reports are ignored (usually unescorted, not realistic) 3. Recognition manual is not used. Target data acquired by plotting, ausdampfen and estimation. 4. Use mostly G7e torpedoes (more difficult in game as you need to get closer) 5. No submerged atacks during (deep) darkness as periscopes were pretty useless IRL during dark nights In the next few posts I will share the war diary of this patrol with relevant attack plots and maps. Can’t put them directly in the posts so I have to use attachments. Since maximum file size is quite low I hope that everything is properly readable. Perhaps some of you find it interesting to read through the log. Last edited by Markus Witt; 05-22-21 at 05:26 AM.

05-22-21, 03:30 AM	#5
Markus Witt Navy Dude Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: AN8563 Posts: 171 Downloads: 309 Uploads: 0	After the second attack on the convoy U-201 moves away. After unsuccessfully chasing after a fast convoy, another convoy is reported within reach. Last edited by Markus Witt; 11-05-21 at 04:26 PM.