What's worth more - a liner or a cruiser?

duce_de_zoop · 04-28-24, 10:45 AM

Bit of a quandary I had last night.

I was patrolling in my favorite early-war spot, just west of Scapa Flow, when I suddenly a ran into a small task force of a Southampton Class, an auxiliary cruiser, and the HMS Queen of Bermuda ocean liner. Unbelievable luck with 30% fuel left. It was broad daylight, I was directly perpendicular to them, and they were zoomin', so by the time I dived and repositioned I had about a couple minutes to pick a target, grab a solution and fire off my torps.

My great dilemma - I wasn't sure whether I should hit the cruiser or the liner. They were too big, too fast, and too spread out to try to hit both, especially if I had any duds. In the end, I figured I had already sunk a cruiser - an extremely lucky magazine hit on HMS Manchester on my first patrol. So I went with the liner.

My fears were right - one dud, one miss, but two good hits on the bow. I tailed the liner for a bit before it flopped on its nose and sank. Honestly, surprised it only took two. Used my stern tube to take a pot shot at the auxiliary cruiser but missed

Anyway. On the way back I wondered - was that the right move? Like, humor me here, but for the war effort. Should I have sunk the big, juicy ocean liner just cause it looked big and juicy? Or was the cruiser a more practical target? In raw tonnage the liner is certainly bigger, but Wikipedia says it was serving as an auxiliary cruiser in the time I sunk it. Was the Southampton a bigger threat? Did I make the wrong move Kaleuns? What would Donitz think? ;_;

Aktungbby · 04-28-24, 11:14 AM

...sink the liner! Liners were used in WWII as troop-transport because of their high speed capacity to avoid U-boats, and immense capacity to carry thousands of soldiers at a time to various debarcation points for offensives in North Africa and, eventually, the D-day invasion. http://nauticalnotebook.com/jun12-wa...%20sink%20them. ...a primary case in point: https://maritimearchaeologytrust.org...-Burns-WEB.pdf

Quote:

763 American soldiers lost their lives, and 493 bodies were never recovered. 56 of the crew also died,
including the Captain, totalling 819. Survivors were instructed not to divulge details and soldiers were
told that they would lose their GI benefits as civilians if they did so.
News of the sinking was censored at the time, and British documents were classified until 1996.

04-28-24, 10:45 AM	#1
duce_de_zoop Swabbie Join Date: Dec 2020 Location: Cleveland Posts: 10 Downloads: 24 Uploads: 0	What's worth more - a liner or a cruiser? Bit of a quandary I had last night. I was patrolling in my favorite early-war spot, just west of Scapa Flow, when I suddenly a ran into a small task force of a Southampton Class, an auxiliary cruiser, and the HMS Queen of Bermuda ocean liner. Unbelievable luck with 30% fuel left. It was broad daylight, I was directly perpendicular to them, and they were zoomin', so by the time I dived and repositioned I had about a couple minutes to pick a target, grab a solution and fire off my torps. My great dilemma - I wasn't sure whether I should hit the cruiser or the liner. They were too big, too fast, and too spread out to try to hit both, especially if I had any duds. In the end, I figured I had already sunk a cruiser - an extremely lucky magazine hit on HMS Manchester on my first patrol. So I went with the liner. My fears were right - one dud, one miss, but two good hits on the bow. I tailed the liner for a bit before it flopped on its nose and sank. Honestly, surprised it only took two. Used my stern tube to take a pot shot at the auxiliary cruiser but missed Anyway. On the way back I wondered - was that the right move? Like, humor me here, but for the war effort. Should I have sunk the big, juicy ocean liner just cause it looked big and juicy? Or was the cruiser a more practical target? In raw tonnage the liner is certainly bigger, but Wikipedia says it was serving as an auxiliary cruiser in the time I sunk it. Was the Southampton a bigger threat? Did I make the wrong move Kaleuns? What would Donitz think? ;_;